Service Status
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The most recent Service Statement entry is at the top of the list below
Please direct support requests to support at rural-web dot org or leave a message on 0700 596 8908 (50p per minute) asking to be rung back. If urgent try contacting Richard on 890114.
26 September 2008
Not long to go now folks! Decommissioning is due to start in a few days, but we won't cut off anyone straight away who we know has made a genuine effort to get an alternative in place.However, the Golf-Tear-Tree node has been troublesome lately, and appears now to have been off for the last two days. No action is proposed as so far as we know no-one is now using it. Shout if you need it!
11 September 2008
Apologies that Victor-Mill (serving various members around Mill Road) has been off since about 19:00 yesterday following a power problem. This was not realised until 09:00 this morning, and cannot be dealt with until access is possible at lunch time.2 September 2008
Apologies for an outage in the Upper Maplewell area this morning. The wireless in the node appears to have stopped working until a reboot. (As this node has a Murphx feed it seems unlikely that the problem was related to the item below.)1 September 2008
(Posted at 20:45)There have been problems today with our Nildram Internet feeds (one is to Perry Close, the other to Victoria Road - which also has a Murphx feed). The problems do not seem to be related to Rural-WEB equipment. The Perry Close feed was off for some time this afternoon and both have been very slow. The ISP has been asked to investigate. Throughput using these feeds remains poor and will be monitored.
14 August 2008
We have reason to believe that two of our Internet feeds (one to upper Maplewell road and one of the two to Victoria Road) may be cut off in the next day or two, possibly for some days. If this happens some users may be automatically re-connected via the other Victoria Road feed, but we will need to reconfigure equipment to get a feed to others. This may take some time.Please note that this problem is not part of the "winding down" of Rural-WEB but is rather due to long-standing issues with the ISP concerned. Our aim is still, as far as possible, to ensure a "normal" Rural-WEB service until the end of September.
10 July 2008: ZoneAlarm related problem
We have just received the following from one of our Internet service Providers:| For those of you using ZoneAlarm who installed the windows updates today, you probably already know that your internet connection has died. It appears that [Microsoft's update] KB951748 made changes to the networking files that ZA doesn't see/recognize. This update applies to Windows XP users and users who have ZoneAlarm installed. Vista is NOT affected by this problem, because it is more secure and doesn't require this update There are 2 options to rectify the problem : ----- Option 1: Move Internet Zone slider to Medium ----- Navigate to the "ZoneAlarm Firewall" panel Click on the "Firewall" tab Move the "Internet Zone" slider to medium ----- Option 2: Uninstall the hotfix ----- Click the "Start Menu" Click "Control Panel", or click "Settings" then "Control Panel" Click on "Add or Remove Programs" On the top of the add/remove programs dialog box, you should see a checkbox that says "show updates". Select this checkbox Scroll down until you see "Security update for Windows (KB951748)" Click "Remove" to uninstall the hotfix More information can be found at this link |
This is a problem for all users of ZoneAlarm with Windows XP, so will affect some Rural-WEB members. It is not caused by a failure within Rural-WEB, or by one of our ISPs.
Problems Sunday 6 July 2007
There would appear to have been an issue in the telephone exchange or other BT circuits around 16:00 as four of our five feeds (from three different ISPs) went off. Two feeds and associated Rural-WEB equipment recovered within an hour or two, but we were left with two down - the Swithland feed and one Woodhouse Eaves feed (affecting mainly lower Maplewell Road and streets off).As late, the others were left hoping resolution would occur "naturally" overnight, but it did not. Feed hosts contacted just after 8 Monday and asked to reboot the modem/routers. This worked except that the second Swithland node then needed a reboot - initiated remotely. Everything appeared normal by about 09:00 Monday.
Warning issued 17 June 2008 at 21:30 - updated 08:00 18 June
Nildram, the Internet Service Provider who provides two of our four feeds in Woodhouse eaves, have announced this evening that they will be undertaking maintenance work at around 1 a.m. tomorrow (Wednesday). There may be an interruption of service and it is possible that we will need to manually reset some equipment in the morning. Similarly, you may need to reboot your equipment to get your service restored.Wednesday morning: Panic over. Everything seems to have stayed up, apparently without interruption.
General status report, 17 June 2008
Just to let you know that the reason there are no reports since 16 April is that very little has been reported! There have been occasional automatic reboots of equipment, which may have resulted in you needing to reset yours, but the management reports have indicated that by and large the system has worked.Though the club is to cease operation (see above), there is no intention to reduce the "best efforts" level of support before that time. So if you find Rural-WEB is not working, please report it!
Various, 16 April 2008
- Apologies that possibly due to ongoing electrical work at the host premises the Victor-Mill node was off for several hours today.
- Though still poor yesterday, tests indicate a dramatic improvement in performance of our "Nildram" Internet feeds today.
- Earlier today, an apparent failure of wireless transmission from the "DDWRT" node at Victoria Road was noticed. Whether this was (or is) a real problem is not clear at the time of writing (16:30), though no-one who would be affected (3 or 4 households) has complained. Later, one of these members confirmed that he was still receiving a service.
Extensive failure 10 April 2008
Apologies for similar failure to the next, both seemingly initiated by a problem with our Murphx ISP service. Getting things back took longer and there are still throughput problems for some users and those on the DD-WRT node still have no service at 23:20. Hope to resolve both in the morning (Friday).Most problems were cleared Thursday evening, but thre members not until early Friday afternoon. Apologies to them in particular.
Please note that performance on the Internet feeds from our new ISP (Nildram) has become poor. The lines from the exchange have passed tests, but Nildram accept there is a problem and have escalated their efforts to resolve it. 10 - 15 member households may be affected by poor service until they do.
Extensive failure 8 April 2008
Apologies that service to many members was lost this afternoon for several hours. Recovery was hindered by a wrong initial guess at the cause. But having said that, if someone had reported a problem earlier it would have been fixed earlier!Uniform off again 31 March.
Sorry, failed again around 21:00. Rebooted.Update 8 April: A further failure followed, following which the power supply unit was replaced on 3 March. Uniform has been stable since.
Uniform-Vic2 off evening of 30 March 2008
Sorry, this replacement for Xray has failed in a similar manner to the recurring Xray faults. Arrangements have been made for a reboot in the morning (Monday), to be followed by some serious head scratching.Reboot done and back up late Monday morning, but the situation is unsatisfactory. You are not forgotten. Please do ring for help when your connection to this node dissappears so we can act a quickly as possible.
Xray-Vic2 off again evening of 26 March 2008
An alternative node has been soak testing and will hopefully be substituted in the morning.Update Saturday 27 March at 11:30: The node has been changed and is now working. You may need to reboot your equipment to connect to it.
The new node is called Uniform-Vic2, but if you connect automatically you won't see that anywhere.
Hopefully the service will now be more stable but do make contact as above if you have problems.
Xray-Vic2 off again evening of 21 March 2008
Once more. Being rebooted 09:00 Saturday morning. Sorry!Xray-Vic2 off again evening of 11 March 2008
I'm afraid it is unlikely to be back until some time in the morning. It was.Partial loss of service, morning of 4 March 2008
Apologies to anyone affected by a node lockup early this morning. This was of the "Mike-Victoria" node which does not serve many members directly, and other nodes seem to have automatically switched to using feeds from elsewhere. However, you may have needed to reboot your equipment.Maplewell Road side of Woodhouse Eaves Sat 1 March 2008
Apologies for a widespread outage this morning. Our two feeds from Murphx (the ISP we are moving away from) appear to have been off for several hours.Lower Victoria/ Mill Rd problem 25/26 Feb 2007 AND 27/28 Feb.
"Xray-Vic2" node locked up again and was off from about 20:30 Monday to 09:00 Tuesday when it was rebooted. An adjacent piece of equipment rebooted itself at around the time Xray went off, so there may have been a power incident. Sorry for the prolonged loss of service.Locked up again late Wednesday evening. Rebooted around 09:00 Thursday.
Lower Victoria/ Mill Rd problem 6/7 Feb 2007 and 8/9 Feb.
The "Xray-Vic2" node locked up on Wednesday evening but access for rebooting was not possible until Thursday early afternoon. Sorry.Locked up again late Friday. Rebooted mid afternoon Saturday.
Experimental node on Mill Road
Some members may find themselves connecting to this node, which is in the attic of the new house. Please be aware that there may be power outages in the house for a while. If you think you are having problems related to this node, please email support of ring as above.31 January 2008. Power cut problems
A momentary power cut around 11am over the whole area took out various Internet feeds for a while. Both Swithland and Woodhouse Eaves were affected.A lot of personal computers and domestic networks were also "upset" by this incident.
Victoria Road area, 30/31 January 2008
Apologies for an overnight outage (13 hours or so). This seems to have been triggered by an electrical "event" (short power cut, perhaps) causing the Internet "feed" box to freeze."North end" failure 18 January 2008
For no apparent reason the Tango-Perry node seized up around 17:30. It was rebooted around 19:30 (soon after the problem was reported by a member) and came back into service. Apologies to those affected.Central Maplewell and around problem 9 January 2007
Apologies for loss of service from around 15:30 for an hour or more due to problems with the Internet feed used. Also affected Rawlins Close and other "DDWRT" users.Pear Tree Panic 28 December 2007
Following temporary closure of the Pear Tree (during which our node was left on) the new manager (not knowing what was connected) switched off the socket feeding the node around 02:00 today. After telephone contact explaining the equipment, he switched it back on around 10:00. Good relations established so things should be OK now.Boxing Day blues
Apologies for loss of service in the lower Victoria/ Mill Road area for two periods. The node needed rebooting on both occasions, but the actual cause is not known. A spare node is available if we need to do a replacement.Swithland node failure 15 December 2007
One of the Swithland nodes went "off air" early Sunday afternoon. It probably needs rebooting and we are seeking access.Resolved Thursday 20th. Sorry about the long delay.
"North end" Saturday 15 December 2007
The Perry Close feed (see "Changes afoot" below) was actually switched to the new ISP (Nildram) this morning about 09:45, causing a very brief service interruption. The only known possible effect is that sending email by some methods may fail. Please contact Richard on 890114 if you have such a problem.A complete set of guidance notes on using email over Rural-WEB is being prepared.
Problems 13/14 December 2007
Apologies that two areas of Woodhouse Eaves were out of action from Thursday evening to mid morning (for the "north end") and noon (for some others) Friday. Seems to have been separate "gremlins" and unrelated to the ISP changes due today - which may affect "north end" users at some time later on.Changes afoot
We are switching two of the four Woodhouse Eaves feeds to a different ISP, probably on Friday 14th December. There will inevitably be some interruption to service to members in the north of the village that day, and to some others later - we will try to give warning here.One area which will be affected is the sending of some email because the SMTP (mail sending) server will be different. More information will follow so please keep an eye on this page.
Upper Maplewell performance problem
Very poor performance was discovered at a member's house on the afternoon of Thursday 6 December 2007 and was still present on Friday morning. Tests from the node did not show a problem, but it was rebooted and a good service to the member re-established.Please shout if you have a problem. A cure may be easy!
rural-web.me.uk email problem (Saturday 17 November 2007)
This applies only to members who have @rural-web.me.uk email addresses and get an error message trying to access their mail via a browser program (such as Internet Explorer). Access using www.rural-web.me.uk/mail/ has been failing due seemingly to a problem with computers somewhere on the Intenet. Please try www.rural-web.org/mail/ instead.Update 10:15 18 November
Nameservers are computers on the internet which say where web pages can be found, where to send email, etc. "123-reg", who provide the name servers for rural-web.me.uk have posted the following status report:Message created:17/11/2007, 09:15 Last update:18/11/2007, 09:39
We are currently aware of a problem regarding 123-reg nameservers which in turn is affecting the visibility of websites and services such as email. At present, we have engineers looking into this as a matter of urgency. Please be assured we are working to rectify this issue as a priority and hope to resume normal service as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience in the mean time. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
However, the service does seem to have been restored now.
Failure in Woodhouse Eaves, morning of 31 Oct 2007
Our Internet Service Provided had a power failure. Sorry about the outage which resulted.
If you wonder that they apparently do not have a backup supply, so do we! They are supposed to be a "first tier" (top level) provider.
This may be an appropriate place to give an update on their chaotic financial systems - see 12 October below. Our exact standing with them is still not agreed, but from figures recently provided we are definitely in credit and they should not have periodically disconnected us for "non payment". They seem to have thought we were in dept because they had counted £400 due from another of their customers as being due from Rural-WEB.
Performance issues - Woodhouse Eaves.
22 October 2007.There have been reports of poor performance in one area. It would help to get to the bottom of these if users would email a sumary of any problems to support at rural-web dot org. Thank you.
Partial failure in Swithland 22 October 2007
Service to some members was lost for a couple of hours up to about 14:30. This was due to a technical problem this time. Sorry folks.Failure of Swithland connection 19 October 2007
There was an outage from about 11:00 to 15:00. This was due to an administrative problem - nothing technical. Apologies to those affected.Partial failure Saturday morning 13 Oct 2007
This seems to have been caused by a glitch in the router serving the Victoria Road area (Mike, Xray and Romeo nodes in particular) and lasted about four hours up to 10am when the router was rebooted. Apologies for the loss in service to those who don't sleep in late.General failure in Woodhouse Eaves 8 October 2007
A loss of service for over four hours was thought originally to have been caused by a short power cut over the area. However, it was actually caused by a management failure in our Internet Service Provider's organisation which led to them switching us off! Their financial systems seem chaotic and we have been trying to agree our position with them for months. Our estimate is that we have a credit with them but they don't seem to know what the situation is! Only last week they promised to leave us on while this question was resolved, but they failed to reply to a subsequent email. We expect to migrate away from them over a period.Swithland, which has a feed from a different ISP, was off only briefly due to the power cut.
Anyway - Sorry.
Outage in certain areas 1 October 2007
Certain areas were off for about three hours this afternoon due to an accidental disconnection. Users of Xray-Vic2 and the experimental DD-WRT box were affected. Sorry.General failure in Woodhouse Eaves 25 September 2007
A lack of service from about 08:15 to 09:15 seems to have been caused by a problem with our Internet Service Provider as at least three of their feeds (but apparently not others such as BT's) stopped talking at the same time. Apologies to all - especially to those who needed to reboot their equipment to read this!Victoria Rd /Maplewell Rd /Mill Rd area off again
(Reported 08:45 Sun 9 September 2007, updated 15:00)Sorry, the replacement node (Xray-Vic2 which replaced Whisk-Vic2 on 30 August) stopped talking to anyone yesterday (Saturday) evening. Being investigated.
Back up after a reboot around 10:15 today (Sunday). Reason for the problem currently not known.
Pear Tree Progress
(Reported 5 September 2007)The "Golf-Pear-Tree" node problem appeared to resolve itself a few days ago, with communication to the node which is intended to "feed" it (Foxtrot-Upper-Map) re-established. It would be nice to say we knew what the basic problem was, but we don't. It may have been interference from an unknown source but none was deteced during tests.
It appears that members connecting to the Pear Tree should be back to normal, but please let us know if this is not true for you.
The experimental access point mentioned in the next entry is still in place and giving a good service to a couple of members. The technology used ("DD-WRT") may in time be deployed more widely within Rural-WEB and is in use in some similar networks elsewhere. We have had one significant problem come to light so far and others may arise. Anyone with a technical interest is welcome to ask for more information.
Changes 30 August 2007
Whisky-Vic2 (see next entry) was replaced by Xray (now Xray-Vic2) at around 10 a.m. So far (15:40) this seems to be working fine though some folk may need to do a power off/on cycle to pick up the connection. Any problems, ring Richard on 890114.The swap does not appear to have helped the Pear Tree situations and investigations will continue. But see the next paragraph.
Also this morning an experimental access point was set up with an antenna pointing towards Rawlins Close and St Mary in the Elms. It is logically separate from the main Rural-Web network. If anyone wants to try it call Richard for advice.
Problem in Pear Tree area AND ELSEWHERE 21 August 2007 on
(Posted 28 August 2007 - revised late evening)Apologies to those around the Main Street/ Maplewell Road junction (Including Patterson Drive and Rawlins Close) where service continues to be poor. A problem arose which proved very difficult to resolve. Thought perhaps to be caused by interference from an unknown source but possbly some other factor.
This area is served by the Golf-Pear-Tree node (though another was substituted for a while during investigations).
Evening 28 August: Cause may have been identified. Another node (the troublesome Whisky-Vic2) was found to be not talking wirelessly though "checking in" with the management system properly. Possibly it was streaming garbage and interfering with other traffic. Rebooting seems to have sorted Whisky for the moment, and Golf-Pear-Tree seems to be getting back to normal.
Problem 14/15 August 2007
Apologies for a further outage in the Maplewell Road/Victoria Road/ Mill Road junction area from around 17:30 yesterday (Tuesday 14th) to 09:10 this morning (Wed. 15th). We are aware that there have been other similar incidents over the last few weeks.Please DO report problems.
15 June 2007 Power cut around 16:00
Didn't it rain! The power cuts took out both villages again. Two of the ADSL modem/routers (the boxes that actually connect connect to the telephone lines that carry the Internet feed) got locked up and needed rebooting. Unfortunately one went wrong again immediately and this was not realised for some time.Swithland
(Entry made Friday 15 June 2007)The new feed has been operational in testing mode for about 10 days. It is intended to connect it to the rest of the Swithland network on the afternoon of Monday 18 June. This should not affect most users, but apologies in advance if it does cause any problems.
14 June 2007 Power cut around 19:00
Took out both villages. Most things seem to have come up OK within 1/2 hour of power being back, but Upper Maplewell was off until about 01:00 on the 15th.11/12 June 2005
Another failure in Victoria Road/Maplewell Road junction area. Sorry!Centre of Woodhouse Eaves failure, 8 - 10 June 2007
Apologies to those affected. This seems to have been due to a radio "locking up", possibly upset by a blast of interference of some sort.Victoria Road/Maplewell Road junction area failures 2/3 June 2007 and evening of 4th.
Apologies to those affected. Seems to be a problem in the Whisy-Vic2 node itself, possibly heat related. We are monitoring it.Planned maintenance 23 May 2007
(Notice posted 12:00 22 May)Please note that much of the Woodhouse Eaves network is expected to be off for perhaps 10 minutes from around 09:15 tomorrow (Wednesday 23 May) while a key component is replaced.
Local fault Monday 21 May 2007
(Report updatedThe bottom of Victoria Road area was off again, from around 14:00 - 16:40 on Monday. This was a virtual repeat of the problems on 27 April and 4 May. Sorry.
As the cause had been narrowed down to a faulty connection to the Internet feed, we had published the intention to interrupt the service from the "Whisky-Vic2" node soon after 09:30 on Tuesday 22nd May. In fact the suspect connector was replaced around 10 am, with interrupted service of perhaps 30 minutes in total.
Unfortunately this intermittent fault was evidently not in the connector but in the box it plugs into. This is to be replaced tomorrow, by which time a new one will have been prepared. Please see the entry above.
Woodhouse Eaves "North end" problem 16 May 2007
Late afternoon/ early evening and again mid evening today the Internet feed serving this area "disappeared" for an hour or more each time. The problem appears to have been with BT or our Internet service provider (who were not answering calls to the support line). Sorry for any problems caused.
Swithland
Changes are afoot at the end of May 2007. We are working on continuing to provide a service for members "in good standing" who require it. There is an issue with email addresses - if you are using a BT one you may need to change to another. We can help with this.If you have not heard what is happening and think you are entitled to a continued service, please contact the helpline or one of the committee.