The service alert was added to the ANGEL page while MSU Academic Technology Services increased server hardware capacity in an attempt to solve software complications that began Monday, said Katherine Ball, the communications manager at MSU Academic Technology Services.

The complications were created by server issues related to increased users and kept students and instructors from accessing the site, Ball said.

“As it stands now, (ANGEL) is experiencing severe performance issues to the point of being unusable during peak periods,” Ball said Wednesday afternoon.

Currently ANGEL has 133,840 users for 3,350 course sections, Ball said. This number is expected to increase as the semester progresses and students finalize their schedules.

Business management sophomore Alysa Boan said she was frustrated by the complications and was unsure how she would submit her upcoming assignments.

“All my classes are on ANGEL,” she said. “And I can’t get to any of them. I got in last night and then it died on me.”

The ANGEL system was upgraded in May and limitations to the database’s ability to handle an influx of users were not evident at that time, she said.

“These issues, they appear to be directly related to limitations of the database engine,” Ball said. “We are currently assembling a database system with more capacity.”

The hardware installation was expected to be completed by 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Journalism and history professor Michael Stamm said he utilizes the grade book and discussion forums in ANGEL and has received some e-mails from frustrated students.

“Having these problems at the beginning or end of the semester is probably most inconvenient,” he said. “Especially at the beginning, because people are just getting used to using it.”

Stamm said problems with academic databases are not unique to MSU or ANGEL.

“I’ve used different versions of this software at different universities, and they all have bugs,” he said. “These things happen. The best thing students can do to avoid these problems is to get things done earlier and if there are problems, bring them to the attention of the professor.”

Media arts and technology junior Antoine White said with the number of courses that use ANGEL, it is not a surprise that students are frustrated with the system problems.

“Thank God this happened now,” he said. “Had this happened when people had more assignments due, it would have been a much bigger problem.”

If ANGEL complications continue after the hardware update, Ball said MSU Academic Technology Services will contact the vendor.

“We can’t guarantee anything,” she said. “We isolated the problems, and we are trying to implement some solutions, but I would say that people should contact their instructors to see if there is something else they should or could be doing, if they can’t access their courses.”