On Tuesday evening, June 10, 2025, the time had come: In a planned and precisely executed maintenance window between 9 and 10pm, the heart of the RWTH network infrastructure was modernised – the migration to the new Catalyst 9600 router generation was successfully completed!
Source: Own illustration
Powerful Architecture
As part of the X-WiN migration, routing was switched from the previous Nexus 7700 series access routers to the new, more powerful Catalyst 9600 architecture. These routers are central hubs for all data traffic – everything that enters or leaves the RWTH network happens right here.
Despite the complexity of this measure – partly due to a completely new operating system and necessary reconfigurations – the IT Center managed to implement the changeover during ongoing operations and limit the planned downtime to one hour.
What Effects Did the Changeover Have?
Source: Own illustration
As announced, the central services such as VPN, e-mail, RWTHonline and RWTHmoodle as well as some internal systems (e.g. DNS service) were briefly unavailable during the maintenance period. However, all systems were fully online again shortly after 10 pm – a smooth process without a roll-back.
Our colleagues from the Networks department – Benedikt Paffen, Christoph Viethen, Robin Westarp and Nils Neumann – worked under high pressure to ensure that everything ran smoothly and successfully. The team was supported by the IT-ServiceDesk on-call team, represented by Sarah Grzemski. A team effort – the realisation was outstanding and shows once again what is possible with good cooperation.
Why Was This Changeover Necessary?
By switching to the Catalyst 9600, RWTH Aachen University is setting new standards in its network infrastructure:
- More performance & stability: faster fault detection and greater reliability
- Future-proof: state-of-the-art technology for future requirements
- Sustainability: reduced energy consumption despite higher performance
What Does This Mean for the Future?
The successful migration is an important milestone in the ongoing development of RWTH’s digital infrastructure. It lays the foundation for even faster, more stable and more sustainable networks – despite the growing demand for online services and digital teaching.
A big thank you to everyone involved for making this smooth and successful transition possible!
Stay tuned – in upcoming posts you will learn more about the amazing technology behind it and how the so-called “change management” at the IT Center works.
Responsible for the content of this article is Merrit Mielke.
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