Who knew that something smaller than a shoe could effectively wipe out and entire campus’s network?

According to Information Technology, one Ethernet switch in an administrative office in Bardwell Hall was capable of doing just that for several hours last Wednesday night, frustrating students all over campus as they tried to study. The problem came down to two cables which were plugged into the same Ethernet switch, all but stopping bandwidth, or the rate of data transfer, around 7:30 p.m., said Mark Duling, network administrator of IT.

The “circular loop” created by the cords generated so much traffic that it consumed around 95 percent of the university’s bandwidth capacity. Having multiple cables plugged into the same Ethernet switch “seriously degraded” and confused the network, he said.
“It’s kind of like dividing by zero to a network,” Duling explained. “[It] kind of freaks out.”

The problem was solved between 11 p.m. and midnight. Duling said IT had no role in installing the destructive device, as it monitors administrative buildings less than student buildings like dorms.

Last December, right around finals in December, the Internet also cut out campuswide, but because of a power outages instead of a device on campus. Then, the transformer that supplies power to the building went out, causing the whole system to fail. But that time, IT was able to bring in generators to keep the power running, Duling said.
Students expressed their frustrations over last week’s problems.

“I was super frustrated and impatient because I had a lot of homework that was due the next day and I needed the Internet to get it done,” said junior Renee Beauchene.

Sophomore Daryl-Ann Fletcher was also well aware of the Internet’s malfunction.

“I was working on a paper that was due the next morning, and I needed Internet sources, but couldn’t get them,” she said. “I had to stay up until 1 a.m. or so until it came back on.”

IT made a thorough audit of the devices around campus between Wednesday night last week and Tuesday this week. Duling said they will monitor administrative offices more closely in the future.

“The controls are much looser on the administrations because they haven’t really been a problem,” he said.

By auditing equipment, IT is able to detect equipment that isn’t theirs.

The Ethernet switch security feature that helps prevent these loops has been enabaled on most of IT’s newer Ethernet switches, said Scott Himes, director of IT. The switch that caused the Internet failure, however, didn’t have that feature.

“Hopefully auditing will make it less likely to happen or make it faster to find the outside equipment,” Duling said.