Hey fellow k12sysadmins,

I’m currently going through a network outage nightmare, and I thought it would be both entertaining and therapeutic to hear your own horror stories. We all know that when it comes to network issues, the struggle is real, and sometimes you just have to laugh to keep from crying. Whether it’s a major outage during an important exam, a bizarre series of events leading to chaos, or an “unplanned downtime” that left everyone scratching their heads, I’m sure we all have tales to tell. Let’s take a moment to bond over our shared experiences and maybe even find some comfort in knowing we’re not alone. Here are a few questions to get the ball rolling: 1. What was the most outrageous network outage you’ve ever encountered in an educational setting? 2. How did the network outage impact students, teachers, and staff? Any funny or memorable reactions? 3. Did you uncover any unexpected causes or discover some unbelievable solutions? 4. How did you handle the pressure and keep your cool during these incidents? 5. Looking back, what lessons did you learn from these network outages?

Looking forward to reading your stories and finding some humor in the chaos! Let’s turn these network outages into tales worth telling

  • eldoomEnglish
    2·
    2 years ago

    Alright so I’m 100% the perpetrator in this one…

    Back in middle school some 20 years ago I took a typing class. Because typing is easy, and the teacher was old and thought it was difficult… Id usually finish the classwork within the first 15 minutes.

    Now what did little 12 year old me do with my extra time? Do homework? Naw id rather make New Briefcase folders. So every day for a couple months id sit there and create new briefcases for about 45 minutes a day.

    Then one day I realized that I could do this a lot more efficiently! I figured I could go select all, copy, click paste over and over. This was even more efficient with the hotkeys.

    Eventually, I didn’t connect it but the district server was going down. Computer classes and everything involving a computer was hereby cancelled. That was okay with me, because I couldn’t even open my folder in it…

    One day I actually had to find something that was in my file that I had done a long time ago. I couldn’t get into it so I got the IT guy… Boy was I in trouble. They threatened to fine me for lost wages, they said they were going to expel me… They didn’t, it was their fault they didn’t have a size cap on anyone’s account.

    And that’s the story about how my old school district got server caps!