One of the servers at the Kiewit Computation Center shut down for one-and-a-half hours Friday because too many students tried to sign onto the Dartmouth Interactive Directory after receiving a BlitzMail message and Hinman Box mailing telling them to do so.
The directory received 4,207 hits within the first two-and-a-half hours of its opening.
According to Jason Hsiao '98, one of the five students who developed the online directory, the volume of hits to the directory "totally overwhelmed Kiewit," causing the web server, Webster, to shut down between 9:00 and 10:30 a.m. Friday.
"There were some people who weren't too happy about that," Hsiao said. "Their whole job is to make sure that [a shut down] doesn't happen."
The staff at Computing Services were forced to "temporarily terminate" the DID while they worked to get the server up and running again, he said.
Steve Clifton '01, the main coder of the DID, said he spent nine hours on Friday working with Computing Services Special Projects Manager Rich Brown and Information Systems Senior Programmer Eric Bivona to determine what caused the problem.
The problem was due to the complexity of the coding and the "traffic" on the server as students accessed the site, Clifton said. It was not the result of any coding error in the directory.
According to Clifton, Computing Services is installing an addition to the server specifically for the DID to correct the problem. Some of the coding of the directory will have to be modified to adapt to the new webserver.
"It's not a problem that's impossible to solve," he said.
Clifton said they will install and test the server today and tomorrow and possibly have the directory available for use again by Wednesday.
The new server will reduce the amount of work the server must do each time a person accesses the directory, Clifton said.
Although the directory was not operational on Friday, it still received upwards of 11,000 visits. "It was uplifting," Hsiao said.
Hsiao, Clifton, Brad Jefferson '98, Duncan Simmons '99 and Peter Graf '99, who all attended Bellevue High School in Seattle, have developed the DID over the past two years. The directory allows students to identify themselves and search for others by a number of characteristics including name, residence, academic interests, athletics and campus affiliations.
Photos for the directory were taken at registration last Monday, but the digital photos have not yet been added to the directory. Students will eventually have the option to turn off their picture.
Hsiao said the Student Assembly received approximately 25 blitzes from students who wished to have the Assembly turn off their photo. Most of the responses he received, he said, were from people asking how they could retake their photos.
"Our first priority is to work with Kiewit on Monday on streamlining the code, then we'll work on getting the pictures in," he said.
