Follow up to UNLV WebCampus Issues

The recent issues with WebCampus were caused by a software bug deep in the Oracle database that stores all the content contained in the course management system. It took quite some time to eliminate all possible causes and many conversations with Oracle and Blackboard (the WebCampus vendor) to uncover the problem. The repairs were implemented September 19 & 20th and appear to have eradicated the issues. 

Unfortunately you experienced a week of unexpected outages and lengthy emergency and scheduled maintenance periods as staff in the Office of Information Technology (OIT) worked around the clock to isolate the problem. During the week the priority was to keep the system up for as many hours as possible. To do so there were times when some WebCampus functionality was unavailable, like e-mail. But all e-mail was stored and then delivered when we returned service very early Monday morning.

OIT regrets the many inconveniences these outages have created. We know that this caused difficulties for you when trying to submit assignments, access course content, complete assessment activities in the time periods allotted, and engage in chats, discussions, and group work due to the long and sometimes unpredictable periods that the system was unavailable.

For those of you who would like to know more details, a summary of the issues, causes, and resolutions is being prepared and will be posted to OIT’s homepage and to WebCampus as an announcement.

Thank you for your understanding as we worked diligently to effect repairs.  We are confident that we have resolved the underlying issues. In addition, we are working to identify other possible issues before they have an opportunity to cause more disruptions.

If you have any questions or any suggestions for anything OIT could have done better to keep the campus community informed, please give us feedback. In the future, you can view all incidents on OIT's homepage or follow us on Twitter @unlv_oit.

Your feedback is important and will help us do all we can to mitigate the frustration caused when complex systems like WebCampus experience unanticipated difficulties.

Lori

Lori Temple
Vice Provost for Information Technology