Publication Date: January 2002
Author: General Manager: SFA Student Channel
Summary:FAFSA on the Web Availability the Week of January 1, 2002
Posted on January 4, 2002
To: All Financial Aid Administrators
From: Central Processing System
RE: FAFSA on the Web Availability the Week of January 1, 2002
You or your students may have been experiencing difficulties accessing FAFSA on the Web (http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/) since January 1, 2002. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. The message below will explain the specific issue you have encountered.
Background
At 12:00 midnight Central Standard Time on January 1, 2002, FAFSA on the Web was updated to include the functionality for 2002-03 FAFSA. At this time a switch to the DNS was issued. DNS stands for Domain Name System. This is the system that takes a URL, such as www.fafsa.ed.gov, and converts it into an IP address so that the proper server can be contacted. All servers connected to the Internet are identified by a specific name called an IP address. It is this address which is used by routers to find the proper server for a web site. On January 1, 2002, the URL, www.fafsa.ed.gov, was set to route to a new server’s IP address.
The Current Issue with the DNS Switch
When a DNS switch is done, it must propagate through all individual DNS servers on the Internet before all users will have access. Some servers may update themselves once a day. Some servers may update themselves every few days.
You may still be experiencing some accessibility issues (your DNS server may be currently routing the URL www.fafsa.ed.gov to the IP address that was valid prior to January 1, 2002). However, as of January 02, at around 1pm Central Standard Time, there has been a significant increase in activity on the FAFSA site, which means that the DNS is propagating successfully throughout the Internet. It is estimated that all DNS servers will be updated within 72 hours from the time the DNS was changed, and this issue will disappear.
If you have questions regarding FAFSA on the Web, please contact FAFSA on the Web Customer Service at 1-800/433-3243 and select option 2. For questions concerning FAA Access on the Web please contact CPS/WAN Technical Support at 1-800/330-5947 or via e-mail at cpswan@ncs.com.