For anyone who stumbles upon this thread, another user Julianface has an even faster solution. My method got me into Solar in under 10 minutes, his method gets you in under a minute. See his thread here:

http://www.macinsiders.com/showthrea...6.html?t=63346

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Hello Everyone and 1st Years!

Solar sucks, it's a fact. For the first years here, let this be your first real life lesson about the dangers of bureaucrats and bureaucracy. The fact the most vital component of the entire McMaster system, the class registration system, is so vitally flawed and has been like this for so long is indicative of mass waste of resources, and symptomatic of "kick the can down the road" disease. In other words, your administrators care very little for you and the system / network administrators don't deserve their salary that comes from your tuition.

I'm willing to bet that if you picked out a handful of smart kids from the CompSci / Eng program and got them to rewrite a modern system as a summer project coordinated by a professor, it would be a hundred times more efficient than the current system. I could make a web app myself that would check for course conflicts, let people add and drop courses, make a queue system, allow waivers, and check for pre-reqs and anti-reqs in a weekend and comp sci isn't even my major so imagine what they could do!

Rant aside, I have a way to- make it easier getting into Solar. It involves running a small script that refreshes the page for you as if you were clicking Close and clicking SOLAR again but you don't have to do it. For people wondering "Why can't I just press F5?".

The problem with pressing F5 is that you are reloading this page which is just the error screen redirect.

https://adweb.cis.mcmaster.ca/cis/ahtml/solrmax.htm

Instead, you want to be loading this page which is hidden and not accessible from Mugsi. Try it out. Go to the first link I gave you and you will get the error screen. Now try going to the link below and you will get a login screen! This is because the first link is just a static redirect page while the second link checks to see if there is room for you on Solar but first it checks to see if you are logged in. The first page doesn't check your log in status.

https://adweb.cis.mcmaster.ca/mugsi/si0

Lets Get to It

First and foremost, download Firefox if you don't already have it and get the addon called iMacros. I can't post the link so just Google it.

Okay now follow along on this picture.



1. Click that Icon with the yellow gear to open iMacros
2. Right click on #Current.iim and chose Edit Macro. Paste the code below then close the window.\
If #Current.iim doesn't show up, you can either

• Use one of the other scripts in Demo-Firefox folder and just paste the code and rename it or

• Click on Rec tab, then click Record then stop. #Current.iim will now show up! Rename it as you see fit.

VERSION BUILD=7500718 RECORDER=FX
URL GOTO=https://adweb.cis.mcmaster.ca/mugsi/si0
WAIT SECONDS=5

3. Choose the amount of times to repeat or loop. I just put it to 100. Then click Play (Loop) to start.
4. Click play. Now it is as if you were opening and closing SOLAR manually.

All you have to do now is click STOP to prevent the loop from reloading the page when you get in! You have 5 seconds to do so.

The way I do it is I just set the loop on my second monitor and I can see it in the corner of my eye when I get the SOLAR page and I stop the loop.

NOTES:

• Make sure you are logged in before hand.

• If this is too much work, you can just set up a small bookmark icon on your bookmark bar with the previous link above that ends /mugsi/si0 so that you don't have to close out and click again. You only need to click that bookmarklet.

• If you're skeptical this works, try putting the Tax Cert url instead of going on SOLAR. You'll see you get refreshed there.

  https://adweb.cis.mcmaster.ca/mugsi/taxcert

• If you want more proof, use the link below in your script instead of the /mugsi/si0 one above and see how much faster the page reloads. The reason is because this is the static error screen and doesn't require any server processing whereas the other one I linked to earlier has to check if there is room for you to go on Solar

  https://adweb.cis.mcmaster.ca/cis/ahtml/solrmax.htm

If anyone's good with Javascript and has time to experiment, the best method would be to write a small script that checks to see if the reloaded page has "The maximum allowable..." and if it does then keep reloading. If it doesn't then end the script since it means you got in. This way you don't have to manually stop it.

Good luck!

EDIT: 3:45 PM

I got in twice so far since I posted this thread at 3:00 PM. I've been replying in the mean time and only used the 100 loops. So I got in twice each 100 loops. So that means it took about 16 minutes to get in!

too bad I saw thisafter I already got in and changed my courses! But theres alwas next year!

I never understood a lot of the SOLAR rage... you'll get to pick/switch your classes at a later date during a time the server isn't overwhelmed with so many requests. Why does everybody complain about SOLAR/MUGSI issues, what with waking up so early and spending hours trying to get in?

The real issue breaks down to there not being enough space in certain courses/cores, otherwise you get the exact same result if you do your course selection business a week later.

I think everyone is taking all their frustrations about 'missing mandatory courses', or 'not being able to resolve time table conflicts' and saying its the tech system's fault, when in reality, its McMaster's acceptance of too many students in attempt to maximize profits.

Even if SOLAR/MUGSI could tolerate 20,000 students on at once, there would still be frustrations with a lot of students not being able to change around classes they want.

Am I missing something? Why do people absolutely *have* to log on today?

well many students want the best schedule they can have. Usually this means no 8:30 classes or a lot of back to back classes. Logging on today maximizes the chances they have of getting the cores, labs and tutorials they want.

I always new there was a secret trick of getting in quicker :/

Oh, & I can't find #Current.iim on mine.

Originally Posted by RyanC

I never understood a lot of the SOLAR rage... you'll get to pick/switch your classes at a later date during a time the server isn't overwhelmed with so many requests. Why does everybody complain about SOLAR/MUGSI issues, what with waking up so early and spending hours trying to get in?

The real issue breaks down to there not being enough space in certain courses/cores, otherwise you get the exact same result if you do your course selection business a week later.

I think everyone is taking all their frustrations about 'missing mandatory courses', or 'not being able to resolve time table conflicts' and saying its the tech system's fault, when in reality, its McMaster's acceptance of too many students in attempt to maximize profits.

Even if SOLAR/MUGSI could tolerate 20,000 students on at once, there would still be frustrations with a lot of students not being able to change around classes they want.

Am I missing something? Why do people absolutely *have* to log on today?

The problem is the ineptitude of the administrators which affects people who are paying a lot of money to be here. Most new kids coming in are young, and inexperienced and this will be the first major financial undertaking they will make.

They try to get the courses they need and then they have to go through hoops in order to get a spot. Then, they have to spend hours hoping to get into SOLAR to select their classes and if they are lucky, the class won't be full yet.

This is lunacy, to expect paying customers to line up and click a button hundreds of times to get in. You could say "nobody is forcing anyone to click a button and wait hours to get onto Solar". But that's not fair and it's very deceitful. You put people to compete against each other in order to get into classes. It invokes the "Screw you, I got mine" mentality and the "If I don't get in now, someone else will before me" mentality.

Can you imagine if any business was run like this? Could you imagine if TD Canada told me to refresh the page before I could log in to make payments? I would switch in a heartbeat. Thats free market at work. More over, I'm at work right now and I had to waste my morning to re arrange a course and to get in. I wasted company time for SOLAR but luckily my boss was understanding. What we have here at McMaster is no incentive for them to change anything for the better. Like any bureacratic beast, it sucks in cash and spits out waste.

What I should expect from a university that prides itself on being innovative and ahead of the curve in the 21st century is a scaleable server that can handle at least 20,000 connections at once. If you cannot even design your software and servers to handle 20,000 people concurrently (the max amount of students if everyone were to log in at once) then you are drag on public resources. MacInsiders can handle 20,000 people at once but McMaster can't. Give me a break, there is no defending what is going on here. Any systems / network engineer worth his salt would create a queue system or would instruct the servers to deny any new connections so that the servers feeding the homepage and other components do not crash at 9:30 am on a weekday.

World class, yea right.

Originally Posted by AnanC206

well many students want the best schedule they can have. Usually this means no 8:30 classes or a lot of back to back classes. Logging on today maximizes the chances they have of getting the cores, labs and tutorials they want.

The thing is though, even if everybody got on, and it all worked 100%, somebody would still not get what they want. People are effectively displacing their anger on the system, when its just a matter of luck, and a problem with classroom availability. Obviously if you're determined to get a sweet schedule, log on, and your efforts are for naught, one can get upset...

It's kind of like waiting at an electronics store for their opening time with a bunch of other people, then getting mad when the first 50 customers snag the new iPad before you do.. and you're left with nothing... then yelling at a poor helpless cashier or something.

:3

Originally Posted by RyanC

The thing is though, even if everybody got on, and it all worked 100%, somebody would still not get what they want. People are effectively displacing their anger on the system, when its just a matter of luck, and a problem with classroom availability. Obviously if you're determined to get a sweet schedule, log on, and your efforts are for naught, one can get upset...

It's kind of like waiting at an electronics store for their opening time with a bunch of other people, then getting mad when the first 50 customers snag the new iPad before you do.. and you're left with nothing... then yelling at a poor helpless cashier or something.

:3

Yeah, except we're lining up for a $6000 dollar product which we have already paid for, some for a $10,000 product depending on residence/food costs. I don't remember people lining up for $6000 dollar iPads...

Originally Posted by BlackSheepWa

What I should expect from a university that prides itself on being innovative and ahead of the curve in the 21st century is a scaleable server that can handle at least 20,000 connections at once. If you cannot even design your software and servers to handle 20,000 people concurrently (the max amount of students if everyone were to log in at once) then you are drag on public resources. MacInsiders can handle 20,000 people at once but McMaster can't. Give me a break, there is no defending what is going on here. Any backend engineer worth his salt would create a queue system or would instruct the servers to deny any new connections so that the servers feeding the homepage and other components do not crash at 9:30 am on a weekday.

You're missing the point, having the ability to connect 20,000 people at once won't solve the issue, your limiting factor is lack of time table offering for desirable times.

I could understand the financial justification *against* upgrading server capabilities, because the peak time only occurs a couple of times a year. Still, you're right that they should account for these times. In my opinion, it would be better to separate the access dates into blocks (like initial course registration). I'm sure a lot of the 'bandwidth'/'connections' space is wasted on people idling an not really getting anywhere, which only worsens the issue.

For you chrome users: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...f ijoopmnlemp

thanks!

Originally Posted by RyanC

The thing is though, even if everybody got on, and it all worked 100%, somebody would still not get what they want. People are effectively displacing their anger on the system, when its just a matter of luck, and a problem with classroom availability. Obviously if you're determined to get a sweet schedule, log on, and your efforts are for naught, one can get upset...

It's kind of like waiting at an electronics store for their opening time with a bunch of other people, then getting mad when the first 50 customers snag the new iPad before you do.. and you're left with nothing... then yelling at a poor helpless cashier or something.

:3

Yes but you have no way of knowing if you didnt get your seat because someone else got there first, fairly, or if you didnt get your seat because SOLAR bumped you out and let someone else on and even though you were first and more prepared, you lose.

Everytime I tell any member of my family "oh I tried but I couldnt get into the course/core I wanted" they always say "what are you talking about? you pay to go to school there and you dont get what you want? you cant talk to someone and get in the class?" ... "no mom... that wont work" *sigh*

Originally Posted by -Ish-

I always new there was a secret trick of getting in quicker :/

Oh, & I can't find #Current.iim on mine.

If you can't just open Demo-Firefox and edit the first one called "Demo-ArchivePage.iim". Open it and just replace whatever inside. You can also rename it afterwards if you'd like!

weird, I have no #current.iim

Originally Posted by ct5892

weird, I have no #current.iim

Read above. /12chars

Originally Posted by RyanC

You're missing the point, having the ability to connect 20,000 people at once won't solve the issue, your limiting factor is lack of time table offering for desirable times.

So pretty much McMaster is taking money from people who will not be getting the same service as other people. Service in this instance refers to class preferences. Remember, it's mostly luck based and how much you complain over email and phone to get waivers so by default some people will end up getting the short end of the stick. Survival of the fittest and all huh.

Originally Posted by RyanC

I could understand the financial justification *against* upgrading server capabilities, because the peak time only occurs a couple of times a year. Still, you're right that they should account for these times. In my opinion, it would be better to separate the access dates into blocks (like initial course registration). I'm sure a lot of the 'bandwidth'/'connections' space is wasted on people idling an not really getting anywhere, which only worsens the issue.

We're talking about 20,000 connections at most. People are just loading simple html webpages not downloading gigabytes of data. Network infrastructure is important enough to justify spending capital on it. Server crashes and disconnects happen several times a year on Avenue not just when course registrations are open.