news
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System Upgrade Extendednew 6/23/08 1:10pm
We have been finishing up the upgrade since last Thursday. There were some more changes that were needed than were expected. This will all be cleared up soon. There is still a possibility for a few more outages today, as we will be changing out cards. The speeds and instability that were seen this weekend will be fixed today.
Eli
System Upgrade 6/17/08 12:44pm
The MPTelco DSL system will be upgraded on Thursday, 6/19. This will take a few hours, and will be service effecting. The upgrade will support more bandwidth and fix some packet loss issues we have begun seeing. Watch for this, and if you are not able to connect by the end of the day on Thursday, call the office.
Eli
Growing Pains 5/15/08 10:00pm
I know there have been some intermittent issues lately. Like I have always said, if you are having a problem, always call. However, I have been doing some chaging on the servers that would cause temporary "blinking" of service. Once all the changes are complete there will be no single server that will cause a problem like that. Until then, if you have a problem, call, and at least we can let you know if that is the problem.
Eli
Email Filter Settings 4/07/08 11:42am
The filter has been running and training for some time now. I will need to know how the filter is working for everyone. Don't just send me an email that says "GREAT". That does me no good. I need to know if valid emails from other people are getting the "[SPAM]" tag. I would also like for anyone that can do this to check in the message headers (this is really easy in Thunderbird, just go to View, Headers, All) and look at the filters results on good emails. If they come from one of your friends.. just check each friends email they send you and see what score it got. Look for the line near the top of the headers (If you use Webmail just open the email and then click the icon that says "Show Source") and you will see some stuff that says X-Spam-bla bla. The one that says "X-Spam-Score" is the one we are interested in. At current I am flagging the message with the [SPAM] tag if the message has a score of "6.2" and I am destroying the message if it has a "9.9". I have personally noticed that most valid emails are in the negatives (i.e. "X-Spam-Score: -2.491") or at least below "3". I am thinking about changing the flag setting to about "5" and the kill setting to about "7.9". I need to know if customers are going to start losing valid emails cause of this. Thanks ;)
Eli
Wichita Online 3/30/08 3:40pm
I know the Wichita Online message you got in the mail is confusing. MPTelco will still be providing your service to you. Wichita Online will be providing the bandwidth through the dsl line that MPTelco has to your house. This is actually not different than it is right now. On our end it is alittle different on papaer, but the bandwidth is current purchased by Wichita Online from Oklahoma City and Medicine Park purchases it from Wichita Online. This will remove one step there but will be transparent to the user other than the support line you call. I will still be your tech.
Eli
Upgraded the Webmail 3/20/08 7:40pm
I haven't turned on all the features but I updated the webmail. If I messed up anything that someone uses, let me know so I can fix it.
Eli
Mail Server Maintenance 3/6/08 2:26pm
I will be taking the mail server down on Monday. It will take about an hour or two, maybe. The system hardrive needs to be replaced and the memory needs to be upgraded. I will do it around noon. Emails should bounce and be resent so there should be no loss of emails.
Eli
New Webmail for Testing 01/29/08 12:34am
I have a test version of the upgraded webmail system up for all the webmail users. It is just a test. None of the address book will be in the test yet. It will when I actually switch to it, all data will be moved with it. I am pretty sure this will fix the problem with composing a new message logging users out with the "session invalid" message. There are lots of little neaties (as I will call them cause it is 12:30 am) in the new client so check it out and tell me if there are bazillions of bugs or if you love it or whatever. I rely on customer feedback to see what the customer wants. If it is in my power (it probaby is) I will do whatever to make your experience the best it can be. As of this second I have been composing an email in the new client for almost 20 minutes with no input for keep alive and it is working great. Check it out here and let me know.
Eli
Dropping SPAM Emails 01/24/08 12:13am
Up until tonight, there were no email messages that were being dropped by any spam content filter. As of right now, they are. I have grepped the logs and determined a setting that is right in the middle of normal spam and outragously obvious spam. I am worried about getting too close to the fine line, so I will leave it there for a while. Thanks to all the customers that have given be feedback on the filter settings. (there have been 2) I am on my own on this one. If you notice that some messages are getting dropped that you actually wanted, let me know and I'll see about adjusting the filter activity. Since I haven't had a response on the content filtering side from any customer at all, it is hard for me to determine if my setting is too high or low. Please give me some feedback.
Eli
MAIL SERVER MAINTENANCE 01/22/08 4:49pm
THAT TOOK ENTIRELY TOO LONG!!!!!!! Copying to raid 1 is obviously slower than a single drive or striping. However, reading from the drive will be 3 times faster. Sorry that took so long. We are now running on the new Intel Quad Core goodness and I have reenabled realtime virus filtering along with content filtering.
Eli
Mail Server Maintenance 01/22/08 9:27am
The mail server will be down for a few hours this morning as I copy the mail to the new hard drives with RAID 1 mirroring for data protection. There is a lot of mail so it will take quite a while. If the mail system is down, people will recieve a bounce. If I left it running, there would be mail that would be dropped cause of the new drive. it only copies so many files at a time.. so it has to be down for the time. I have also implemented a whitelist that I can easily edit to allow the domains that are improperly configured. If you are having trouble receiving from a domain, call the office or email me and let me know so that I can decide if they need to be added to the whitelist, or simply called and instructed how to fix their problem. The rule that is dropping the mail is a rule I will not remove. It is a very standard rule and it is the rule that is dropping almost 80,000 spam messages per day. It is just better for me to confront the domain being dropped and tell them which part they are failing, and how to fix it. In the event that it is just a slow Windows based DNS server I'll add them to the whitelist and tell them the alternatives. Please let me know if you are having trouble receiving from a domain.
Eli
Spam Filtering Rules 01/11/08 10:37pm
I just finished the rules and regulations for the spam filtering. I am not sure how strict or passive things are right now, thus I will be needing to know if anyone is getting spam that isn't being marked as spam (false negative) or if valid mail (ham) that is getting marked as spam (false positive). Please keep an eye on it so that we can quickly make some rules. Things have to be changed a lot before I can put in a system that creates rules from customer input (i.e. forwarding SPAM to an address so that it is marked as SPAM in the future.) so the best we can do is get this adjusted properly. It can have a huge impact on the UBE (unsolicited bulk email) coming in. I have also instated some rules that should block some of the more pretentious junk completely. Make sure you don't immediately start making some rule in your mail client that deletes the message based on the filter tags. As this is still a testing phase, if you do this, you wont know that the emails you want are being deleted, or what is going on. If anyone wants to see how the filter works just call the office and I'll send you a GTUBE test email that the filter will flag.
Eli
Update to Speed Problems 12/13/07 1:41pm
We are back to the old connection, and speeds are soring again. If you or anyone is still having a problem, you should reset the modem and let it obtain the information from the new connection. We again thank everyone for the help with the temporary connection, and the speedy fix on this connection.
Eli
Internet Speeds12/11/07 7:53pm
Due to the power issues in Oklahoma City, there is a temporary change in speed. We are doing the best we can to give everyone internet access, but it is on par with the temporary connection we have to Oklahoma City. Huge Thanks to INFO (Indian Nation Fiber Optics) and ACRS2000 for the work on helping us get this temporary connection. We will be back to normal as soon as we can. You may notice some differences in the connection, but please be patient.
System Maintainance11/29/07 4:34pm
On Sunday, December 2nd, we will be upgrading our entire dsl system in order to ready ourselves for the new DLC unit going in on Highway 49. This will be entire service area effecting, but we aren't expecting anything to go wrong. We are only expecting a minor amount of downtime. The new unit going in place will be to feed the customers which have been waiting for dsl for the last few weeks. This will optimize distance and speed for those customers, and the current users.
Also, I have been working on a new webpage for the homepage.. and it will be very clean but much prettier. I might even put some pictures on there. :) Anyway, the new site will have the same content as this current page, with the exception of the news area. I am going to archive this news and start fresh with the new news page. All of this content will still be obtainable, but won't be cluttering up the site. Other than, the new site will function well, and anyone that is not technologically inclined should have no problem finding the information they are used to on this site.
Eli
Mail Server Maintenance
MPTelco had to shutdown the mail server for a short period of time tonight to move it to a new server rack, and update some software and drives. I did this at 11:57pm. Any mail that might have been sent at this time and for the following 30 to 45 minutes might need to be resent. Most mail should queue up on the other servers, but you never know.
Eli
Bandwidth Changes
MPTelco will be upgrading the main trunks to all remote units and putting in a new unit on Highway 49. During this update.. there will be reduction in the speed of ALL customers just for the weekend. The speeds will not be reduced to below the ability to stream video, but may be noticable. This has to be done for testing before the upgrade. This weekend is the best time for this testing before we put in the new trunk cards. Early next week we will be putting in the trunk cards and speeds will be noticably faster and the small packet loss problem should be gone. Just for the weekend....
Eli
Spam Filtering
There has been alittle more spam floating around. I have noticed it as well. The filter hasn't been in place in months, so that is the reason for the more frequent spam messages. A new filtering system is on its way. I am still researching it, and then there will be a testing period. If all is good, then we will probably be filtering in a few weeks. Check in here for updates.
Eli
Backup Mail
It is 2:41am on July 24, 2007 and I am currently backing up all mail on the mailserver drives so that I can repair the bad drive. This should only take an hour or 5. There should be no loss of current mail on the system. However, if someone emails you during this time you may not receive the email. You may ask anyone that emails you between the hours of 2:30am and 3:30am on July 24, 2007 to resend any emails. Most mail servers will queue up emails and resend them for up to 3 hours. Other mail servers do this for even longer, and few don't queue up mail at all. I appologize, but this is normal behavior for hard drives.
Eli
Complete
Mail Server Problems
The mail server isn't reporting anything to me that there is something wrong, so I am going to assume it is the main hard drive failing. I am going to reinstall and configure on a new harddrive tonight, after 11:00 pm. There will be a period of time where the mail server isn't accessible. Then process shouldn't take too long, and should fix this intermittent crash. The harddrives that hold the mail don't seem to be having a problem, and they will not be affected.
Eli
Mail Server Repair
Actually, it didn't take much. Standard file system checking will be needed. I will schedual them on this site, and I will try to make them as convenient as possible. I appologize that I didn't notice it sooner. I will start some kind of logging system immediately.
Eli
DNS Changes
It took a little longer than expected for some dns changes to propagate across the Internet. This resulted in mailservers not being able to find the actual mail host. The transmission is done now and mail should start flowing freely again. To my knowledge, this would only effect the last day or so. You might get the messages or you might want to ask people to resend. Sorry for the trouble.
Eli
Faster Speed on Servers
The email and web servers have been moved to a faster internet connection now. Access should be about 10 times faster than it was, and it should fix some problems with pages not fully loading and such. There was such a hurry to get the email switched over that the other internet connection wasn't completely tested for this much load. Now everything is ready for the spam filtering to be put back in place. Check back with mptelcodsl.com for more information.
Possible Access Downtime
Several changes are coming up. The first of them will be tomarrow night. The change has the possibility of making the website and mail server unaccessible for a few hours. We will do the change late Thursday evening, and the change will be immediate. There will be no loss of any data, but a possible inablity to access due to cache. If you clear out your cache, everything should be fine. Or, simply try again in an hour or so.
Eli
Completed
Links Added
I added some useful links to the "Info" page. Check them out. I try to stick only to technology and such, however, I adore the movie theater I mentioned and thought it would be a gift to share with the customers.
Eli
Changing Homepage
I am going to make changes to the homepage. I am going to move the search box up so that it is accessible without scrolling down. This is only cosmetic. I might make it a movable box... hm... :)
Eli
Completed
Next Steps
The new mail server is working great. There are no problems with the system, and mail is being delivered very fast. There are a few more steps to fix and upgrade the entire system. First, I am going to send an email to each customer, and I am going to give the customer 2 weeks to reply to the email. In the reply, I will need the customer to put the full name on the internet account. This will allow us to put in a record of the email account with the name on the internet account. This information will not be available to others, it is only for the record of Medicine Park Telephone Company. Please watch for this email. Next will the the spam filter. There will need to be customer input for the filter to start filtering on your email address. Basically, there will be a sign up page, where you will put in your email address, and your password, and the filter will start filtering your email. Please watch for these changes.
Eli
Scheduled Maintenance
Scheduled maintenance for tonight, Saturday March 31. I have seen the changes that need to be made to the new server to increase performance and reduce load. Tonight, very late, I will apply these updates. It will be service effecting for only a few minutes. In that time, mail will simply queue up in the mail filter and once the changes are made the email will come to the server. There will be no loss of email, only an inability to connect for a short period of time.
Time Approximately 3 to 7 minutes.
Completed Approximately 1.8 seconds.
Eli
Success!!
The new mail server is up and running. Most customers have been able to log in with no problems, after they have made their changes. If you are having problems, please call. There are only a few things that need fine tuning. The password changer is under a lot of stress. It is still doing its job, but sometimes it takes a time or two. The authentication server needs a little love also. Sometimes it gives me errors and users are unable to log in. Just try again in a few seconds. This will be fixed as soon as I pin-point the problem.
For MPtelco Webmail Users
If you have only been using the webmail at www.mptelco.com:8383, you will need to set up a client to download any messages that are on the server. That information can be found here.
Change Your Email Password
Mptelco has never and will never store customer password information. This makes the change from one email server to another a little difficult because of the customer needing to create a password. This should be pretty painless though, and if there are any problems, I am here for you. Please change your password here.
New Homepage
Mptelco now has a homepage. From this page you can access the new webmail and see information about internet settings, mail settings, and other details. Check this site out now and then for updates about scheduled maintenance and other news about Mptelco, or make it your homepage. You can also use this site as a reference for troubleshooting and regular maintenance on the equipment at your house, as well as information about adware removal software, and antivirus software. There is an information page here that can answer a lot of questions about the services offered by mptelco, as well as general questions commonly asked by customers and friends. A link to an internet speed test site is here, to make sure there aren't problems with your service.
New Webmail
The new webmail is now up and running. It has a nice, clean, easy to use interface that is fast. It features drag and drop support for moving emails to other folders, a very useful address book for storing information about your friends and family, and you can add your signature in the personal settings menu. You can see more tips and details about the webmail here.
New Email Server
There is a minor and fairly simple change that has to be made for those customers that use a mail client on their computer like Mozilla Thunderbird (or other Mozilla products), or Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, as well as Eudora and the likes. The username being sent by these clients that you are using will no longer work with the new mail server. Your email address will not change, so there is no need to worry. You just need to make a minor change to the username in the account options on the client. The username will have to have the added "@mptelco.com" in order for email to work properly with the new mail server. The change needed is pretty simple and you can follow the instuctions here for your particular client. If you are unable to make it work, we would be glad to walk you through it on the phone, or I can come by at your convenience.
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other news
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Spam Filtering
Spam filtering is coming soon. We had a spam filter in place, but after the mail hosting problems started the spam filter was just making things worse. So now that we have a direct connection to the mail server from the spam filter, we will be doing it again. How it will be implemented we haven't decided yet, but there will be a filter in place to help with the spam issues. You can read about issues with spam here, and how you can keep from getting it in the first place.
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coming soon
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Directory Lookup
We are also looking to put a directory listing and search for Medicine Park customers. You will be able to use the name or number to look up any customer, provided they don't have a private number. This will only have numbers that are available in the telephone book already, but they will be much more convienent.
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