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Date/Time: Fri, 29 Mar 2024 06:21:49 +0000



NOTICE: Sierra Chart Real-Time Data Feed and Support

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[2014-05-27 17:05:48]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
Earlier today we had a problem with the authorizations for the Sierra Chart Real-time Exchange Data Feed, which triggered other issues in the server processes.

This apparently caused all of our users on this data feed to lose access to the data feed.

We are looking into the cause of the problem now. We are not able to respond at this moment to every one of the support requests related to this on the Support Board.

However, we are monitoring the data feed to ensure all users have access. So whether we respond or not to your request, you will have gotten access now to the feed.

We will be checking the support for high-priority issues, lower priority request, will be responded to at the end of the day.

Basically we suspect one or both of these problems:

-The backend Barchart authorization system was not responding to authorization requests. Or not responding within a reasonable amount of time.

-The HTTP requests which check for user authorization to the Barchart system which go through the Windows operating system were failing due to inadequacy and bugs with the HTTP functionality in Windows. We are going to be completely rewriting this interface and bypassing the OS functions for this.


Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2014-05-27 20:34:34
[2014-05-27 17:08:03]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
We do monitor this data feed. We do check the support board frequently.

We were watching the Support Board just around the beginning of this problem and we were unaware of it at that time, and there were no reports of the issue at that time and we had not checked the board until about an hour later and this is why we were not aware of it right away.

We realize we need to do a better job with this and we acknowledge that. We will be analyzing this and determining the best way to remedy this problem.

We also clearly do acknowledge, that an outage like this is clearly unacceptable and it reflects poorly on our data feed. We do not want to place blame, but the issue did have external causes and we are going to be working on resolving those and working with Barchart to ensure the backend authorization system is as reliable as possible.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2014-05-28 08:18:14
[2014-05-27 17:20:10]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
We would also like to remind users, that it is possible to switch back to your broker provided data feed, by disabling:
Global Settings >> Data/Trade Service Settings >> Allow Support for Sierra Chart Data Feeds.

After changing this option, it is then necessary to select File >> Disconnect and then File >> Connect to Data Feed.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
[2014-05-27 18:41:39]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
First and foremost, the underlying problem which led to this, needs to be resolved.

Something like this just should not happen. And we are going to be solving it.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
[2014-05-27 20:08:09]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
So you all know, we are rewriting the communication code to the Barchart system which handles the authorizations. This should be completed by the end of the week.

We are going to monitoring the connections very closely to prevent an incident like this from happening again.

This new code will handle all of the HTTP communication used within Sierra Chart so it will eliminate all of the Microsoft HTTP problems.

We have long known the Microsoft HTTP functions be problematic and have bugs at times. Generally they do not present a problem, but there are issues at times.


This issue was never a problem with the underlying data feeds themselves. All of that was functioning perfectly. It merely was a problem with the authorizations at login.

So to summarize, the Microsoft garbage HTTP functions will be gotten rid of for good. We should have done this long ago but it just was a fairly involved task but we are simplifying it for the current needs right now.

Microsoft produces garbage. Nothing but garbage.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2014-05-28 02:55:37
[2014-05-28 04:34:58]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
We are making good progress on the redevelopment of the authorization system to bypass the garbage Microsoft HTTP functionality we have been previously using.

We have now also implemented monitoring of the real-time server processes and management is notified in a matter of minutes if there is any problem with those processes. This has previously not been implemented because those have been extremely reliable processes but they were crashed by the garbage Microsoft HTTP functionality this past morning. And soon the use of the garbage Microsoft functions will soon be gone. So in any case, we will be immediately notified even if we are not monitoring the Support Board.


We also strongly suspect, the backend Barchart exchange authorization system was not responsive and that led to this problem. We just need to run some controlled tests to gather up the necessary information for them to investigate. Even though we have seen nonresponsiveness in the past with this, this does not mean there should have been a one hour interruption. Nonresponsiveness, is really just a very short-term kind of problem which would clear up within seconds or minutes. And the new interface code we are working on to the authorization system may completely resolve this issue altogether.

Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2014-05-28 08:21:47
[2014-05-28 09:15:27]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
One other thought that came to mind about this problem is that if you were to select File >> Disconnect and File >> Connect to Data Feed during the problem, that would then bring the charts up-to-date as of the current moment.

Only a temporary solution but that is something that would have worked. As we said, the problem was not with the underlying data feeds, but the authorization system which is being rewritten to bypass the Windows OS functions which were the culprit. We will try to get it out by the end of the day.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2014-05-28 09:16:01
[2014-06-01 22:59:16]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
To give you an update on this.

We did not complete implementation of the new HTTP functionality in our real-time server processes last week. We should be done with it hopefully by the end of the day on this Monday. This will bring 100% stability to those processes and avoid the freezing problem we had with those processes last week.

We are monitoring the real-time processes on the servers at this time and they are functioning properly. We have set up real-time monitoring of them and if there is any problem with them, we are notified in a matter of minutes. We do not expect there to be a problem.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing

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