Assuming that the individuals invoved would prefer *not* to be quoted -
without prior consultation .... I've forwarded this - unattributed - to
some of the individuals involved on the NHS side...
Mary
>
>There are a couple of sensible points here
>The NHS Infozone, correct me if I am wrong, is available only on NHS Net Web
>connections, and yet it is being used to report a fault affecting ony users
>outside the NHS Net...
>I move that the relevant page be placed in the NHS Net DMZ, or alternatively
>and as a temporary measure which could be effected within half an hour of
>someone who understands this reading it in NHS Net, mirrored to a site
>outside NHS Net. If there is a shortage of space I will provide it.
>
>All orgs with noticeable numbers of correspondents outside, using SMTP email
>to do business with them should either set up a daily commcheck with one of
>those correspondents, non-return of a commcheck email causing telephone
>activity and escalation, or <heresy> they should buy in an outside ISP
>connection for one isolated PC </heresy>, and do the check themselves.
>If it fails, then an email to their list of correspondents to admit the
>problem would not be an unreasonable thing to do - secrecy suggests an
>attempt to cover up incompetence, not hordes of techies beavering away in
>the background.
>
>As a parallel my local HA moved its voice phones from BT to Eurobell to save
>money and secure technical advantages...(Centrex, since you ask.)
>Did they, you ask, remove every BT line and phone from the place and go
>entirely over to Eurobell, trusting in the lord?
>No. They kept a couple of BT lines here and there, with a warning to
>minimise use because they are more expensive, and inthe event of a problem
>with one supplier they use the other.
>
>One of the recurring NHS management cockups[1] in IM&T is to go for a big
>bang and commit to a single supplier/solution etc. While nobody wants
>massive duplication, a degree of redundancy is to be encouraged.
>
>> A serious issue has arisen with the SMTP gateway which receives email
>> from the Internet. We suspect it is a malign flaming of emails from the
>> internet, and not necessarily exclusive to NHSnet.
>It would be entirely sensible to publicise any details of a flamer should
>they be ascertained, and if we meet them we could _discuss_ it with them.
>Sounds a bit odd though, what sort of volume is involved in stuffing a major
>corporate gateway? Or is the gateway on one old 486?
>I think a T3 line would probably be sufficient for the primary, and a couple
>of separate T1 lines for backup and peak periods.
>
>
>>The NHS
>> Telecommunications Branch are doing everything in their power to remove
>> the resultant backlog of messages, but there could be a delivery delay
>> of SMTP email of up to a few days. New equipment is being installed to
>> improve the performance of the gateway by a factor of 10 and should be
>> operational by the end of the month.
>
><sarcasm?> er, pick up from shop, take out of box, plug in, go...</sarcasm?
>
>
>----------------------------
>[1] CockUPS: synonym for Viagra
>
Mary Hawking Kingsbury Court Surgery Church Street Dunstable LU5 4RS
tel:01582 663218 (surgery)fax:01582 476488 (surgery)
Member of British Healthcare Internet Association
Dunstable and Houghton Regis Locality Commisssioning Pilot
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