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xml-link connection issue

Our network security service partner has recently introduced new digital certificates which offer an increased level of security when authenticating third party connections via xml-link.

Posted Wed 3 December 2014
Our network security service partner has recently introduced new digital certificates which offer an increased level of security when authenticating third party connections via xml-link. Unfortunately, however, the new certificate has proven incompatible with some older version of the Oracle database used by many student admissions systems. As a result, we have recently had two occasions where 15 providers have lost connection to our xml-link service so we have reverted to using the original certificates.

Working in collaboration with affected providers and vendors to assist with resolving this issue, we will be re-installing the new certificate in to our HEP test environment from 09:00 on Saturday 6 December until 06:00 on Monday 8 December to facilitate testing of proposed upgrade paths. These providers will have until the end of January 2015 to complete the necessary work. From 1 February 2015 we will be using the new digital certificates, so any providers who have not upgraded their systems by this time may find they are unable to access xml-link.

We do not expect this testing to have any adverse impact on live production services.