An overload of requests for Internet protocol addresses led to many people on campus being unable to connect to the Internet on Monday.

In order for a device to connect to the Internet, a server must first assign that device an IP address.

On the ISU campus, the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol server is the server that assigns IP addresses to devices on campus, said Angela Baker, director of Networks & Communications/Systems & Operations of Internet Technology Services.

Baker explained that Monday the DHCP server was not assigning IP addresses fast enough, which led to many people on campus being unable to connect to the Internet on their devices.

“The server was getting 300 to 400 requests every second. In general, the server is built to do 75 requests every second,” Baker said. “It seems like devices kept asking every second, which then cascaded into an overload of that server.”

Professionals at ISU IT Services changed some configurations of the server in order to accommodate the large number of IP address requests, Baker said. She said these changes seemed to have worked because the major overload of requests ended around 5:10 p.m. Monday. 

Vice Provost of IT Services Jim Davis said via email Monday night that “the computer registration systems are designed to handle the load, and the exact reason for their unresponsiveness [Monday] is under investigation.” Baker is unsure of why the server became overloaded, but she said she and her staff are analyzing the data from Monday to find out the cause of the overload.

A malicious attack on the server was unlikely the reason for the overload, Baker said. She said the overload was probably caused by too many Wi-Fi-enabled mobile devices attempting to connect to the Internet at the same time. 

“When you have a smartphone or a device that is wireless-enabled, if you have Wi-Fi turned on, whenever it’s close to an access point, it tries to get an IP address,” she said. 

The increased number of freshmen on campus this year may not have been the reason for the overload either, Baker said. She said the number of Wi-Fi-enabled devices on campus is likely the reason for the overload, not the number of people. 

“The number of devices on campus grows every year,” she said. “We really do a decent job of planning for the number of devices and people.”

Baker said that IT Services increases the speed of the server every year to handle the increase in demand. She said that the events that occurred Monday was an “unfortunate series of events.”

“We are taking steps to make sure that this never happens again,” Baker said.

One way for students and others on campus to help decrease the demand on the DHCP server is to register their wireless devices to the ISU Network. Once registered, a device receives an IP address and no longer has to ask the server for an address whenever it tries to connect to the Internet.

“We want people to use the network,” Baker said. “But, it will help if people register their devices.”