A knowledge base article about Network Service and Support During Planned and Unplanned Power Shutdowns provided by the UC Berkeley IT Service Hub - Knowledge Portal
Campus network infrastructure and services, including ethernet connections and Wi-Fi, are dependant on the electrical power provided at the service location (i.e. building). In almost all cases, if power is not available to a building, network connectivity will not be available at that location. While some locations may maintain network connectivity during a power outage, the network team does not generally design or plan for maintaining network service in these situations.
If campus maintenance results in a power loss in a particular location, the network team will not provide service in that location while power is unavailable. During power outages and other events which may result in a power outage, access to buildings may be restricted by UCPD or other authorities. As a result, if problems occur with network service during a power outage to a specific location, the network team may be unable to respond or restore service. The network team does not announce loss of service in these circumstances.
In some cases, campus planned maintenance work may negatively impact power to network equipment which provides service to multiple buildings, and users at those locations may experience disruption of network service. In these cases the network team will provide advanced notice of the impact, to the best of its ability. This notice will be provided via email to ucb-network-announce@lists.berkeley.edu and posted to the System Status webpage (http://systemstatus.berkeley.edu).
During a planned power shutdown by PG&E, it is expected that campus operations will continue in a limited fashion using cogen power. Buildings that continue to operate on campus cogen power are expected to maintain network connectivity.
In general, during a planned power shutdown or an unplanned power outage, the network team will be unable to respond to service requests and outage restoration requests, because network staff are not allowed to work on campus and/or in buildings during these events.
The network team has designed certain services with an expectation of continuing service even during a campus-wide power outage. The network team will take action as necessary to ensure continued function of these services for as long as possible during any power event. These services include:
Users of network services who wish to receive up to date notifications of network status are encouraged to join the ucb-net-announce mailing list/Google group:
https://groups.google.com/a/lists.berkeley.edu/forum/#!forum/ucb-net-announce