Downtime notice: August 15 - 16, 2008

[altenbach]

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Laura F. wrote:
Just wanted to mention that this is an ni.com downtime and not Discussion Forums - which is why you should be able to view the forums.  The log in ability resides on our website which is what will be down (along with everything else on ni.com).

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Maybe this should go ito it's own thread, but why can't we have an option to set a more permanent cookie (or whatever) so we can remain logged in even across browser sessions?

Many users (e.g. me) use private, personal, and pasworded computers.

[Laura F.]

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@altenbach wrote:

Maybe this should go ito it's own thread, but why can't we have an option to set a more permanent cookie (or whatever) so we can remain logged in even across browser sessions?

Many users (e.g. me) use private, personal, and pasworded computers.

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Hi altenbach,

Can you describe this further?  I always keep multiple browser tabs open and seem to stay logged in.  It will time out eventually if you are not active but that's a standard feature of websites. Are you using different browsers on one computer?

Thanks,
Laura

[altenbach]

Yes, as long as I keep at least one browser window open, I remain logged in, but as soon as I close the browser (IE 7.0) completely,

I am no longer logged in next time I go to the forum from the same computer.

Even if I keep a browser window open, but put my laptop to sleep overnight, I am no longer logged in the next morning.

Other web sites have an option to "keep me logged in from this computer". For example in gmail I can remain logged in for weeks, even if I close all

browser windows and return two days later from the same computer.

Overall, the NI forum authentication is somewhat unsatisfactory because it ties into the NI authentication in an obscure way.

It seems the NI authentication is more permanent, because even if I am logged out of the forum, all I need to do is click "sign in" and I

am back in without any password or such.

The NI website always seems to recognize me, even though if I want to do something special (e.g. look at a quote or download an update),

it wants again a password, I guess to double-check that it's really me.

The entire system makes it dangerous to use the NI forums on a public computer. For example, last fall I used a computer in a hotel

lobby in Poland, and manually logged out from the forum after the session. I was surprised the next morning that I was able to login

by just clicking on the "sign in" link, without needing to enter a password. Apparently, I had forgotten to also log out of the NI account

(which is not that easy to do, because the logout link is somewhat hidden behind a few layers of clicks).

I would prefer a more permanent login that is valid for at least a few weeks. It seems useless having to click "sign in", especially since it

does not ask for a password anyway. This would also help to possibly better bridge the NI downtime (maybe?).

As long as the NI page say "Hello Christian" in the upper right corner, I should be permanently logged into my forum account without

having to do anything special.

Of course there should also be a prominent "logout" button in the NI page header to make completely logging out of "anything NI" a

simple "one-click" affair. 😄

These are just some casual observations. I have not fully played with all scenarios. 🙂

[tst]

I use the following link in my favorites, which signs in automatically:

http://sine.ni.com/niforum/niforum?lang=US&requireLogin=True&forumDU=http://forums.ni.com/

It wouldn't help with the security\privacy issue you mentioned, but it saves you clicking on Sign In.

The actual NI<->Forums link is not entirely clear to me. Logging out of one does not log you out of the other. I have had many cases where I logged out of my NI account and logged in using a different account and then when I opened the forums front page it would log into the forums using the first account.

In any case, having a persistent login would probably not help you if most consumers would not have them, other than as a chance to reread old threads.

[Laura F.]

Hi altenbach,

I agree that it is certainly easy to get confused about the link between the ni.com login and the forums login.  I thought the new "Hello name" portion of the header would be confusing in the forums when they first released it, but I haven't heard too much about it to know for sure. 

I'm not sure if I can adequately explain the integration between the two - If you do not log out of ni.com (which as you mention, is not apparent how to do) we keep a cookie identifying your ni.com login so that when you come back, we know who you are.  The different applications on our website can either require you to give a password everytime your session has expired or can automatically log you in even if your session has expired because we still know who you are.  The forums are part of the latter - I believe when implemented, this was the only option we had available.  We could change it now, but then everyone would have to log in with their passwords each time the session expired, which I think would be a large annoyance considering the frequency people use the forums and the security required for the application. 

The big issue is with public computers as you mentioned.  I'll pass along the feedback that it needs to be better advertised about how to log out of ni.com for people using public computers.  One easy way (but not very apparent) to log out of ni.com entirely is to click the "This is not me" link next to your name in the header.  You do have to close your browser or click the Logout button in the forums as well if you want to be logged out of the forums immediately.  If you don't, you will remain logged into the forums until your session times out after a few hours.  

Thanks for taking the time to explain further your concern!
Regards,
Laura

[muks]

The maintenence is supposed to start day after tommorow right?????

Message Edited by muks on 08-13-2008 04:14 AM

[Henrik_Volkers]

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Ben wrote:

"But Ben you finish this by 15th what are you gonna do on 16th"

I have a back-up plan to re-plumb the gas lines if I get board. Its a lot like LabVIEW but "leaks" and "projects blowing up" are more important.

Ben

Message Edited by Ben on 08-11-2008 11:59 AM

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Always remember:  Current burns, gas create gaps between buildings

Message Edited by Henrik Volkers on 08-13-2008 04:52 PM

[muks]

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Mathan Wrote:

I appreciate the heads up on the down-time"

Well said Ben....

[AND 15,16,17 are WEEKENDS and most of the people will not frequently login into the forums. Good plan to do maintenance work that time.]

And ADVANCE HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY wish (INDIA - August 15)

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SO have a grt independence day .Have Fun!!! 

[Laura F.]

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that the downtime might be shorter than I initially thought - expect an outage Friday night US Central time for sure, but it you may be able to log into the forums after that.  I would not count on it however, and the system could always go back down after it comes up. 

Thanks,

Laura