MPC Status Page: Archive (2004 February)

Recent problems are listed elsewhere. Index of other older problems..

Older Enhancements and Resolved Problems

• Minor Planet Ephemeris Service

  2004 Feb. 29: 18:10. A user asked if it would be possible to include a listing of all designations associated with a designation that was entered into the MPES. The MPES already indicates the principal designation if a non-principal designation was entered. We are of the opinion that it is not appropriate to list all the non-principal designations on the pages returned by the MPES. However, we have put in links to the interactive minor-planet designation script to make it easy to obtain the necessary information.

• Minor Planet Designations script

  2004 Feb. 29: 11:20. A user reported problems with the interactive minor-planet designation script. An investigation showed that the data files for this script were still being prepared on the old VAXes, where the necessary files are no longer being maintained. The procedure has now been ported over to the cluster and the necessary data files have been rebuilt. One minor problem remains: the returned page says "You requested information on the designation" followed by two unprintable characters, rather than informing you which designation you were searching for.
  • 11:35. While attempting to fix the last problem, the old Unix C compiler's "oops, compilation errors, let's create a blank executable rather than leave the old executable intact" gotcha has bitten again. Users will receive an error message if they try to access the script.
  • 11:40. A new executable that fixes the problem about displaying the designation being search for has been installed.

• Timing of DOU MPECs

  2004 Feb. 25: 12:00. While testing of the new queuing system on the new cluster is being undertaken, the timing of the issuing of DOU MPECs may be unpredictable (e.g., MPEC 2004-D35 and MPEC 2004-D36). Regrettably, it is not possible to indicate in advance which future DOU MPECs will be affected and by how much. Once the testing of the new queues is completed, the DOU MPEC will revert to the normal schedule.

• NEA+*.DAT files

  2004 Feb. 23: 14:30. A user reported that the NEA+*.DAT odd-epoch files on the MPCORB ftp page (and on the mirror sites) appear to be missing objects with designations assigned after mid 2003. This is an error and we are investigating.
  • Feb. 23: 14:45. Investigation shows that the procedure that builds those files depends on some files that have not been prepared since the MPES underwent its major upgrade. We are rewriting the procedure.
  • Feb. 23: 16:20. The procedure to build the NEA+*.DAT files has been recoded and has been extended to prepare the corresponding files for dates from -10 to +14 days of the current date. The files on the local MPCORB site have been updated. The mirror sites may not get updated until tomorrow.

• DOU MPEC

  2004 Feb. 12: 09:50. The overnight DOU MPEC batch job stalled. We aborted the procedure and examined the log file. We then ran the procedure interactively to try and reproduce the problem that stalled the batch job. No problem was detected and the circular was prepared (with a new MPEC number) without incident. A number of NEO observations that should have been included on the circular were inadvertently omitted, they will appear on the next DOU MPEC.

• Computer Problems II

  2004 Feb. 11: 09:50. Two disks attached to the cluster member with the dodgy CD-ROM drive are unavailable to the other cluster members. This has caused some problems with updating elements sets for the Web cgi scripts. The two disks are in an external box: we will reattach them to another cluster member and rerun the overnight procedures that failed.
  • 10:44. The external disk box has been attached to another machine and the two overnight procedures that failed have been rerun.

• Computer Problems

  2004 Feb. 10: 12:00. While replacing the CD-ROM drive on one of our cluster machines, a cluster problem developed which is "stiffing" the other cluster machines. We are attempting to fix the problem.
  • 12:30. A number of cluster-shared disks are refusing to dismount cleanly. One disk is refusing to be shared among the cluster members. We are trying to understand why this is the case. The Web server machine will probably be unavailable for a number of hours.
  • 17:00. The cluster was returned to normal operation after much investigation. Changes planned for the near future will reduce the likelihood of a similar outage in the future. Web server should now be operating normally.

• Files for the ECS

  2004 Feb. 8: 18:00. A hardware problem on one of our machines is preventing us putting up the monthly files for the ECS. The files will be available as soon as possible after the machine is repaired.
  • Feb. 9: 09:50. We have called for service.
  • Feb. 9: 10:50. Since the machine is rather old, the required motherboard is not available at the local service office. It will have to be flown in from Kentucky. Service should be here tomorrow.
  • Feb. 10: 11.00. Motherboard did not make it in time. Service is here for an unrelated problem on one of our cluster machines that requires replacement of a CD-ROM drive. Motherboard should be in tomorrow afternoon.
  • Feb. 11: 15.30. The motherboard has been replaced. The posting of the files in the telnet and Web ECS is underway.

• Special Monthly MPECs

  2004 Feb. 5: 22:40. A user pointed out that the date of last observation of (25143) was incorrect on MPEC 2004-C20. Investigation showed that during the filing associated with the 2004 Feb. 7 batch of MPCs the new numbered observations were not added to the files of previously-published observations. This is now being done.
  • The last dates of observation for the numbered objects in the special MPECs are suspect. Correct dates may be obtained through the MPES.
  • We will modify some filing procedures to ensure that this does not happen again.

• NEOCP

  2004 Feb. 4: 18:30. The list of previous NEOCP objects has been moved to a separate page. The list typically has 100 objects listed at any one time and by moving the list to another page the size of the NEOCP pages has been halved.

• MPCs in ADS

  2004 Feb. 4: 12:30. The MPECs and IAUCs have been indexed in the Astrophysics Data System for a number of years. The MPCs are now also included. At the present time, indexing is available for circulars issued since June 2003. Future issues will be included as a matter of routine. Other back issues will be included as time permits.

• NEOCP uncertainty maps II

  2004 Feb. 4: 11:10. The uncertainty maps in the NEOCP have been further extended to indicate those variant orbits that will pass within 0.0027 AU (roughly one lunar distance) sometime over the next 100 hours. Such orbits will be flagged with black triangles on the uncertainty maps and by "***" on the lists of offset coordinates.
  • Feb. 4: 11:30. Counts of the number of variant orbits in each of the four flagged categories are now displayed to the right of the uncertainty plot.

• "Denial of service" use of web script

  2004 Feb. 3: 12:00. It has been noted that a single user has been sending many single requests (in one instance, seven requests in one second) to the supernova checker script, rather than using the batch facility. Access to the script (and to the mp checker script) has been disabled for the IP address in question (and will be expanded to the domain if the user roves in IP space) and the user will see a message explaining why access is blocked. This is probably the reason for the non-responsive NEOCP reported by a user last night.

• Machine upgrade

  2004 Feb. 3: 11:00. The CF box that acts as our gateway to the CF's web server machines has apparently been up for 200 days and is urgent need of OS patches. The CF has already started installing the required patches and the work is expected to take 50 minutes. Until this work is completed some pages on the MPC's website may not get updated.

Index to the CBAT/MPC/ICQ pages. Credits

MPC homepage