<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4e5WJ3_1H5f4SwT00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4e5WJ3_1H5f4SwT00" width="2001" height="1256" ><figcaption>Network engineer Mark Barrow works on a stack of network equipment in the basement of Lumpkin Hall on March 17. Eastern’s network experienced an outage for parts of Nov. 8 and 9 after a mechanical failure ultimately took two network equipment rooms in the Student Services Building offline. (File)</figcaption></figure>Editor’s Note: This story is about an outage that affected Eastern Illinois University’s network equipment and online services for parts of Nov. 8 and 9. This was not related to the nationwide outage that affected various Microsoft products on Nov. 12.A cascade of problems, starting with a broken valve in Eastern’s steam system, resulted in an outage affecting the university’s entire IT network in the early morning hours of Nov. 9.By late morning, Information Technology Services employees restored campus internet access, the university’s website and most of its other systems. IT Systems Manager Mindy Hurst said Nov. 10 that technicians had not found any physical damage to any of the network equipment but that bringing all systems back online was a labor-intensive process.“You have to get back in there, take [the equipment] out of recovery mode. You have to unencrypt data and drives,” Hurst said. “It’s just a lot of hands-on work that we have to do, but it’s no physical damage.”The situation began on the morning of Nov. 8 when the broken valve sent steam into a network equipment room in the Student Services Building, said Vice President for Business Affairs Matt Bierman on Nov. 10.The steam caused the equipment, which supported external internet access, to overheat and shut down.Technicians cooled down the equipment by opening a door, and the building’s power was shut down to allow electrical switchgear to dry out from the steam.A backup generator initially powered the equipment, keeping Eastern’s network online throughout the evening of Nov. 8. Around 1:30 a.m. Nov. 9, the backup generator failed, which brought both of the Student Services Building’s network rooms offline.“When the generator failed, we lost full power to the data center,” said Bierman.The generator failure was caused by a broken coolant line, which has already been repaired, Bierman said.Both Bierman and Hurst said the sudden power loss was troublesome for the network equipment, which made bringing it back online challenging.Systems had to be restored in a particular order because some parts of the network affect others, Hurst said.Technicians followed a disaster recovery plan that is tested every year, said Hurst.At one point, external internet access was working on campus, but the university’s website was still inaccessible.This was because at least some of the network equipment had been restored, but technicians were still working to restore the storage drives holding the website.The university sent an Alert EIU message around 7 a.m. Nov. 9 saying that classes and work duties were delayed until 10 a.m. due to the outage.Part of Eastern’s long-term plans for facility reinvestment involves the potential demolition of the Student Services Building, though there is no specific timeline. If this were to happen, Eastern’s network equipment would have to be relocated elsewhere.Bierman said the recent outage did not necessarily impact that decision-making process, but it did inform it.Eastern has been undergoing construction work on its campus steam system since the spring. The work involves replacing sections of pipe in underground tunnels and running a new steam line from the Renewable Energy Center to campus.The valve failure Nov. 8 affected a part of the steam system that was not being worked on by contractors, so Bierman said the failure was not related to the ongoing construction project.Senior biochemistry major and resident assistant Jayla Singleton first realized there was an outage around 6:30 a.m. Nov. 9.Singleton also works at Booth Library and said she was confused about whether or not to go to work that morning.“Fortunately, my classes didn’t get impacted, but I was trying to study for a test, and I couldn’t access the stuff on D2L because I hadn’t downloaded it,” Singleton said.Singleton got to class at 11 a.m. and said her professor initially experienced issues using the computer system. By 11:30 a.m., she said the professor was able to get online.Sophomore accounting major Samantha Amaro noticed the outage around 3 a.m. Nov. 9.She said she was awake trying to work on homework but couldn’t access the internet.She said doing homework was a struggle that morning but said she has since gotten caught up.T.J. Seputis can be reached at [email protected].</div></body>

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Editor’s Note: This story is about an outage that affected Eastern Illinois University’s network equipment and online services for parts of Nov. 8 and 9. This was not related to the nationwide outage that affected various Microsoft products on Nov. 12. A cascade of problems, starting with a...

Multiple failures bring down Eastern’s network

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Editor’s Note: This story is about an outage that affected Eastern Illinois University’s network equipment and online services for parts of Nov. 8 and 9. T

Multiple failures bring down Eastern’s network

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