"I had a commentary due that I was supposed to email to my professor," Frederick Sanchez '04 said. "VAX wouldn't let me login so I had to call him. It was a mess."
According to Director of Information Technology Phil Fitz, the problem occurred when an increased number of people attempted to access their accounts and overwhelmed VAX, the College's email system.
Fitz said that he was not sure why more people were using VAX during that week, but the system was unable to handle the increased traffic due to a routine summer upgrade of of a mail program called PMDF that VAX uses.
The program, which takes incoming mail and sorts it into individual accounts, is used every time students attempt to access their email accounts. The upgraded version used up more resources per person to check mail and the increased volume pushed the system over the edge, according to Fitz.
"We weren't expecting it, but now we know it's a possibility, We will be monitoring it from now on," he said.
Fitz also added that the problem may have occurred because many students use email programs that allow users to change preferences so that their email is automatically checked at certain intervals. They set their computers to check their email as frequently as once per minute which places signifigant demands on the system, according to Fitz.
In order to prevent the overload from occurring again, Fitz said the College dropped back to using the older version of PMDF, since nothing in the upgraded version was that necessary considering the increased amount of space and resources that it required.
Additionally, Fitz said he plans to check the VAX log file, which keeps a record of who checked their mail and when, in an attempt to find and contact people who check their email excessively. Fitz said that he will probably request that users try to set their computers to check their email in intervals greater than 10 minutes.
As a permanent solution to the problem, the College will discontinue the use of VAX at the end of the year, although students will have the option of switching their computers over to the new Windows NT-based email program beginning this spring. Then, students will have the option of using either program until the summer, when VAX will be eliminated.
Fitz said that while he is still working out the details of how students, staff and faculty will transfer their information, such as old emails and address books, to the new system, everything should be worked out by next semester. Instructions on how to switch programs will be mailed to the college community in January and help sessions on operation of the new system will likely also be offered.
However, email addresses and passwords will not change with the elimination of VAX. Fitz said that it is not likely that students will experience many other difficulties other than the transfer of information from VAX.
"VAX really never was designed for the volume of email that we use," Fitz said.
The new system will have more space and power, and will allow students to check their mail from any web browser, a feature not currently available on VAX.
"The new system will be a very nice thing," Fitz said.