Customers are reporting long delays in receiving email alerts which Airnav is still investigating 2 days after it was first reported.
All alerts have to go via the AirNav server and this has been highlighted many times as a potential issue. But still nothing has been changed.
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg77363#msg77363
correct :(
It's still not fixed... almost going on a week now.... :-(
Received Alerts from Saturday on Monday :(
Looking on the Mode-S Group. Sunday log showing up on Tuesday...
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mode_S/messages
Surely this must be a relatively easy problem to replicate and fix?
"I have the same problem with ANRB alert and reporting email delay for 5 days."
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg77453#msg77453
Better still, change the methodology as has been proposed so many times. >:(
Nearly a week later and still no fix or update from AirNav?
"The same situation here for sevaral days.
Also i use to receive several radarbox log emails from peolpe os radarbox yahoogroups ...
Several days not receiving one.... So it seems it is a general problem ..?"
Latest update from AirNav. Drastic action being taken but no change to the process which in itself is flawed!:
"We are today upgrading our email server and outsourcing it to a different company.
This requires a few changes which may take up to 48 hours to propagate over the internet.
So this means that we will still experience some instability during the next 2/3 days and after that problem fully corrected."
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg77597#msg77597
Beats me why the alerts are forced to go through the Airnav servers, it implies that Airnav have something to gain from the messages, it would be so easy to let users choose their own path thereby eliminating the problem.
I agree, the process is flawed. So why not change it? Does AirNav gain someting by leaving it as it is (or isn't)? Is it harvesting email addresses?
Quote from: Anmer on March 18, 2012, 09:10:57 AM
I agree, the process is flawed. So why not change it? Does AirNav gain someting by leaving it as it is (or isn't)? Is it harvesting email addresses?
Tut tut, surely they wouldn't be doing this! ???
AirNav has reported this problem has been fixed:
"This problem should now be corrected. Please send us your feedback to confirm everything is working as it should as your feedback is always extremelly helpful."
But a more recent post is still reporting no alerts!
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg77633#msg77633
Looks like this has finally been fixed with customer feedback suggesting alerts and logs are now being received:
We are still evaluating this and if the solution we found is totally stable. In the meanwhile any feedback from you is always welcome.
Still don't understand why AirNav persists in sending these via its own server?
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg77712#msg77712
Quote from: Anmer on March 21, 2012, 07:28:20 AM
Still don't understand why AirNav persists in sending these via its own server?
A certain Orwellian novel springs to mind.
Quote from: Hamish McTorsk on March 21, 2012, 07:47:21 AM
Quote from: Anmer on March 21, 2012, 07:28:20 AM
Still don't understand why AirNav persists in sending these via its own server?
A certain Orwellian novel springs to mind.
Well, Air Nav towers reminds me of Animal Farm, that's for sure. ;)
Looks like the "fix" was a bit premature!
We are still working on this issue.
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg77736#msg77736
[If I have this correct]
The old Alerts was sent from theplanet.com (Softlayer.com) web hosting server for AirNavSystems.com
New alerts being sent from Google.com email server. After your alerts/log is passed thru via the html server part at AirNavSystems.com. (mail.airnavsystems.com now takes you to this Google page (https://www.google.com/a/airnavsystems.com/ServiceLogin?service=mail&passive=true&rm=false&continue=http://mail.google.com/a/airnavsystems.com/<mpl=default<mplcache=2).
"Welcome to your email for AirNav Systems, powered by Google, where email is more intuitive, efficient and useful. "
OLD WAY> Received: from airnavsystems.com (mail.airnavsystems.com [74.55.96.226])
NEW WAY> Received: from mail-vb0-f66.google.com (mail-vb0-f66.google.com [209.85.212.66])
aka
Your RadarBox computer > AirNavSystem.com HTML server > Google Email Server > RadarBox Customer Email Inbox.
Blimey, no wonder things take days to get to you!
Latest news!
We do confirm that we are still having problems with this feature and we continue to work on it to fin a definitive solution. We will keep you informed.
I can't imagine "amateurish Bev" (to quote AirNav) at the COAA taking this long to fix what should be a simple problem? >:(
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg77761#msg77761
One would think that AirNav would be fully aware of the "traffic" volume and would make sure the servers could cope. Better still, redesign the process as others have been suggesting for years!
Never mind. Blame the customers rather than accept responsibility. ;)
Alerts are still being fine tuned at the moment, we have moved our mail servers. You won't believe the amount alert emails, reports etc.. thats gets generated by RadarBoxes each day, infact soo many that mail servers cannot cope.
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6857.msg77876#msg77876
Latest update from AirNav:
We are now processing emails using a third party email server. Things seem to be getting better still not working at 100%. We have one programmer working on this and at this time we are checking how the current solution performs.
I still think AirNav should change the RadarBox software and let customers send alerts via their own ISPs. Or there has to be a "hidden" beneficial reason for AirNav to put itself and its customers through all this?
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg77892#msg77892
Nearly three weeks later, this issue still doesn't appear to be fixed?
"Air Nav may we have an update on this problem. Not only am I not receiving squawk alerts, auto logs to the Mode S group is not being forwarded by the third party server."
And at the same time the owner of an "independent" forum is praising AirNav's "logic" and technical prowess! ;D
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg78023#msg78023
Still no resolution to this alert problem:
"Air Nav-------may we please have an update on the e mail status. I have not received and alert in 48 hours and my auto report is not being process"
If anyone still believes there'll soon be a new RadarBox release, maybe don't hold your breath?
This alert problem should have been fixed within days of it first being reported nearly 4 weeks ago. In my view, this is dreadful customer service.
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg78321#msg78321
No self-respecting IT company would offer up such feeble excuses. This should have been fixed weeks ago.
"This is still being worked on, we are hoping for a resolution asp (sic).
As you know we moved mail servers which had further capacity combat the issues we were seeing beforehand but it seems these can't handle the load either. We are looking at ways to handle the load better."
Has AirNav not heard of "contingency and demand planning"?
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg78324#msg78324
Air Nav are not, and never have been, pro-active. They are always reactive when it comes to problems which is why they will always be considered a minor league company.
Hopefully this and other email related problems have been solved:
"This situation should now be 100% solved.
Our apologies for the delay in developing a solution for which involved our ISP.
Email alerts are being sent from the proper (sender's email) email address so reports to forums should also0 (sic) be working Ok."
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg78431#msg78431
Now there is a surprise, it wasn't them, it was their ISP.
Pathetic!
Maybe the ISP was blocking the messages as spam?
All the more reason for a complete rethink on the current, inefficient process and let the customer send alerts via his/her own ISP and not via the AirNav server.
The current arrangement makes no sense unless AirNav makes beneficial use of alerts going via its own server?
Recent post:
"AirNav,
Are you sure about this 100% fix? My alerts were working fine until 0443z and since then nothing! Anybody else having the same problem?".
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg78474#msg78474
Further posts suggest (not for the first time) that AirNav's "fix" announcement was a bit premature:
"Alerts fine until 12:12 BST today. Nothing since. Also getting onto the forum was v slow as well."
"Good afternoon from paul in kent same problem had a few
Alerts this morning but nothing since then"
"Report emails to yahoogroups not warking anymore..."
The saga continues despite AirNav assuring its customers that it has, yet again, fixed the problem:
"We had a server problem today due to the maintenance actions we are taking.
Alerts could have stopped working because of this problem: anyway the alert routine / mail server should be fully working.
Please confirm if you still cannot receive any alerts both on Yahoogroups and on individual emails."
Only to be told an hour later:
"Send report not working at this time.
Getting Msg Message sent with success at first and then Message sending failed....
No matter to whom the email is.
No one message received at destinaton."
"Confirming: Auto-Report not working -again. ........
.........Perhaps it might be a good idea to go back to the ancient time were the report and alert mails aren't processed through your server. Or at least giving the possibility to chose how the alert/report mails are send. Just a thought for next version. I'm getting tired with the continuing working, not working, working, not working, not working, not working, oh working again and statement: "This situation should now be 100% solved." And guess what: not working, just one day later. Sorry, to say it just right away and very clear: This is not a very reliable and trust-able behaviour and can't be very good for your reputation."
"Confirming that Auto-report don't work.
Using a network sniffer I see that the response from the server is:
'SendEmail error: 4.3.1 Out of memory'"
What a shambles. I'd be out of a job if this were on my watch!
And from the company that boasts it's "The Most Trusted Name In Flight Tracking"
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg78519#msg78519
More promises of jam tomorrow:
"This feature is working at 100% but we have experienced some outages during the last 2 days because of other server maintenance actions. Your input is always very appreciated so please continue to post your feedback on the forum. We have over 150 tasks to implement during the next weeks which will bring more interesting features to RadarBox."
150 tasks? On past performance I'm not holding my breath on the first 15!
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg78549#msg78549
Just as I expected:
"Alerts lasted about half an hour. Nothing since 1320z."
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg78554#msg78554
Reassuring post from AirNav. I wish I could have got away with that when I was responsible for running an IT department!
"Let's wait 24 hours to see how this feature is working."
Latest attempt:
"We have installed a brand new Mail server on the airnavsystems.com machine and uninstalled the previous mail server which was the responsible for all this lack of stability. Waiting for your feedback."
But initial reports suggest this isn't working.
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg78578#msg78578
And yet another excuse:
"We have a minor issue with the new software and we are waiting for the company's support to clarify it. Once it is done this issue will be totally solved. We will post on the forum once that happens."
"Once it is done this issue will be totally solved"
Now how often have we heard that before?
I can't be 100% sure if the problem has been solved?
But today I was able to get a reactivation link from the AirNav forum which has not been possible for three weeks.
Looks like the problem persists for some:
"Good morning airnav systems no alerts comimg through again"
"Auto-Log failed today (UTC+2). Manual sending failed at 6:20am CEST."
"Auto-Log worked today. Received at 2:00am CEST / 0:00 UTC.
Manual Sending failed at 6:30am CEST / 4:30amUTC"
Back to the drawing board (again)?
"We need 3 volunteers to help us in finding what's wrong with the current solution we've deployed on our server.
Please send us a PM if you are interested."
Roughly translated:
"We haven't got a clue. Can anyone else help" ;D
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg78720#msg78720
All the more reason for changing the process and let AirNav customers send alerts direct via their own ISP and not via AirNav's server!
Remove the weakest link.
"We have been working on our server email setup today and there is no reason for email messages not to be sent.
To keep all this organized we would ask every user with email sending problems to contact us directly as it could be related to local user settings.
We need to have:
- Your RadarBox software version;
- Your RadarBox login / user id;
- The contents of the "Recipients" field on your MyLog window;
- If alerts never work or if they work only sometimes (inconsistency in sending data);
Please contact us by email at support@airnavsystems.com or by sending a PM to me."
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg78730#msg78730
QuoteWe need to have:
- Your RadarBox software version;
- Your RadarBox login / user id;
- The contents of the "Recipients" field on your MyLog window;
- If alerts never work or if they work only sometimes (inconsistency in sending data);
Please contact us by email at support@airnavsystems.com or by sending a PM to me."
and, more importantly, your bank details including account number and sort code. Our third party Nigerian colleagues will then look into the problems you are encountering. ;)
The RadarBox user's local setup could be causing problems. If this exercise proves that to be the case, the next RadarBox software release should send alerts direct.
Then Airnav can genuinely blame someone else.
AirNav:
"We have been working on our server email setup today and there is no reason for email messages not to be sent."
Customer responses:
Same here very little alerts nothing since 11.00 today
no daily report emails and little alerts.
Same problem here, last received alert at 9:57UTC.
I can confirm, that the last Alert that came through was at 10:30UTC (12:30CEST). Further 3 Alerts occurred but weren't received. Same counts for manual LOG sending.
I'm affraid the alerts are down
Worked from 6am uk time to 12
Nothing since then
Latest report:
"We have located a problem in the Mail Server Software we've been using and we are in contact with the company that developed it to find out a solution. Again our apologies for all these troubles. Rest assured we are doing our best to finally correct this situation."
This after the previous one that stated:
"....We have been working on our server email setup today and there is no reason for email messages not to be sent."
I won't be asking AirNav to organise a brewery tour!
This is quite funny to watch Mike!!!
How can anyone take these guys seriously??
Quote from: BigRed on April 12, 2012, 09:59:15 AM
This is quite funny to watch Mike!!!
How can anyone take these guys seriously??
It would be hilarious if it wasn't so sad. With every post about this, Air Nav is eroding any customer confidence that may be left. Their competitors must be wetting themselves laughing.
I can't wait for the next laughable excuse, I'll bet they are praying for the North Koreans to launch their missile, they haven't used that excuse yet.
I love the commment N-Korea and the launching of Missiles!!!! 8) 8)
With all this stuff going on and the whole giving away of radarboxes seriously is pointing acts of desperation???
CAM
Latest AirNav update:
"At this time we have installed a new Mail Server Application our server. Let's wait to see how it performs.
Your feedback is always appreciated."
Quote from: BigRed on April 13, 2012, 03:07:39 AM
With all this stuff going on and the whole giving away of radarboxes seriously is pointing acts of desperation???
And now having to drop the price by £100:
http://radarspotting.com/forum/index.php/topic,391.msg2810.html#msg2810
The Good News:
The latest "fix" appears to have worked.
The Bad News:
It took nearly 5 weeks to resolve!
Gold absolute gold!!! And for theyre next presentation for your enjoyment ...... 8)
AirNav asks for confirmation that the alerts problem is finally fixed:
"So we can finally consider this issue totally solved now.
Tks again for all your help and patience in waiting for a resolution for this."
Only to be told:
"Well, perhaps not 100%. Alerts didn't came through at late Friday evening. Auto-Log sending has also failed. Alerts working again since 3:05UTC. Manual Log-Sending is working at 4:45UTC."
"Same here, Auto-Log sending failed. Manual Log send worked at 6:42UTC."
"Sorry about this no alerts again since 6am in kent"
Back to the drawing board?
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg78860#msg78860
"A minor problem was detected on the server and was just corrected."
Let's hope this fix works?
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg78967#msg78967
That fix didn't work so we have yet another one:
"Problem detected and we made some changes to the email server. Let's see how it reacts."
Imagine if an aircraft engineer took this approach. I bet the pilot wouldn't be too happy?
Fingers crossed with Super Glue.
Seriously this more then a joke, your reflection is quite apt, whoever is in charge of this 'so called' company must have got his qualifications from Nigera!!
To have so many issues / problems is really starting to make them look ridiculous? How on earth can they be taken seriously???
CAM
QuoteTo have so many issues / problems is really starting to make them look ridiculous? How on earth can they be taken seriously???
Sorry Red but the statement "starting to make them look ridiculous" is so far off the mark. Air Navs credibility 'started' to go down about 3 years ago with the debacle that is Ship Trax. Many broken promises later about resolving Radarbox issues, they still don't seem to have grasped the ill feeling from current RB owners about the situation.
Air Nav are a second rate outfit run by people that Sir Alan Sugar would have sacked years ago for incompetance. In my eyes, the only way they can slightly redeem themselves is to live up to the promises of Snr Brandao and fix the bugs on Radarbox for it's current (and, who knows, new) users.
Watch this space!
I saw some of these boxes on display at Blackpool over the weekend at Norbreck Castle radio event.
They look good, but i wouldn,t touch one with a barge pole due to the lack of support and the forum banning everyone who dares to ask a question that support does not like.
It looked good for a while but maybe it's broken again?
No alerts since 1752z. Plenty in my alert log again - nothing in my emails.
http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=6837.msg79094#msg79094
Today's Alert Fix:
"The service has been down for a few hours yesterday but everything back to normal 5 hours ago. We now have a much better way of monitoring any mail server crashes and act accordingly. "
Now when did I hear that before?
Hmmm?
"So far today I have received no alerts/squawks. Don't think this problem has been corrected/work as it should".
Yet another excuse from AirNav. Doesn't it know how to test the fixes before announcing everything is back to normal?
"We are still having issues with the installed mail server application. Despite being much more reliable than previous solutions it still has failures. We are investigating what is causing this, contacting the development company support and try to find a definitive solution for this."
Only yesterday it was announcing:
"The service has been down for a few hours yesterday but everything back to normal 5 hours ago. We now have a much better way of monitoring any mail server crashes and act accordingly. "
Today's tranche, in chronological order:
"We are still waiting on these problems. Stby for more news. The mail server might be down for a few minutes during the next hours."
"We have re-established the mail service this time with a different server software. Waiting for your feedback to check how it performs."
"I havent had any alerts yesterday or today"
Flying by the seat of one's pants?
Finally and totally solved?
"It appears this situation is now finally and totally solved. Our reporting system indicated no failures for the last 48 hours. Waiting for your confirmation."
Problems again?
Customer:
"Air Nav---- I think we have a problem again. Only one squawk e mail yesterday and none today."
AirNav:
"From our server monitoring system everything has been running OK without any outages.
Any other users experiencing the same problems?"
Customers:
"My auto log yesterday took about 5 hours to arrive. Today's came on time with no problems however."
"Although Auto-Log reporter stated Message sent with success no Log-arrived. Manual sending fails too on the XP machine. Alerts are working fine."
"Manual log sent last night, received email saying 'message is waiting at airnavsystems.com.The message will be retried for another 30 hours'."
AirNav:
"We have been monitoring our email server today and everything seems to be Ok with it.
There is no reason not to work perfectly. Maybe the above problems were related to yahoogoups outages.
Still waiting for more news from our users."
Customers:
"Well another day has past in good old KATL and once again not a single E mail alert for Squawks. That one squawk(e mail) in the last three days. Guess it will be yahoo fault, and everything at Air Nav is work as it should according to there monitoring. And yes I all the check marks/info in all the right places. "
"I have to say that I'm currently testing email alerts (I normally don't use them) and they are arriving in my inbox instantly at the moment. As soon as an alert appears in RadarBox, I go to Outlook, and there's the email.
If Yahoo are indeed having problems (wouldn't be the first time) it's a bit tough to blame AirNav."
AirNav:
"We have re-checked one more time and the email server has no problems. We've installed a new software for this a week ago and since then no problems in sending emails / no SMTP outages. We also confirmed that airnavsystems.com IP is not listed in any spam detection engine. So as far as we can tell everything is working absolutely OK on our side."