It appears as though AOL/United has finally resolved the major problems with the web servers, at least to the point where they are continuing to run.

Below are the latest updates:

July 13, 2006: Permanent Fix Planned

AOL will implement a permanent fix for the Unimatic connection problems last week with the Cisco Network switch by doing the following:

• Determine what network activities on the morning of July 5, 2006 caused the switch to remove the servers from being part of the allocation of requests for Unimatic/Apollo/Bid Package requests.
• Determine if the network activity on the morning of July 5th can be removed to return Health Checking to service.

If the network activity that caused the switch to become unstable on July 5th can be identified and isolated, then remove the ‘patch’ or upgrade to return the switch to it’s previous state.

If the network activity that caused the switch to become unstable on July 5th cannot be identified, then restore the switch to the previous last known configuration by ‘reloading’ the switch with the software revision prior to July 5th.

If neither of the above addresses a permanent fix for the problem, then the switch will be replaced.

July 12, 2006: System Stable

0830 PDT

It appears as though AOL/United has finally resolved the major problems with the Unimatic web servers, at least to the point where they are continuing to run.

Technical Mumbo Jumbo: the switch healthchecking was pulling the Unimatic servers out of rotation due to an unusual condition---of which the cause is not yet known. Nevertheless, healthchecking has been halted for the time being on the switch.

Bottom Line: This fix look promising. If you are still unable to connect to Unimatic, please fill out a Problem Report or consult your nearest psychiatrist.

July 11, 2006: Problems Continue; Not as Bad

1700 PDT

There are still connection problems happening but they do not last as long and only a small percentage of connections are being rejected.

AOL/United has indicated that an AOL technical group will take the lead tomorrow on getting the resources to address the problem. Additional updates will be published then.

1200 PDT

AOL/United took some rather drastic action with the wayward switch to stabilize the system. They did two things:

1. Shutdown the switches internal monitoring system that messages when it's in trouble;
2. Increased the amount of errors threefold that the switch would take before shutting down.

The result is that the servers have been up without going down for the last 20 minutes, even with the heavy loads.

1109 PDT

All three of the Unimatic/Apollo Web Servers are now shutting down on a frequent/regular basis. The increased shutdowns are due to the increased volumes associated with the release of the flight attendant bid packages for August. The same web servers that service Unimatic/Apollo are also used to manage traffic to the bid packages on AOL.

The AOL Network Operating Center (AOL NOC) has taken control of restarting the web servers when they go down. This allows AOL/United additional time to diagnose and troubleshoot the problems and to identify a fix. Until a fix is clearly identified, the only technical solution is to continue to try, with a higher likelihood during off hours.

July 10, 2006: Switch Restarted

As of July 10, 2006, AOL/United mentioned that the problem was related to a network switch. They were finally able to get the switch restarted and things settled down and became stable. They indicated that if there are any further problems between now and tomorrow they will do whatever they need to up to and including replacing that switch to get this resolved.

July 9, 2006: Connection Problems

Here's the joy today:

1. The 'Access Unimatic' link was not always working and you sometimes just received a blank screen, or worse, a 'Server Cannot Be Found' message.
2. If you did arrive at the AOL Username sign on screen (after clicking the 'Access Unimatic' link), you would sometimes get routed back to the AOL home page instead of the Unimatic terminal window.

We left a phone message for AOL/United about this problem, but have no idea when or if it will be fixed, nor do we really know for sure yet exactly what the problem is.  Normally, you see this kind of weird behavior during either a full moon or when the daylight savings time changes.

If you are unable to get into Unimatic, please try the following:

1. Refresh the blank screen.  Sometimes that will cause the JRE to reload and you may then receive the Unimatic terminal window where you can log on.
2. Close the web browser window and try again to reopen and connect.  You do not need to disconnect from the internet, as that has nothing to do with this problem.
3. Fill out a Unimatic Problem Report.  Seriously. This will help trend the Unimatic connectivity issues.
4. Like us, go to your local hardware store and purchase a large can of wall spackle to repair the hole in your wall that you've been beating your head against.