Posted: Mon 16 Apr 2012, 3:01pm.
We're urgently working to fix problems with logins and general performance. Most services are likely to be unavailable for five minutes or so from 3:05pm while we try to bring the affected systems back online.
We apologise for the disruption this is causing and we will restore services as quickly as we can.
UPDATE: 16 Apr 2012 - 3:22pm
We've taken some urgent action to try to alleviate the general performance problems which have affected a number of systems since lunchtime. Most services are now working but there is still some patchy performance and we're investigating further to trace the underlying issues.
Since around 1:00pm, there have been a series of network connection problems to the Shawcross data centre where many services are based.
We are working to fix these problems as soon as we can but in the meantime, please try to save your work more regularly than you usually would. We apologise for the inconvenience this is causing and will have systems back to normal as soon as we can.
UPDATE: 17 Apr 2012 - 9:48am
Many services are still suffering from uneven performance this morning. Since lunchtime on Monday, several issues have contributed to performance problems across a number of services.
Network access to the Shawcross data centre, where many services are based, was affected by a problem with a high capacity link between Shawcross and Pevensey. The faulty component was replaced and a second problem with part of the networking equipment in Shawcross was also resolved. This considerably improved performance from 3:00pm onwards on Monday.
Another issue, which occurred at around the same time, affected services which require a login, including student webmail and connections to wi-fi and ResNet. This fault is continuing to cause intermittent problems this morning and we are investigating further to find a resolution.
We apologise for the continuing frustration this issue is causing and will restore services as soon as we can.
Technical details
The outstanding issues are affecting services which rely on LDAP logins. This includes network access (which refers to LDAP to check login details) as well as any web-based services which require logins.
UPDATE: 17 Apr 2012 - 5:20pm
All of the outstanding problems with services requiring a login have now been resolved. Webmail and other affected services are now working normally but we apologise for the disruption this problem has caused since yesterday lunchtime.
We have detected some further issues affecting general systems performance since yesterday and we're still investigating to find the underlying cause.
Although most services are working normally, some users may experience intermittent problems when attempting to login to and use services such as webmail and Sussex Direct.
We apologise for the inconvenience this is causing and we're working to get all systems back to normal as soon as we can.