Mon Jan 24 15:30:34 PST 2005 — SMTP Authentication hiccough and port 25 blocking. Earlier today our POP before SMTP authentication system was accidentally disabled when installing and configuring a fresh compilation of sendmail to support SMTPS (SSMTP – SMTP over SSL on port 465) for mail clients that do not correctly support STARTTLS on port 587. We require password authentication when using SMTPS. Additionally, at some point in the future we will also require password authentication on port 587. At this time everything is working correctly despite a few bumps along the way.

NOTE: Many users connecting to our outbound mail servers from SBC/Yahoo DSL lines (not Sonic.net DSL lines) or Comcast cable Internet services may need to update their server settings to work around port 25 filters both of these providers appear to be enabling in their networks. -Kelsey

Wed Jan 19 23:33:01 PST 2005 — Border router reload. One of our border routers in Santa Rosa reloaded due to a memory error. The error was similar to the error experienced by one of our customer attach routers earlier in the day. These are definitely not software failures, though. This time, the Santa Rosa 2 POP was offline for around 4 minutes after the issue. The reload also might have caused spotty connectivity to our Focal dialup numbers for half a minute. We’re investigating causes, and will keep an eye open for any further trouble. As always, duplicate dial-up service was available for the briefly affected numbers. -Nathan

Wed Jan 19 19:50:44 PST 2005 — Customer router reload. One of our customer attach routers in Santa Rosa reloaded due to a memory error. This caused some T1s to experience approximately 4 minutes of unreachability. We are watching the router for further signs of trouble, and have full on-site spares in case a hardware swap is necessary. -Nathan and Kelsey

Tue Jan 18 17:59:50 PST 2005 — In order to provide better service to our DSL subscribers we are now monitoring all of our DSL subscriber circuits for performance and latency problems. All DSL subscribers can expect to see a very small flow of ICMP traffic from latency-tester.sr.sonic.net directed to their DSL attached systems. -Kelsey and Nathan

Fri Jan 14 12:15:05 PST 2005 — DSL Maintenance in Santa Rosa. At 12:01 AM Saturday morning are going to do some work on one of the SMS’s uplinks into our core network. We do not expect this to be a service impacting event but customers may see a short period of impacted performance. -Kelsey and Nathan

Thu Jan 13 08:47:40 PST 2005 — Broadlink TMAC tower packet loss. There is some packet loss on the Broadlink TMAC tower. Broadlink thinks it may be a bad cable — if that is the case, ETR is approximately 9am. -Scott, and Tim and Jason from Broadlink

Tue Jan 11 08:07:21 PST 2005 — Broadlink Wally Moore tower offline. Broadlink reports their Wally Moore site is currently offline. They suspect power problems. If that is the case, they estimate an ETR of 30 minutes. -Scott, and Tim from Broadlink

Tue Jan 11 14:22:04 PST 2005 — Broadlink TMAC and Airport towers experiencing latency. Customers in the northern part of Santa Rosa are seeing latent connections and ~25% packet loss. Broadlink is diagnosing the issue, we will update the MOTD when we have an ETR. -Eli, Jason Kane Update – 16:29 PST – Issue Resolved. Jason traced the problem to a cable that had taken on moisture, and the replacement cable has restored service. – Eli, Jason

Fri Jan 7 17:16:45 PST 2005 — Kernel Security Updates. All public access servers have been patched against the recently announced local root exploit in the Linux kernel. -Kelsey, Nathan and Scott

Fri Jan 7 15:28:21 PST 2005 — Datacenter power work Tuesday, 1/11/05. PG&E will be replacing the transformer for our building at 8 AM Tuesday. We are renting a generator to provide power to the building during the work period. Customers should see no change in service during this work. The datacenter itself is on UPS, and if the rental generator fails, our own standby generator will take over. Our tech support systems have their own UPS’s, so those friendly folks can always be there to help. -Russ and John