Atom is undergoing an update for Apache and PHP. Once complete Apache will be restarted. Web pages will be unavailable for 1 – 2 minutes whilst the process restarts.

We have just put in place an additional filter for RTF (Rich Text Format) files on astro to stop the steady increase of .rtf files being received to all email accounts.

RTF files can still be sent to email accounts if they are sent inside a zip file.

If the filtering is effective it will be put in place on all servers in the network.

Below is the response from our network provider:

We encountered a rather odd fault issue in the primary aggregate switch that created internal looping, causing traffic to grind to a standstill. After rerunning lines to another switch, the primary aggregate was pulled form the production line, in the event this was a signal of something more serious (like an impending backplane failure or some other hardware issue). This switch was designated to be replaced by a larger, newer switch in the next couple of weeks in any case, and this morning’s issue has accelerated that process. Our apologies for the disruption, and thanks for hanging in there.

We are not expecting any further disruption and although the downtime was not welcomed we are pleased that this is not a frequent occurance.

The network is now reachable again.

We are expecting to receive a full report from the data centre shortly and an explanation will be provided here.