Software to Blame for System Outage

Students and faculty were unable to access the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) UNIX systems for more than an hour yesterday afternoon, and the system experienced temporary slowdowns and service interruptions throughout the day.

The disruptions included telnet, newsgroup and remote e-mail access. Websites hosted by the FAS computer systems were also inaccessible.

While Franklin M. Steen, FAS director of computer services, wrote in an e-mail message that all services had been restored by 5:05 p.m., some services, such as the UNIX "ph" command--which provides users with phonebook information--were still unavailable late last night.

"Service was slow because of what we believe to be a software problem with the software we use to improve system performance," Steen wrote.

According to Steen, problems were present since an earlier system upgrade, but were not encountered by users until the systems encountered heavy usage loads late in the afternoon.

Steen said all systems should be repaired by the morning. Harvard University FAS Computer Services (HASCS) staff members are discussing the problems with software vendors.