Network card crash leaves 17,000 stranded at LAX
According to reports, a single computer crash on Saturday in the Customs office of LAX caused hours of delays for more than 17,000 airline passengers. US Customs officials say that a malfunctioning network card on a single desktop created a "domino" effect with its other computers, leading to a total system failure that caused massive wait times. According to a Customs spokesman, "We lost access to our national systems, as well as our local area network." He went on the claim that it took over ten hours to diagnose the problem, halting screening operations and leaving passengers stranded on planes or in the airport -- unable to enter or leave the US. From the sounds of it, Customs need to hire a handful of Engadget readers, who we're pretty sure could have located the source of the problem in considerably less time.
[Thanks, Darleene]
[Thanks, Darleene]























"U.S. would be worthless without [California]"
Wake up. Exports from CA to the rest of the country are not vital as is the case with other states that supply items such as the bulk of the countrys food. Just because revenues are high doesnt mean what is produced is needed for the country to run. We'll soon find that out when CA drops off into the ocean. I have a feeling the country will be able to go on without all the BS that CA produces.
If you are wondering how the bulk of the country views people in CA. Just watch those CA based "reality" shows. Most of the country views CA as a bunch of self involved, spoiled people offering nothing to better society except what benefits them. The further you get from CA the stronger that sentiment gets. I’m not trying to be rude, just cluing you in on reality of life outside CA.
Considering the billions Bush has spent creating the American KGB, err, Stasi, oops, I mean DHS, yes, it is his fault.
token ring strikes again!
Ummm...Last I checked Token Ring didn't use terminators...It's a RING...
Each workstation connects to a MAU (Multiple Access Unit). These MAUs are then connected to form the ring. More useless knowledge that I can't seem to get out of my brain...
Ummm...Last I checked Token Ring didn't use terminators...It's a RING...
Each workstation connects to a MAU (Multiple Access Unit). These MAUs are then connected to form the ring. More useless knowledge that I can't seem to get out of my brain...
We have a bunch of dumbasses running our national infrastructure!!!
And you thought terrorists were scary!!!
Inow have the overwhelming urge to go home and watch The Terminal.
FOR KRAKOZHIA!
This kind of stuff happens all the time because the end users at their terminals are instructed not to try and fix it if they encounter a problem. They are to wait for IT to handle it. A good example of this kind of stupidity is when I was trying to check into hotel (small days inn or motel 6 type). Well they said I couldn't check in because their computer was down. I was looking right at it. Sure enough it was 98 or 95 sitting at the blue screen. but instead of just restarting the thing. they called an outside source to come diagnose the problem. I watched as thy guy simply reset the thing. apparently this "outage" last 3 hours. Luckily I was there when the calvary arrived (some level 1-2 support guy) and didn't have to wait more than 20 minutes.
You'd be surprised.
I have experienced this exact phenomena myself. We have had a single malfunctioning NIC bring down and entire network in a cascading effect.
The problem was not the NIC producing a packet storm or anything like that. It would occasionally send out a malformed frame intermitently (like every 5 minutes or so) that would just crash everything. You know the frame is something special when it causes your network analysis tool to bluescreen (lol).
Took us ages to find it. We literally had to unplug everything and plug each one of the systems back into the network one at a time and wait inbetween systems to see if the network would stay up.
Took us hours to bring the network back up. When we found it we removed the network card and even the Cisco guys were amazed, still coulden't figure out why it was crashing everything even after we subjected it to tests. This was a network of over 400 nodes. We keep that card framed today in the office as the "Network Card o Doom".
So i would not discount the scenario or the fact that it took them that long to get it back up.
MAn i used to work for that place as a Network operator and it was a darn mess i swear! no wonder they had this BS happan to them
I was actually in the line, coming in from Mexico.
Five hours. I got there at 2.
All the natives kept complaining, so they handed out free BK burgers and fries. I think they felt bad that they didn't have an answer to "Well isn't there a backup system? Or manual processing?"
"uhhh..."
People.. listen to reason. how can a END USER computer crash the whole network? Unless that desktop was infected with some virus that was doing an attack.
It was not an end user computer that caused the network failure.. it was indeed a NETWORK SWITCH, which makes more sense. However, a 10 hr downtime just means there are too many chiefs and not enough indians.
http://cbs2.com/local/local_story_225075202.html
I can't believe one NIC took out the entire Network. Have they never heard of a switch or are they still using hubs or worse token ring. It would be trivial to identify and isolate the faulty Network card by checking the port status. Hmm, the more I think about it you guys are right something is fishy with this story. I think they were hacked or someone is covering their behind.
A friend of mine was caught in this mess. He was fortunate because there was one computer working for the 17,000 passengers. The system crashed as he was a few people behind the customs officer whose computer was still working. He made it out in 10 minutes while the other passengers all queued behind the one line. Talk about luck.
In a properly structured and segmented network this problem would have been way easier to isolate/control. Too bad the LAX guys are clueless...
Um, well that is why I have always been told to check for hardware problems before anything else.
They probably outsourced their network support to a third world country.
CALL THE IT! durrrrrrr dnt call the police for help call the IT or email bill gates for help