noticeboard.ru.ac.za

2004/09/11 Hed Circuit Failure
At approximately 8.30 this morning the higher educational (HED) component of our outgoing Internet connection went down. A fault report was logged with Telkom's call center at about 8.55 and we were informed that the problem lay with the HED router at the University of Natal (UND).

At 12.30 a second call to Telkom revealed that the problem has been isolated to a faulty UPS circuit in UND's machine room, meaning that the HED router currently has no power. UND's electricians were contacted and they informed us that they are awaiting the arrival a service technician from the UPS manufacturer's agents in Durban. Unfortunately they could not give us an estimate of how long it is likely to be before service is restored. It is likely, however, that it'll take a while for routing to stabilise once power is restored, meaning that HED connections could be intermittent for a while once this happens.

This fault affects all traffic between higher educational facilities in South Africa (things that end in .ac.za). This includes the SEALS shared library service, which is currently not accessible from other participating institutions.
At 5.20pm the HED circuit is still down. A third call to Telkom has revealed that the problem we are experiencing is due to a cable fault. Apparently an external contractor at UND has damaged the electricity supply cable that supplies UND's machine room with power. This in turn caused damage to their UPS, as was first reported. We're told that they are working on replacing the damaged cable.

There is still no expected time for resolution.
post.8445