Resolved: Blackboard Slowness – week of 12/2/13

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Update 12/5/13 4PM: Details re: Resolution of Blackboard Slowness

As indicated in the update posted on 12/4, the slow performance of Blackboard that many of students, faculty & staff experienced with Blackboard was resolved yesterday late afternoon.  Today’s reports confirm that faculty, staff, and students are not experiencing slowdowns today.

Read on if you would like further details on the issue and action taken ….  

Denison’s Internet Service Provider, OARnet, provides three types of connectivity.  They are:

  • Internet2 (Non-profit, national network dedicated to research and education. OARnet is Ohio’s access point to Internet2. Most expensive bandwidth.  Denison has 10 mbps)
  • IntraOhio (Network traffic that stays within the state of Ohio. Least expensive bandwidth. Denison has access to unlimited supply as an OARnet member)
  • Commodity Internet, also called Internet1 (General public connection. Serves the lion’s share of Denison’s Internet needs.  Denison has 600 mbps for faculty, staff, and student use)

OARnet routes Denison’s network traffic effectively to ensure the best performance (fastest path) using an appropriate connectivity level.

Denison’s Blackboard platform is hosted by the University of Cincinnati.  Blackboard traffic to/from Denison’s network should be connected via IntraOhio for obvious reasons. While Denison’s outbound Blackboard traffic was indeed connected through IntraOhio, Oarnet found a problem in their routing configuration that resulted in the inbound traffic being connected via Internet2. With unlimited bandwidth capacity for IntraOhio, but only 10 mbps for Internet2 traffic, the I2 pipe became saturated very quickly which resulted in severely slow response times.

The positive news is that Oarnet has properly diagnosed the problem.  While they have not permanently fixed the configuration to route Denison’s Blackboard traffic both inbound and outbound as IntraOhio, they did remove the 10 mbps cap on Internet2 traffic allowing for increased capacity.  Blackboard’s performance is now significantly improved.

Please contact the ITS Help Desk at 740-587-6395 or helpdesk@denison.edu if you have questions or would like to discuss further.

 Update 12/4/13 5:15PM: Blackboard Slowness Resolved

Our Internet Service Provider (OARnet) found a problem with how our Internet traffic was being routed.  This change has resulted in a substantial improvement in the performance of Blackboard.

Original Post:

ITS has received several reports of significant slowness in Blackboard.  Work is ongoing to diagnose and correct the issue but as of yet the cause of the slowness has not been identified.  ITS is working with our Internet Service Provider and others to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

In the meantime, you may wish to save materials you are using in your class on the network or on the eclassroom computer to minimize the impact of this slowness on your class. If you need assistance, please contact your Instructional Technologist.

If you experience slowness, please report it to the ITS Help Desk at 740-587-6395 or helpdesk@denison.edu.  Understanding the breadth of the problem will assist in diagnosing and resolving it.