Previous Updates

9 September 2009

We are dealing with two intermittent problems at present:
1) SMTP-B is randomly rejecting incoming mail with the message "delivery temporarily suspended". We have taken the server out of commission to try to identify the problem.
2) when sending mail via mail.physics.org users randomly receive a message "MAIL FROM command failed: Insufficient system storage" but on re-trying to send the message usually goes successfully.

21 July 2009

There have been several issues reported to us over the past few weeks, all of which have been reviewed by our technical support team. Please let us know at member.services@iop.org if you encounter these, or any other, problems with your PhysMail account:

Timeouts (webmail access) – the session timeout settings should not interfere with your usage of the site. If the system believes you have not done anything for some time (in excess of 15 minutes) it may time out your session. Remember that typing a message does not register with the system as “activity”, so before you type a new message press Get Messages to ensure you have been noticed by the system.

Insufficient storage space – each mailbox is permitted at least 50MB of capacity, however there have been a couple of instances this month where the system has incorrectly written data to one of the servers and filled the server to capacity. Processes are now in place which should prevent this.

Sender receives “bounce back” alert – over the past few weeks we have experienced several spam attacks. In some circumstances the servers become overwhelmed and reject messages whilst they attempt to process those in the queue. We have systems in place to control this issue as much as possible.

If you do have problems please report them to member.services@iop.org and wherever possible give details of the time when the problem occurred, include any error messages received (including any reference to SMTP-A, SMTP-B, AS-FE-1 through AS-FE-6) and let us know how you are using PhysMail (webmail, POP3, IMAP or as a forwarding service).

24 June 2009

Some users may be experiencing a problem receiving incoming messages to their physmail.

The problem is caused by sudden bursts of SPAM which temporarily overload the servers causing messages to bounce back. The messages are not lost, but either wait in a queue to be sent again or a bounce back notification is sent to the sender.
 
We are aware of the problem and have processes implemented to keep it to a minimum.

23 June 2009

We are aware of a problem with ‘backscatter’, when users receive a message informing them that an email they did not send was unsuccessfully delivered to someone they do not know.

This is caused by SPAMers forging a sender address to send out SPAM. When the SPAM is blocked by the receiving server, it sends a failed delivery notification back to the email address the SPAMer was pretending to send from.

We are currently working on long term solutions to the problems caused by SPAM.

29 April 2009

Many users will have noticed that the number of junk emails delivered to their inboxes has increased over the last week or two.

We have settings in place which had been managing junk mail reasonably successfully until now. However the most recent problems have been caused by the Conficker worm (Conficker is the latest (and to date biggest) worm on the internet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conficker) and it has control of between 9 and 15 million computers which are now being used to send out spam.)

The attack surge comes and goes in waves and our system has adjusted appropriately, however as a result some mail is being “bounced” back to the sender but so long as the remote Mail Transfer Agents (MTA's) behave in accordance with standards then no email will be lost. The problems should only be temporary and the bounce back messages are simply the system saying "Sorry, we are too busy to handle your message" so the sender knows that they need to send the message again.

We hope to be able to handle these problems with less impact on users in the near future (at least until another worm comes along).

23 April 2008

There are no current problems with the service.

10 December 2007

There are no current problems with the service.  However, please note that we are currently reviewing the SMTP setup and may announce changes affecting sending mail via PhysMail servers in the near future.

30 November 2007

The queue of mail caused by the spam attack earlier this month is still not completely cleared, so some mail is still arriving in users' inboxes very late (circa 14 days).  Yesterday a problem arose with the new servers failing to recognise users and we are aware that some mail is being returned to sender saying user unknown.  We are investigating this and a possible SMTP issue.

23 November 2007

The queue of mail delayed as a result of the spam attack earlier this month should be cleared over the next two or three days.  New incoming mail should be delivered promptly.  However because the specification of the spam and anit-virus software which does the initial processing of mail has been tightened, users may notice that mail which used to reach their Inbox is now going to Spam.  If this happens please white-list the sender to avoid future problems.

21 November 2007

As a temporary measure we have separated the handling of new incoming mail and the processing of the queue of incoming mail held up since the spam problems earlier this month.  We believe that this will result in new incoming mail being processed faster, whilst at the same time the queue of mail can also be delivered.  Our information from users to date suggests that mail has not been lost, but has been delayed for anything between a few hours and several days.  We continue to work on longer term solutions to the problems caused by spam.

15 November 2007

Problems caused by a spam attack on 4/5 November are still causing problems and we are aware that incoming mail is still taking 24 - 36 hours to be delivered to to users.  Outgoing mail is unaffected.  We are attempting to restore a proper service as quickly as possible.

5 November 2007

We are aware of issues on Sunday 4 November with logging into the web mail interface (now resolved) but mail is currently not being delivered and we are investigating the problem.  At this point we assume that mail is being held in a queue for delivery; as soon as further information is available it will be posted here.

5 October 2007

There are no know problems with PhysMail.

27 September 2007

We are currently investigating problems with the secure login for PhysMail.  To resolve this in the short term try changing to http://mail.physics.org until the problem is put right.  This will also affect POP3 and IMAP connections.

20 August 2007

There are currently no known problems with PhysMail.

8 August 2007

Over the last 24 hours some users have reported issues with IMAP and POP3 which they have noticed since late last week; if you experience such problems please e-mail member.services@iop.org and indicate which method (IMAP or POP3) and e-mail software you are using.

27 July 2007

There are no know problems with PhysMail at this time.

27 July 2007

There is a problem with PhysMail today, we are aware that the system went down at approximately 08.30 hrs (GMT) and this is receiving urgent attention.

23 July 2007

There are no known problems with PhysMail at present.

26 April 2007

Due to essential maintenance the PhysMail service will be unavailable for a few minutes at approximately 02.00 hrs GMT on Friday 27 April 2007.

4 April 2007
There are no known problems with PhysMail at present.  If you experience a problem which is not resolved by reference to the information available on this page please e-mail member.services@iop.org

If you find that a certificate error message appears when you try to access the PhysMail, please ensure that you are using the URL https://mail.physics.org/ (not https://newmail.physics.org).

29 Mar 2007
There are still intermittent problems with speed of access and loading of the web interface.  Whilst we are working to resolve these problems we suggest that you change the web mail appearance (under Settings) to Classic.  This will load the pages on the central server, rather than using Javascript on your local computer, and should improve the speed.

If you find that a certificate error message appears when you try to access the PhysMail, please ensure that you are using the URL https://mail.physics.org/ (not https://newmail.physics.org).

22 Mar 2007
There are issues concerning speed of webmail interface and difficulties with editing forwarding addresses. Both problems are receiving attention.

If you find that a certificate error message appears when you try to access the Physmail, please ensure that you are using the URL https://mail.physics.org/ (not https://newmail.physics.org).

20 Mar 2007
There are no known issues with PhysMail at this time.

19 Mar 2007
Mail was rejected and returned to senders for a period on 16/17 March. The reason for this has now been resolved. There is an outstanding issue with the SMTP settings.

16 Mar 2007
The anti-spam screen is now accessible; spam is being flagged and filtered into the Spam folder again and the security certificate is in place. A problem with SMTP settings has been identified and should be resolved within a few hours.

We are not aware of any other problems affecting PhysMail at present.

13 Mar 2007
The shut down earlier today allowed us to re-create the PhysMail server cluster. We believe that this should have eliminated most of the recent problems apparently caused by a cluster "split brain" situation.

The remaining problems relate to filtering of spam and anti-spam setting screens. Both these issues are unrelated to the server cluster problem and are now being addressed.

9 Mar 2007
In order to resolve the recent problems we have been experiencing, the Physmail service will need to be shut down on Tuesday 13 March at 1300 GMT, for approximately 2 hours. Incoming mail will be held for delivery as soon as service is resumed.

6 Mar 2007
Issues remain regarding forwarding, spam filtering and occasional (temporary) disappearance of address books. Users who normally use forwarding have been advised to use the web interface as a double-check. We are aware that spam filtering is not taking place and that the spam filter screens are unavailable.

28 Feb 2007
The problems concerning speed of webmail interface have been resolved.  However there are outstanding issues with some mail not being received, forwarding, successfully sent and IMAP connections.  We continue to work with our technical support colleagues to resolve these issues as an absolute priority.  Contrary to our belief yesterday the problems with apparently empty mailboxes when using the webmail interface have not been resolved; this is also receiving attention but we know that the mailboxes do re-appear.                                                                                                      

27 Feb 2007
The problems concerning speed of webmail interface have been resolved.  However there are outstanding issues with some mail not being received, forwarding, successfully sent and IMAP connections.  We continue to work with our technical support colleagues to resolve these issues as an absolute priority.  There were problems during today with apparently empty mailboxes - messages were not lost and have now been restored.

26 Feb 2007
The problems concerning speed of webmail interface have been resolved.  However there are still issues with mail not being received, forwarding and IMAP connections.  We continue to work with our technical support colleagues to resolve these issues as fast as possible. 

23 Feb 2007
During this week we have been experiencing problems with PhysMail, including issues around forwarding, IMAP connections, speed of webmail interface and mail bouncing. These issues, and any underlying causes, are still receiving urgent attention.

22 Feb 2007

Earlier this week there were problems with speed of service, and specifically for a few hours all mail was rejected.  The rejection issue has been resolved, but the speed of service, particularly loading of screens in webmail. 

21 Feb 2007

We are experiencing load time issues at present; this problem is receiving attention and should be resolved shortly.  Apologies for the inconvenience.

12 Dec 2006

Apologies if you have found that your e-mails seem to have vanished.

We are experiencing the same problems ourselves and are working hard to restore the missing messages.

11 Dec 2006

The new system is settling down; however, we are aware that there are currently a few ‘teething’ problems, which we are dealing with and trust will have resolved very soon.

Mail to your account rejected as unknown - We realise that this is still a problem for a small number of users, and we will have this resolved shortly. If this is happening to you and you have not yet reported it please notify member.services@iop.org

Address Books - You should receive your address book contents to upload, along with the instructions on how to do this within the next few days.

Calendars - We apologise for not forewarning you but, as is the case with most e-mail systems, calendars do not migrate, so if you wish to print out your old calendar please contact us at member.services@iop.org

POP3/IMAP Issues - If you are having difficulties setting up e-mail access via a POP3/IMAP client please (and the Connection Information file does not resolve your problem) please contact us at member.services@iop.org. It would be helpful if you also provide the following information, so we can deal with your individual query as best we can:

• Your browser
• Your version
• The operating system you currently use
• The type of computer you use

If you are experiencing any other problems with your PhysMail account please e-mail member.services@iop.org with the details.

5 December 2006

Logging in and Mailboxes - Some users are currently unable to log onto their mailbox.

Please makes sure that you are using your name (from your.name@physics.org) as your username and your usual PhysMail password.

If you still cannot access your account please e-mail member.services@iop.org with the subject line ‘No access to PhysMail’ and give your account name (your.name@physics.org) AND, if possible, an alternative address in the message body.

We expect this problem to be resolved within 24 hours.

Mail to your account rejected as unknown - You may be told that messages to you are being rejected as ‘unknown user’. We are aware of this issue and we expect it to be resolved within 24 hours.

Address Books - Please accept our apologies for failing to warn you that migration of address books would happen after the mailbox migration. We realise that this is a major inconvenience to many users.

The address book contents will be supplied as a csv file (with upload instructions) to each affected user by the end of the week.

Calendars - We are aware that users do not have access to their calendar contents. This is an issue receiving attention at present.

If you need access to your calendar before the end of the week please e-mail member.services@iop.org with the subject line ‘PhysMail Calendar access’ and your account (your.name@physics.org) in the body.

If you are experiencing any other problems with your PhysMail account please e-mail member.services@iop.org with the details.

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