[Utilities-announce] Second round of HTTPS tests start this Thursday

[utilities-announce at ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

NCBI has scheduled the next round of HTTPS tests, following up from the initial tests performed on September 15.

As a reminder, NCBI will be presenting a webinar about these tests and other HTTPS issues tomorrow, Wednesday, September 21 at 12:00 PM EDT.
Register for the webinar here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2680765856528138244

The schedule for these tests is as follows (all times are EDT):

Thursday, Sept 22
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM : redirect web pages from HTTP to HTTPS, same as the first test on Sept 15.
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM : redirect CGIs and API calls to HTTPS where possible, reject where not possible

Monday, Sept 26
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM :  redirect web pages from HTTP to HTTPS with HSTS activated using a 1-hour expiration
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM :  redirect web pages from HTTP to HTTPS without HSTS

Tuesday, Sept 27
8:00 AM : Start continually redirecting web pages from HTTP to HTTPS

If you use NCBI APIs, please see https://go.usa.gov/xKf8H

For more detailed information about these tests, please see https://go.usa.gov/xKH6Y

Important considerations:

  *   If you develop software that depends on NCBI APIs or toolkits (e.g. SRA or C++), please target the 8-9 AM window on Sept 22 for testing, as we expect any problems with HTTPS to result in failures of affected applications during this test.
  *   Some browsers may cache the HTTPS pages viewed during the test periods, and so may continue to request pages over HTTPS once the tests are complete. If this causes problems, clearing the browser's cache and cookies will restore access over HTTP.
  *   We will be running additional tests on CGI applications once we analyze the results of the tests on September 22.

If you have questions about these tests, please write to info at ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

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