Blackboard down for the Christmas Period

Belmono

Hi all
This was already mentioned in the 'Official Bitch about NUI Galway' thread, but I thought it deserved its own thread.
An email has been sent round to say that Blackboard will be down for the Christmas period and that ISS are working on having full access back by the start of Semester 2.
This will obviously have to be borne in mind if you have any assignments due through Blackboard!

Fionn MacCool

I am absolutely raging as I planned on spending most of my Christmas holidays studying hard for these assignments.

Guess I can't do that now

meeka

I noticed it was down about a week ago, just checked there again today and yup, it's still down. Got 2 reports to do over the break, thankfully I had the foresight to download the required material a while back...

Never got that email though, but to be honest, "working on having full access back by the start of semester 2" is a bit much. Not really good enough - a lot of people are going to be put out by this.

SharonF

It looks like Blackboard was being attacked on the 23rd, that's why it had to be taken down. ISS did spend all day trying to isolate the problem, but finally had to take it down so that no data/content could be corrupted.

SharonF

I have been informed that on Weds Dec 29 ISS will put Blackboard online for a one hour period to facilitate any urgent staff or student need to get access to assignments.

ISS will confirm the specific one hour timeslot the day before that (the 28th).

If you are contacted by staff/students impacted by the downtime who might usefully avail of access on that date you can let them know about this arrangement.

I'll post the exact time when I get notification tomorrow.

Fionn MacCool

Who and why would anyone attack Blackboard? Call me a cynic but that tends to be the stock excuse when websites go down (coughCAO).

RolandIRL

Why do people create viruses and malware? for shíts and giggles. besides why would they lie about it? not like we're going to give out any more about it.

Ficheall

They might lie about it because it makes it look less like they've a useless setup? It gives the impression that they're doing something? It sounds like the site is in some way important if people are bothered attacking it?

Fionn MacCool

The SU should campaign for the introduction of a €100 network security contribution in all students registration fees.

challengemaster

Fionn MacCool wrote: »

The SU should campaign for the introduction of a €100 network security contribution in all students registration fees.

Fairly sure they're already getting enough money from students, thanks.

Ficheall

challengemaster wrote: »

Fairly sure they're already getting enough money from students, thanks.

Fairly sure Fionn wasn't being serious...

ISS Service Desk

Blackboard was taken offline at 20:00 on Weds 22nd December following alerting which indicated exceptional levels of attempted logins (sixty times in-Semester norms). The system was brought online for a period on Thursday 23rd when further exceptional login activity was evident and logged.

Pending full resolution of this issue, Blackboard was taken off-line over the Christmas period. This decision was taken to ensure that the itegrity of the Blackboard infrastructure and content could be assured. ISS expect to restore access in advance of start of Semester Two.

It may be possible to facilitate brief access to Blackbord over the coming days for those with specific, urgent need to get to assignments etc before Jan 5th/6th.

If you require urgent access to Blackboard before Jan 5th/6th, send a PM to this account and provide your name, student number and NUI, Galway email address (not your password). Details will be sent to your NUI, Galway email address.


ISS Service Desk

Ficheall

ISS Service Desk wrote: »

It may be possible to facilitate brief access to Blackbord over the coming days for those with specific, urgent need to get to assignments etc before Jan 5th/6th.

Of course, there will then be exceptional levels of attempted logins, and ISS will then have to shut down Blackboard in case anyone actually might manage to get onto the site.

RDM_83 again

Does anyone know if the lecturers have been informed of this, a got a large essay due which the vast majority of material is available only through blackboard.

Belmono

Yes, lecturers were informed as soon as access to Blackboard was (necessarily) restricted by ISS.

aloofasc

Dont mean to be giving out, but I never received an email to my college account saying that there was an issue with blackboard, thankfully I check here but what about the others that dont and who have major assignments due after Christmas?
Maybe its just me that didnt get the email

RolandIRL

nope, i didn't get an email either

Belmono

I'm not sure if ISS sent a group email to students, only to staff. That was the main reason why I started the thread - aside from the obvious wisecracks (nothing wrong with these, of course:D), most of you can clearly see why this might be something worth knowing about, as you face another portion of turkey curry! I think that due consideration will be given for anyone unable to access important material between now and the start of Semester 2. There are many courses which have early deadlines in Semester 2 for assignments, essays and projects, so this will be taken into account.
As ISS have mentioned in this thread, access can be given on an individual basis to Blackboard for a short time by following the instructions outlined in that post. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the Christmas!

Pinturicchio

I didn't get an email either.

Ficheall

I got an email :cool:

Zillah

Add captcha, end drama.



Wait no, I changed my mind, probably a better solution would be to shut down the whole system for several weeks denying access for thousands of students.

joeKel73

ISS Service Desk wrote: »

It may be possible to facilitate brief access to Blackbord over the coming days for those with specific, urgent need to get to assignments etc before Jan 5th/6th.

If you require urgent access to Blackboard before Jan 5th/6th, send a PM to this account and provide your name, student number and NUI, Galway email address (not your password). Details will be sent to your NUI, Galway email address.


ISS Service Desk

PM'd "ISS Service Desk" and got an email about possible access in the next couple of days. Appreciate the boards.ie interaction from ISS!

Fionn MacCool

Zillah wrote: »

Add captcha, end drama.



Wait no, I changed my mind, probably a better solution would be to shut down the whole system for several weeks denying access for thousands of students.

Nooo


Seriously, having to complete a Captcha verification every time I wanna log into Bb would be worse than it going down the odd time.

WesternNight

It's back up again now, for what it's worth.

Fionn MacCool

How long has it been down on? I just got a 1 week extension on an essay... pretty sure it's been down for a lot longer than that?

joeKel73

Was down from 22nd Dec until today... or very recently. So at least 2 weeks...

TheCosmicFrog

It seems some people got emails and others didn't. It's definitely not a student/staff divide, since I'm both and I didn't receive anything. Although I did receive the second email saying it was only available on the local network.