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- Q: What is the phone number and e-mail address for the Helpdesk?
A: The Helpdesk can be reached by calling 978-262-4000 Option 1, or by e-mail at support@mecnet.net.
- Q: What are the Helpdesk hours?
A: Regular Helpdesk support hours are 7:00am to 4:30pm, Monday thru Friday. Emergency beeper service is 24/7.
- Q: Who will answer?
A: Chris Harris, Jeff Lemay, Annelyse Anderson, or Joel Tejada.
- Q: Where can I email my requests?
A: support@mecnet.net
- Q: Will you call Verizon for me?
A: Yes. If you have a MECnet Support Contract, we will handle all issues with your line and equipment.
- Q: What is the ETR (Estimated Time for Repair) on a Verizon line outage?
A: Initial testing takes anywhere from 1-4 hours and resolution to the problem can take anywhere from 12-48 hours, depending on the severity of the issue.
- Q: What if I have a non-service affecting request or issue?
A: All requests come through the Helpdesk and are assigned to our techs by a member of the Helpdesk. Most of these requests are answered the day they come in, however the techs take requests on a first come first serve basis and problem resolution may take up to 24 hours.
- Q: Do you use a ticket system?
A: Yes. A ticket system has been instituted to increase our efficiency. You will be given a ticket number whether you call or e-mail your support issues.
- Q: Who is managing the Helpdesk?
A: Annelyse Anderson is the Customer Service and Support Supervisor. She also can be reached by calling the Helpdesk.
- Q: What if I have a non-service affecting issue or request?
A: All requests come through the Helpdesk, and tickets are then created, prioritized and assigned to the appropriate technician for support. Most requests are answered the day they come in. However all requests are on a first come first serve basis and resolution could take up to 24 hours depending on the issue.
- Q: Who should I contact when having a new MECnet line or equipment installed?
A: You should contact Chris Harris, our Technology Integration Specialist. He can be reached by calling the Helpdesk (978-262-4000 Option 1).
- Q: What is network abuse and how do I report a network abuse issue?
A: Network Abuse is the sending of unsolicited commercial e-mail, networking intrusions or scanning, or other network-unfriendly activities.
If you wish to report network abuse relating to a MECnet customer, please send e-mail to support@mecnet.net. Please include as much information as possible about the originating server or IP address of the problem, as well as any other information you can provide.
Error MessagesError messages are listed in bold red text. The description of the error message is listed in black text. Have an error message on the monitor and want to know what it means, send us an e-mail. eth0: Promiscuous mode enabled.
device eth0 entered promiscuous mode
device eth0 left promiscuous mode
This message indicates that a technician was looking at your network traffic using a small utility application like IPTRAF and/or tcpdump on your Joebox. This is normal if you have a ticket opened with MECnet. Our technicians use these utility programs for troubleshooting purposes. SQUID[XXX]: squid parent: child process XXX exited due to signal 6
This means that squid (filtering) stopped working because of a memory issue. Usually squid will restart automatically. If you are unable to access the Internet and a message similar to this is on the screen, please call the Helpdesk so they can restart squid. Please do not reboot the Joebox. Rebooting the Joebox could cause more issues down the road. - Error submitted by Matthew Merchand, Pathfinder Reg. Voc. Tech. High School. APIC error on CPU0:02(01)
APIC error on CPU0:01(02)
APIC error on CPU0:02(08)The only time we have seen this error is when the BIOS settings were set wrong or the CPU clock speed didn't match the setting on the board/BIOS. Most of the time this error is non-fatal, however, it is possible that the Ethernet cards could stop responding under heavy load. - Error submitted by Matthew Merchand, Pathfinder Reg. Voc. Tech. High School. ext2-fs warning maximal mount count reached. running e2fsck is recommended.
This message occurs simply because the rescue partition has been mounted and un-mounted a lot since the last time it was checked for errors. This is normal Joebox operation.
- Q: Is there a law that addresses Internet content filtering?
A: Yes. There is a federal law called the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). This law requires that public and private schools receiving federal assistance take specific steps to block students' access to inappropriate material and services. Federal assistance includes discounted Internet access and services under the federal eRate Program. CIPA specifically requires schools to employ filtering software or services.
- Q: Is MECnet filtering compliant with CIPA requirements?
A: Yes. MECnet content filtering is fully compliant with CIPA requirements.
Click here to see MECnet's CIPA Certification (PDF).
- Q: Our school district has purchased our own content filtering system. What do I need to do to be removed from MECnet's content filtering system?
A: In order to be removed from MECnet's filtering system, a filtering disablement form must be filled out and signed by the network administrator. Once the form has been received, it must be approved by the Associate Director of Technology, Karen Catallozzi. The Content Filtering Disablement Form can be found under the Download section of this site. Though this process can be time consuming it is very important that MECnet completes this process because of the CIPA laws that bind us to keep all web traffic filtered.
- Q: I was able to access a website with inappropriate content, why, and how can I get it blocked?
A: We do our best to keep our block list up-to-date, however, we do not guarantee that we get every website containing inappropriate content. New sites are created all the time, and sometimes created with different names pointing to the same site. Our block list is updated manually by our Helpdesk staff, and by our robot which crawls the web for inappropriate content. If you are able to access a website with what you feel contains inappropriate content, please let us know by sending an e-mail to support@mecnet.net containing the exact URL. We will review the website, and if it is found to be in violation of CIPA, the site will be added to our database.
- Q: I was able to access this site before, but now its being blocked, how come?
A: Some websites, like newspaper websites, are known to be blocked because of numerous hits on specific keywords. Our robot, which crawls the web looking for inappropriate content might accidentally add these sites because of these numerous hits. Our filtering can not determine how the words are used. It actually checks to see if specific keywords are present and how many times they exists on the page. Other websites that are usually blocked are sites that are created by an individual person expressing his or her opinion on a specific subject. Examples would include, http://users.example-freewebspace.com/badstuff, or http://example-freewebspace.com/users/badstuff, etc. Most user sites are fine, but there are some that have been deemed inappropriate, in which case we would have to block the whole domain (example-freewebspace.com) from being accessed. Many of these "free" websites do have policies on how they don't accept their users posting inappropriate content, and how they can properly be reported to the webmaster. Most to all of these policies can found right on the main page of the "free" service website.
- Q: Can you block this game site?
A: No. We do not block any site unless the site contains inappropriate content as outlined in CIPA.
- Q: Do customers have control over MECnet's backbone filtering (Upstream/Peering)?
A: No. Customers are able to submit block and unblock requests by e-mail or by calling the Helpdesk, but customers do not have direct control over this method of filtering.
- Q: Do customers have control over MECnet's local filtering package, MECguard?
A: Yes. Customers can block and unblock any site they wish, thus creating their own filtering policy.
- Q: Where can I find directions on how to use MECguard v1.0 (local filtering software)?
A: There is a PowerPoint® Presentation file available for downloading under the Download section of this website.
- Q: I added a domain to be blocked using MECguard, but it's not being blocked, why?
A: When adding a domain, you should enter the domain. Lets say you found inappropriate content on the page, "http://www.an-example.com/help/me.php", but you want to block the entire site. In this case, you only need to enter "an-example.com" in order to get this blocked. If you are still having trouble, please review the MECguard manual and/or contact the Helpdesk for further assistance.
- Q: I used the "What's my IP Address?" CGI. How come it tells me my IP Address is 216.20.10.xxx, when I know its 216.20.xxx.xxx or 209.80.xxx.xxx?
A: If you use our backbone upstream/peering content filtering, you will see that your IP address is somewhere in the 216.20.10.xxx range. These IP's belong to our backbone content filtering servers.
- Q: I blocked kazaa.com (and other various file sharing application websites) with MECguard, I get a blocked page, but users are still able to file share, why?
A: MECguard only filters TCP Port 80 (web) traffic. It does NOT block the numerous other ports that these file sharing applications use. It is extremely hard to do so without causing Internet access issues.
- Q: When I block a website using MECguard, I get the following error message; what does it mean?
A: ERROR: insert into Porn_domains set url="an-example.com" - localhost (Please note: the error message above has been modified. It is only listed as "an example".) This error message is created when the web site your are trying to add has already been added to the database.
- Q: I blocked a website using MECguard, how come the site is still not being blocked?
A: Try removing it from the database, and then adding it again. If the website is still not getting blocked there could be another issue. Please contact the Helpdesk for further assistance.
- Q: How does MECnet protect users of MECnet's e-mail system against SPAM and viruses?
A: MECnet offers SPAM and virus filtering free of charge to our customers that utilize our e-mail services. Though this filtering is not guaranteed to be 100% effective, it does block hundreds of SPAM and viruses everyday. You can find more information on our e-mail filtering by going to the download section of this website.
- Q: I am getting lots of SPAM or Viruses. How can I find out where they are originating from?
A: You can find out where any piece of e-mail came from by looking at the e-mail headers. These e-mail headers contain the various e-mail systems that the e-mail passed through in order for you to receive the e-mail in question. Directions on how to see these e-mail headers are available by going to the Documentation section. (Directions are only for Microsoft Outlook® and Microsoft Outlook Express®).
- Q: I received a bounce back message saying "The MECnet email filters are blocking this message which received 7.6 SPAM points." What does this mean?
A: Each email message is scanned and suspected spam is tagged. These tags are then used to filter messages. The software used to identify spam (junk mail) uses a wide range of tests to determine whether a particular email is considered junk. Each test has an associated score, and each message will usually match multiple tests. The total score is then calculated, and this score can then be used to reject a message. Emails that have a rating score higher than 6 are rejected. You can help insure that your messages are not rejected by avoiding some of the most common factors that trigger the filter:
- using HTML in the body of your message
- FREQUENT USE OF CAPITAL LETTERS
- Frequent use of the exclamation mark!!!!!!!!
- Large attachments
- Q: What can I do to prevent getting SPAM messages?
A: The best practice is to be cautious when giving out your email address. Every time you submit your address on the web, it goes into a database which can be harvested by spammers.
- Q: I forgot my Password to my e-mail account. Can you tell me what the Password is set to?
A: All Passwords on MECnet e-mail servers are encrypted. In the event of a lost or forgotten Password, MECnet can only change Passwords. We have no way of knowing what the current Password is set to. Please contact your network administrator(s) for assistance. Password change requests will only be honored when they come from a listed MECnet customer contact.
- Q: How come I am unable to PING through MECnet's network?
A: Because of the numerous systems that are infected with the W32.Welchia.Worm or the W32.Nachi.Worm, our backbone was being flooded by ICMP echo requests (PING) coming from and to our customer networks. In order to alleviate most of the slow down, we are blocking all ICMP echo-requests (PING) leaving or entering our backbone. This block will remain in affect until further notice.
- Q: What IP addresses have been assigned to my school(s)?
A: If you have lost your records of what IP addresses have been assigned to your school(s), you can contact the Helpdesk for this information. If you have more than one location, please specify which location you need this information for. Please note: We do not keep track of what individual IP addresses have been used at each customer location and for what purpose. When requesting IP information we can only tell you what IP addresses we think are available, and what possible services they are used for. It is up to the customer to keep track of this information.
- Q: I have used all my assigned IP addresses, can I get more?
A: If you have used all of your currently assigned IP addresses, we can assign more. You may contact the Helpdesk to open a ticket for this request. However, as outlined by the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), you must be able to justify the need.
- Q: What is the "public_html" folder in my web account?
A: This folder is created automatically when your web account is first created, and is used transparently by the server. Most customers do not see this folder unless they use specific FTP clients. If you are able to see this folder using your FTP client, please do not modify, or delete this folder. You will cause downtime for your website. If you have deleted this folder, please contact the Helpdesk, so they can create a ticket and forward it to our network technicians to correct the issue. This only affects some customers who use our Joebox web servers.
- Q: I have a web account on the FrontPage server. I am unable to upload via FTP, why?
A: Our FrontPage® server only supports using the web authoring software included with FrontPage®. This server does not support customers uploading via FTP.
FrontPage is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. Assistance Request Please provide the following information and a member of our Help Desk team will respond to your issue. Name
Organization
E-mail Address
Phone Number
Type of Issue
Description of Issue
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