Tutorials - General > How can I find Service Status Information?

Tutorials & FAQs: General: How can I receive Service Status information?
There are a number of ways to get the Plusnet Service Status Updates. This document explains how to access them all.
The document covers the following options:

• Portal
• Forums
• Newsgroups
• Desktop Updates
• Email Updates

Portal
It is possible to access Service Status updates from the Status section of the Portal. This includes a table displaying how the services are currently operating as well as indicating how long they have been at that state, when the next update will be in the event of problems and any future events that may be planned.

Newsgroups
It is possible to access Service Status postings from the Plusnet UseNet Server at usenet.plus.net. The particular groups to watch are plusnet.service.status and plusnet.service.announce.

Desktop Updates
Desktop Updates are provided using a Customer-Written tool, using a system called RSS.
What are these?
The service status RSS feeds are a means of reading the Service Status Posting in a Desktop Application, meaning that you do not need to keep checking http://status.plus.net, the Service Status Newsgroups or the Announcements Forum. They also provide a backup archive that can be used to check on old announcements.

How do I access these feeds?
You can add the feed to your RSS Aggregator as http://usertools.plus.net/status/status.xml

Is there an Archive of Status Postings?
Yes - the archive is available at http://usertools.plus.net/status/archive/

What is RSS?
The RDF [Resource Description Framework] Site Summary is actually an extension to the RDF language. Quoting the official RSS v1.0 specification (the version which is used in the Status Feed)

RDF Site Summary (RSS) is a lightweight multipurpose extensible metadata description and syndication format. RSS is an XML [Extensible Markup Language] application, conforms to the W3C's RDF specification and is extensible via XML-namespace and/or RDF based modularization.

RSS is also sometimes taken to mean Rich Site Summary.

How do I read the RSS Feed?
You can view the Syndicated Feeds by using an RSS Aggregator. A list of RSS Aggregators is available by searching your favourite Search Engine. For example, Google's list

Can you recommend any particular Aggregators for my Operating System?
Windows

• FeedReader - http://www.feedreader.com/
  
• FeedDemon - http://www.feeddemon.com/feeddemon/
  
• Mozilla Firefox (1.0PR or later) includes the ability to subscribe to RSS feeds, as well as being a Web Browser
  
• Mozilla Thunderbird (0.8 or later) includes the ability to subscribe to RSS Feeds, as well as being an Email Client
  

Unix/Linux

• http://freshmeat.net/projects/myplanet/
• http://freshmeat.net/projects/tollwut/
• Mozilla Firefox (1.0PR or later) includes the ability to subscribe to RSS feeds, as well as being a Web Browser
  
• Mozilla Thunderbird (0.8 or later) includes the ability to subscribe to RSS Feeds, as well as being an Email Client

Note: These have not been tested, they were recommended to the author of this tutorial.
Macintosh

• NetNewsWire - http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/
• NetNewsWire Lite - http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/#lite
• Mozilla Firefox (1.0PR or later) includes the ability to subscribe to RSS feeds, as well as being a Web Browser
  
• Mozilla Thunderbird (0.8 or later) includes the ability to subscribe to RSS Feeds, as well as being an Email Client

Note: These have not been tested, they were recommended to the author of this tutorial.

Email Updates

Email Updates are another Customer-Written tool which is provided for others to use.

So, how do I subscribe or unsubscribe?

Subscription information is provided on http://usertools.plus.net/status/email.php. Due to the way that this system works, it is not possible to provide a method through the forums.

I am a bit concerned about giving you my email address?
Once you have subscribed to this service, the only emails you will be sent will be from the automatic script which sends the updates. However, if you are concerned that you may receive Junk Email ("Spam") to the address, then I recommend you create either a new mailbox or an Alias in the "Email Settings" section of the Portal. This means that if the address gets Junk Mail you can divert it to the Black Hole.

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Original Article by: csogilvie - Edited by: MauriceB