Mar 11, 2016 | Information, Planned Work, Update
[Update 15th March] This work has been completed
[Update 14th March] As of tonight, the main outgoing server will be switched to the new site; anyone using an SSL connections needs to ensure they have changed their outbound server name to port.merula.net
[Update] The new post.merula.net server is up and running – If you use SSL or wish to test sending email please try changing to this server name and ensure you can send email OK. Once we are happy we will update the DNS so that post.merula.co.uk also points to the new server.
We are in the process of bringing into service additional upgraded hardware for our outbound email servers (post.merula.net and post.merula.co.uk). At the same time, we have taken the opportunity to upgraded the security certificate.
A side effect of the certificate change on the mail server will require anyone using SSL in their email client to change the Outbound server name from post.merula.co.uk to post.merula.net
The new servers will be made live over this weekend to allow people time to make the necessary changes.
As always, if you have any concerns, please raise a ticket to support@merula.net.
Mar 11, 2016 | Information, Planned Work
Date of work: 19.03.16
Start time: 00:00 GMT
End time: 04:00 GMT
Place of work: London Telehouse North
Work description: Software upgrade on transit supplier core routers
We believe there will be no impact but there could be some very temporary route instability and slight increase in routing times seen as the work starts & ends. This should resolve automatically.
Feb 22, 2016 | Information, Planned Work, Update
This is a notification of a possible low “at risk” issue but we believe this is minimal as we also have our own UPS units covering the services & systems located at HEX.
This is the most recent update from HEX:
“UPS works planned have been unsuccessful. Temporary UPS units are available should we need it. Further replacement parts are being sourced and a more detailed action plan is being drafted in order to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
Resiliency level remains at N and there is no anticipated interruption to your services.
We will provide a further update once resolved or if there is any change to the current situation”
Feb 20, 2016 | Information, Outages, Planned Work
Since the 18th February, we have been working to ensure that all in-house systems affected by this advisory are being patched accordingly. We have been advised and judge that this work needs to be completed as quickly as possible. This may therefore require brief windows of downtime affecting both single and multiple services & circuits.
Wherever possible we will post an early notification of such customer affecting works.
If you have any concerns or require further information, contact support in the normal meaner.
Vulnerability Summary for CVE-2015-7547
Original release date: 02/18/2016
Last revised: 02/19/2016
Source: US-CERT/NIST
Overview
Multiple stack-based buffer overflows in the (1) send_dg and (2) send_vc functions in the libresolv library in the GNU C Library (aka glibc or libc6) before 2.23 allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted DNS response that triggers a call to the getaddrinfo function with the AF_UNSPEC or AF_INET6 address family, related to performing “dual A/AAAA DNS queries” and the libnss_dns.so.2 NSS module.
Impact
CVSS Severity (version 3.0):
CVSS v3 Base Score: 8.1 High
Impact Score: 5.9
Exploitability Score: 2.2
CVSS Version 3 Metrics:
Attack Vector (AV): Network
Attack Complexity (AC): High
Privileges Required (PR): None
User Interaction (UI): None
Scope (S): Unchanged
Confidentiality (C): High
Integrity (I): High
Availability (A): High
Feb 19, 2016 | Information
A number of ISPs have noted some route flapping issues affecting peering arrangements in THN with Juniper. LINX have been requested to investigate. No obvious issues have been seen here yet but we will keep monitoring and report any traffic concerns via the usual channels.
Feb 2, 2016 | Information, Planned Work, Update
No issues.
Planned Duration:
Start: 09/02/2016 00:01 GMT
Finish: 09/02/2016 05:00 GMT
Task:
One of our interconnect suppliers will be upgrading their capacity with BTW for DSL services in Telehouse North. This will involve migrating traffic on a pair of interconnects to new, higher capacity ones.
Customer Impact:
We do not anticipate any impact to Merula customer traffic, however all BT DSL services delivered from our Telehouse North node should be considered as AT RISK during this maintenance window.
If you have any queries about this work please raise a support ticket with our helpdesk.
We will issue an ALL CLEAR once this work has been completed.
Feb 2, 2016 | Outages
There was a period of network instability between 1am and 2am this morning. This appears to have been due to a network storm within our network. We have now stabalised the network and you should see full service from all servers.
We are monitoring the network to ensure this does not re-occur and are investigating the root cause of this issue to ensure it does not re-occur
We apologise for any issues this may have caused
Jan 12, 2016 | Information
Be aware that the manufacturers of the Fritzbox! range of routers have advised of a security exploit that requires the firmware to be updated to the latest version. If you have one of the models concerned, you should upgrade accordingly.
More details are available here:
AVM FRITZBox Broadband VDSL and ADSL Routers in Security Glitch
Jan 7, 2016 | Uncategorized
Planned Duration:
Start: 14/01/2016 00:01 GMT
Finish: 14/01/2016 04:00 GMT
Task:
Migrate a number of supplier back-haul links to new hardware in preparation for planned upgrades.
Customer Impact:
Customers should not experience any loss of connectivity as part of this work. Traffic will be cleanly moved across to alternative links before links are moved into other line cards. This period should be considered as AT RISK only.
Dec 15, 2015 | Information
Please note that our network freeze will be in place from 6pm on 16/12/2015 and will last until 10am on 04/01/2016.
During this time, any change requests that involve the Merula core network will be postponed until the resumption of supplier normal services on 04/01/2016. This is to ensure existing services are not affected by a lack of resource by the network operator.
