Back to Top
 
Information Technology
Contact IT Support

IT Alerts

This page lists all official IT service alerts shared with the KAUST community. Alerts are also delivered directly to your KAUST email.

Standard Weekly Maintenance Window

Thursday at 5:00 PM to Saturday at 8:00 PM. During this window, some services may experience temporary slowdowns, intermittent issues, or brief outages while essential maintenance is performed.

Vendor-Scheduled Maintenance

Some KAUST systems hosted on the KAUST Portal (portal.kaust.edu.sa) are maintained directly by our cloud vendor. These activities are scheduled quarterly and are independent of KAUST IT's regular maintenance windows. They may temporarily affect the availability or performance of several online services.

View Planned Vendor Maintenance

 

Recent Alerts

The most recent IT service alerts are shown below. For the full history, see the archive further down this page.

 

30 September, 2026

Scheduled Maintenance: KAUST Sign-In Services, IT Website, and Network Switches

Planned IT maintenance includes a 30-minute KAUST sign-in maintenance window, IT Website maintenance, and ongoing network switch upgrades. Review the schedule and any action you may need to take.

Read more

27 September, 2026

IT Maintenance Notice: IT Website Maintenance

The KAUST IT Website will undergo maintenance on Tuesday, 6 October, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM. No downtime is expected, but the website may be slower than usual during this time.

Read more

 

About IT Alerts and the Change Advisory Board

The Change Advisory Board (CAB) is a cross-functional group within KAUST IT that reviews and approves proposed IT changes to maintain service reliability and reduce risk. The CAB Chair is appointed by the Chief Information Officer (CIO).

For urgent or high-impact situations, the Emergency Change Advisory Board (ECAB) may be activated to ensure timely decisions while protecting service stability.

Learn more about the CAB

When Are Alerts Issued?

All IT changes are reviewed under the Change Management process. When communication is needed, an IT Alert is published and shared with the KAUST community. This includes:

  • Scheduled or planned service changes
  • Changes affecting specific groups or areas (such as faculty, students, or building residents)
  • Unplanned outages or urgent service issues

 

Alerts Archive

All past IT service alerts are listed below, including scheduled maintenance notices, unplanned outages, and service restoration updates.

 

Mobily Business Line Data Roaming Activation Issue

21 July, 2025

KAUST Community,

Mobily is currently experiencing a nationwide issue affecting business mobile lines across the Kingdom, including those provided to KAUST personnel.

What’s impacted:
You will not be able to activate or deactivate roaming and data packages using the standard text message to 901. This feature is currently non-functional for all Mobily business line users.

What to do instead:
Until the issue is resolved, please contact KAUST IT to request roaming or data package changes using one of the following methods:

  • Call: 910 (from a desk phone) or 012-808-0910 (from a mobile phone)
  • Visit: IT Service Desk in Building 14
  • Chat: Use our IT chatbot VITA at it.kaust.edu.sa or vita.kaust.edu.sa

Tip: If you’re working remotely or away from your office, you can use the KAUST Softphone to make and receive calls from your laptop or mobile device using your KAUST business desk phone number over WiFi or cellular data (i.e. 4G or 5G).

Learn more here: Stay Connected – Leveraging the KAUST Business Softphone for Flexible Work

KAUST IT is closely monitoring the situation and will share an update once the 901 SMS service is restored or if new instructions or codes become available.

Thank you for your understanding.

KAUST IT
it.kaust.edu.sa