Computer System Takes A Vacation

THE METROPOLITAN « APRIL 3, 2008« METRO « A7

Computer system takes a vacation By Andrew Flohr-Spence [email protected] Apparently hard drives need time off for spring break, too. Metro’s banner system took an unannounced vacation on March 28 and didn’t come back until the night of March 31. The outage frustrated students, staff and teachers who were unable to access online accounts and forced the college to delay the beginning of summer and fall class registration until April 3. While the exact causes of the system failure are yet unclear, Vice President for Information Technology Carl Powell said the main server shut down at around 7 p.m. on March 28 after the failure of one or more of the many hard drives that make up the heart of the system. The backup system then failed to take over as intended. “One thing led to another – it was a sort of cascading effect – and before we knew it the system was out,” Powell said. The college’s IT maintenance

service, contracted to Hewlitt Packard, arrived an hour later and began working on the problem. Service was not fully restored until March 31 around midnight. “The worst part is that these servers are scheduled to be replaced in late May anyway,” said Powell, who started as Metro’s IT chief almost exactly one month ago. “There’s nothing like a little trial by fire to get you into the swing of things.” Only the banner system went down, but because that’s where other services are usually accessed, students were initially unable to access e-mail and online courses. The school’s website was updated to instruct students how to directly access the functional sites. “We really owe IT a lot of kudos on this – they worked around the clock to get the problem solved,” Metro Communications Director Cathy Lucas said. “They did a fantastic job: There was a problem, they found a solution and they fixed it.” Powell, who has worked in information technology for more than 20 years, said he has seen many such

system failures in his experience. “Unfortunately, no one situation is ever identical, given the complexity of the systems.” Powell said that while the outage meant a lot of frustration for the users, perhaps the one positive was that it gave him a chance to get to know his staff. “It helped me understand the breadth and width of Metro’s IT group,” said Powell, who added that most of the IT staff, including members of the maintenance team, worked day and night over the weekend to get the system running. “What we learned can help us in the future.” Powell said HP was “very supportive” and stayed until 8 a.m. April 1 to make sure the system was working. “We all worked around the clock on the problem. I had to kick them out at night so they would go get some sleep,” Powell said. The office of IT will be conducting an investigation to establish what caused the failures of both the server and the back-up system and

to assess how the department reacted and what could be done better next time. “Fortunately, as it looks now, the costs for repairing the system were covered by the maintenance contract,” Powell said. He said HP replaced several of the hard drives and two of the system’s controllers. “So besides some blood, sweat and lots frustration – it will cost the school nothing.” Student John Shuff, however, said the outage was more than a little annoying for him. “I found out Saturday night when I went to log in and it didn’t work,” the history education major said. Shuff said he wonders if they could have fixed it faster. “I attended college in Greeley and Pueblo and the IT systems there were much worse than Metro’s,” he added. “It didn’t make any difference to me. I didn’t check till Monday morning,” Sandy Nigor, biology major, said. “I actually took a break this year, so it didn’t affect me.”

WHAT HAPPENED » March 28

Metro’s banner system unexpectedly crashed

March 31

The banner system was repaired

What is Banner?

Banner is Metro’s e-mail server, registration application and how the school manages most of its financial aid. Students also use Banner for online courses and school employees can access their pay records

CAUSE/EFFECT »

Summer enrollment

Enrollment for subsequent semesters were delayed until April 2. Students were expecting to have that opportunity March 31

FUNDING» Project critical for future of Auraria

METRO’S MAJORS FAIR

Continued from A3

Photo by drew jaynes/[email protected]

Jackson Lamb of the department of hospitality, tourism and events describes majors they offer to freshman Lea Clark. The Metropolitan Majors Fair was held on March 17 at the Tivoli Turnhalle. Faculty members from departments as diverse as AfricanAmerican studies, criminal justice, criminology and biology familiarized students with the many majors and minors that Metro offers. “I hope to expose students to valuable info should they want to pursue a chemistry major,” Kelly Elkins of the chemistry department said. At each department table, hand-

outs and pamphlets explained major and minor requirements, careers available in a particular major and the recommended course sequence. Students also received a list of advisers and people to contact for more information. “The Majors Fair gave me a sense of who I should talk to,” Metro student Erica Padilla said. Faculty members representing the different academic departments motivated and encouraged students to find their path and pursue their

chosen career as soon as possible. Mike Martinez from the criminal justice department said the Majors Fair gives students direction. Helen Giron was enthusiastic about promoting the Chicana and Chicano studies department where she works. “The more we know about our diversity, the more we come to accept it,” she said. - Benafsheh mscd.edu

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loan over a set period of time. Jordan said any interest would be paid by the state. Auraria school leaders were happy to continue with the construction, which began in December and will cost an estimated $111 million. But nothing is set in stone yet, with two bills still requiring approval by the House and Senate to allow Auraria access to the funds. Metro President Stephen Jordan said he anticipates the bills will pass because of their bipartisan and gubernatorial support. He also stressed the importance of the unified front of the leaders of the three schools sharing a stake in the science building, namely himself, Bruce Benson, president of CU-Boulder, and Nancy McCallin, president of Colorado Community College System. “All three of us had a very unified vision of moving forward, in terms of working together to get a solution that would allow us to move forward,” Jordan said. “We’re very grateful for the leadership provided by the governor and the legislative leadership.” Jordan added that the role of Benson, who was recently elected president of CU-Boulder amid tremendous opposition, was crucial in moving the construction forward.

Last year, there were doubts as to UCD’s commitment to the project, Jordan said. Staberg said Metro’s stake in those funds has been assured, but opposition to the bills is expected. “I think we have a key commitment from the governor and there is bipartisan support, but the devil is in the details,” she said. Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, has publicly argued for using any extra funds to relieve Coloradans’ tax burden, although phone calls were not returned to The Metropolitan as of press time. Dean Wolf, executive vice president for administration of the Auraria Higher Education board, answered critics of the plan by saying, “We have 39,000 students on the campus that are in desperate need of this space.” “I’m not sure pulling the money originally was in the best interest of the citizens of Colorado,” he said. Jordan agreed and said that the building is crucial in furthering the governor’s vision of increasing the number of high school students entering college by 50 percent. While Wolf said he’s confident the money will be made available, no plans have been finalized if it is not. “We’d have to go back to the drawing board if this doesn’t hap-