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132
NOXX10 KWBC 131601
DATA MGT MESSAGE 11-98.2
THE U.S. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
TELECOMMUNICATION GATEWAY CONTINUES TO EXPERIENCE
PROCESSING PROBLEMS WITH ITS BULLETIN BUILDING AND
DATA FORM CONVERSION SOFTWARE. AS A RESULT USERS
HAVE EXPERIENCED DELAYS AND NON-RECEIPT ESPECIALLY
OF COLLECTIVES OF UPPER AIR OBSERVATIONS SURFACE
OBSERVATIONS AVIATION FORECASTS AND SYNTHETIC
SYNOPTIC REPORTS THAT ARE CREATED IN THE GATEWAY.
THE SWITCHING SYSTEMS IN THE GATEWAY DO NOT APPEAR
TO BE AFFECTED. ALL PRODUCTS WHICH ARE SIMPLY
SWITCHED CONTINUE TO MAKE A TIMELY AND RELIABLE
TRANSIT THROUGH THE GATEWAY.
THE PROBLEMS STEMMING FROM IMPROPER MEMORY
ALLOCATION WITHIN THE COMPUTER OPERATING SYSTEM
WERE FIRST NOTICED IN LATE SUMMER HAVE BECOME
MORE FREQUENT DURING THE PAST FEW WEEKS AND WERE
PARTICULARLY SEVERE EARLY THIS WEEK.
WE ARE ATTACKING THESE PROBLEMS ON THREE FRONTS
SEARCHING FOR SOFTWARE CODING ERRORS ATTEMPTING
TO TRAP THE SOFTWARE FAILURES FOR ANALYSIS AND
MANUALLY EXAMINING PRODUCTS FOR MISSING DATA.
EVERY AVAILABLE SOFTWARE PERSON HAS BEEN ASSIGNED
TO EITHER THE SEARCH TASK OR TO THE FAILURE
ANALYSIS TASK. THE CODE SEARCH COVERS HUNDREDS OF
INTERACTING MODULES AND HAS REQUIRED DAY AFTER DAY
OF PAINSTAKING DETAIL WORK BUT HAS NOT YET
SUCCESSFULLY IDENTIFIED THE PROBLEM. SIMILARLY
THE TRAPPING TASK HAS NOT YET BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN
CATCHING THE CULPRIT MODULE IN THE ACT. THUS FAR
THE TRAPPING TASK HAS ONLY SUCCEEDED IN
IDENTIFYING THE LACK OF PRODUCTS WELL AFTER THE
PROBLEM HAS OCCURRED.
ON THURSDAY NOVEMBER 12 WE IMPLEMENTED INTENSIVE
NEW MANUAL PROCEDURES WHERE AS MANY CREATED
PRODUCTS AS POSSIBLE ARE VISUALLY EXAMINED AS SOON
AS THEY ARE SCHEDULED TO BE CREATED SO THAT THE
COMPUTER OPERATORS CAN TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION TO
RERUN THE MODULES TO BUILD THE PRODUCTS.
WE ARE CONFIDENT THAT OUR SOFTWARE TASKS WILL
EVENTUALLY BE SUCCESSFUL IN IDENTIFYING AND
REPAIRING THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM. UNTIL
THEN THE MANUAL EXAMINATION OF PRODUCTS APPEARS
TO HAVE GREATLY REDUCED THE OCCURRENCE OF MISSING
PRODUCTS AND SPARSELY POPULATED PRODUCTS AND THEIR
IMPACT ON YOU OUR USERS.
MUCH OF THE DATA TRANSMITTED ON COMMUNICATION
CIRCUITS IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON GATEWAY FILE SERVERS
ACCESSIBLE OVER NETWORKS. PLEASE CONTACT OUR DATA
MANAGEMENT STAFF FOR ACCESS INSTRUCTIONS.
WE WILL KEEP YOU INFORMED OF OUR PROGRESS.
WILLIAM E. BROCKMAN DEPUTY CHIEF SYSTEMS
OPERATIONS CENTER
THIS MESSAGE IS ALSO POSTED ON THE NWS SYSTEMS OPERATIONS
CENTER CHANGE NOTICES WEB PAGE. THE URL IS LISTED BELOW.
NOTE THE URL SHOULD BE TYPED IN ALL LOWER CASE.
HTTP TO WWW.NWS.NOAA.GOV/OSO/NOTICES/NOTICES.SHTML
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE CONTACT ONE OF THE DATA
MANAGERS LISTED BELOW.
FRED BRANSKI
SENIOR DATA MANAGER
PHONE 301-713-0864 EXTENSION 146
EMAIL FRED.BRANSKI/AT SYMBOL/NOAA.GOV
EMAIL ADDRESS SHOULD BE ALL LOWER CASE
TONI ELLIS
DATA MANAGER
PHONE 301-713-0864 EXTENSION 143
EMAIL TONI.ELLIS/AT SYMBOL/NOAA.GOV
EMAIL ADDRESS SHOULD BE ALL LOWER CASE
LLOYD IRVIN CHIEF
NETWORK MONITORING AND ANALYSIS BRANCH
SYSTEMS OPERATIONS CENTER
RTH WASHINGTON SENDS
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