Future works on Manchester ring 19/08/2011

We've received notification from one of our network providers that as part of expanding their network, a number of fibre routes between TeleData and IFL2 require diverting.

This work will take place during the period 19/08/2011 23:00 to 20/08/2011 11:00 (BST).

This will result in a loss of protection on the Manchester ring until the work is complete.

Regards
C2

Issues on Manchester Ring

The causes of the issues on the Manchester ring last night are still not yet clear, we know part of the ring went down, what we cant do however is replicate the issue. Each time we manually shut down part of the ring traffic simply flows in the opposite direction. We are aware of issues with our network provider, they've been working on the TCW to IFL2 links, we will be chasing today for an update as to if they were working on anything at the time. As we cannot replicate the issue it would appear that some outside influence may be affecting the network, however, we will today be taking some emergency investigative works onsite. From 1pm onwards you may see some network blips, we will try and keep these to a minimum.

Apologies for the short notice, however if we can we need to find what the cause was.

Once we have completed our tests we will post a further update.

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Following on from the tests a switch at TCW, which is part of a pair, has been identified as the most probable cause for the issues and instabilities. As the issue is somewhat intermittent I'm reluctant to pull the switch while it's under load from directly connected clients - the quietest time across all the ports is around 7am, so, we will look to swap the unit out then on Thursday 21st.. Directly connected clients and those using services connected to this switch will drop for a few minutes while the switch is replaced.

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The work is now complete - the suspect switch will be taken back for further tests in the lab, further updates will be posted here.