CNN logo Navigation Infoseek/Big Yellow Pathfinder/Warner Bros Tech banner Click here to play IBM's virtual tennis @ www.wimbledon.org rule DATABASE PROBLEM SLOWS SOME INTERNET TRAFFIC July 17, 1997 Web posted at: 9:53 p.m. EDT (0153 GMT) (AP) -- A problem with the database that keeps track of all Internet addresses slowed network traffic for several hours Thursday morning, effectively blinking some Web sites out of existence. The problem appeared to be resolved by midafternoon. During the trouble, computers couldn't always find someaddresses ending in .net and .com, sometimes e-mail didn't go through and attempts to look up some Web sites came up empty. A user seeking an address ending in .com, for example, wouldhave received an error message that read "Could not resolve DNS," said Aggie Nteta, a spokeswoman for Network Solutions Inc., which runs the main registry of Internet addresses, called InterNIC, under an arrangement with the U.S. government. Every morning at 2:45 a.m. EDT, the files listing all Internet addresses for North America are updated and sent out through the network. On Wednesday morning, two of those files somehow became corrupted, setting off error alarms. However, the system administrator on duty chose to release the files anyway, creating a situation in which many Web sites effectively blinked out of existence, at least in the eyes of browsers. "The big effect was that our site became invisible," saidChris Caldwell, chief engineer at NDA, a Web site design company in Woburn, Massachusetts. Problems with addresses The files were corrected and re-released about four hours later, although it may have taken several more hours for the corrected information to spread throughout the network, Nteta said. The problem is the latest in a series of addressing glitchesover the past few days. Last weekend AlterNIC, an InterNIC rival, briefly took over InterNiC's address on the Web. AlterNIC described this on its Web site as a form of protest over InterNIC's current monopoly on distribution of Internet addresses. InterNIC has also encountered numerous problems with badinformation on its database. Some businesses have been double billed, while others have had their Web sites dropped from the address lists by mistake. Dave Crocker, a computer consultant and founder of theInternet Mail Consortium, said it was a problem of qualityassurance. "The fact that they are growing quickly is not an excuse forthis. The rate of errors they are having would not be tolerable for any other professional organization doing a technical task," he said. Copyright 1997 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. rule Related site: Note: Page will open in a new browser window * Welcome to the InterNIC External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive. Search for related CNN stories: ________________________________________ ______ [Help] Tip: You can restrict your search to the title of a document. Infoseek grfk Example: title:New Year's Resolutions rule Watch these shows on CNN for more sci-tech stories: CNN Computer Connection | Future Watch | Science & Technology Week rule Message Boards Sound off on our message boards Tell us what you think! You said it... [INLINE] Click here to play IBM's virtual tennis @ www.wimbledon.org rule To the top © 1997 Cable News Network, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you.