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Frequently Asked Questions

What is Service Tools?
A powerful application that uses Cisco Netflow to monitor all your company's data communications traffic. Your network is constantly monitored by Telstra, so that any overloading or outage can be dealt with quickly. Service Tools allows registered users to have a comprehensive insight into areas of your network in order to examine network traffic levels, review performance of your servers, check backups and initiate and monitor support tickets. Several levels of reporting are available.

Who is Telstra?
Please click the About Us link in the Navigation Menu where you will find full details.

Is Service Tools secure?
Telstra operates a state-of-the-art data centre in London Docklands designed to host and manage business-critical environments around the clock. We use the latest technologies to provide a totally secure, managed environment, providing fully redundant connectivity, 24/7 operational and technical support and back-up power. We have a Sun Tone certificate for Co-location.

How secure is your data centre?
Security is our top priority. Telstra's Data Centre is built on industrial strength infrastructure that includes:

  • Dual OC-192 fibre optic connectivity
  • Multiple backbone providers utilizing multi-homed networks
  • Dual OC-12 Lucent and Alcatel multiplexers
  • Cisco 7000 series routers & switches
  • Ultra-fast, multi-processor RAID servers
  • SONET technology for maximum redundancy, fault tolerance, and load balancing
  • AIT NOC routes IP traffic down the fastest path using BGP4 protocol
  • 120,000 sq. ft. data centre
  • Rigorous physical, electronic, and personnel security measures protect your data

What data centre services do you provide?
Depending upon your requirements for space, co-location facilities and services, we can offer a range of shared and dedicated hosting with significant storage capability. Our Red Hat, Cisco, Microsoft and CompTIA trained engineering team provide unmatched 24/7 support. For more details please contact your Account Manager.

How do I find out more about Service Tools?
A comprehensive User Guide is available that describes all the procedures you require to get the maximum benefit from the application. The User Guide can be downloaded from the Documents link in the Navigation Menu.

In addition there is a what's this page link on most pages.

Who can become a registered user?
Your IT or Systems Manager will notify Telstra that you will have responsibility for the functionality provided by Service Tools. You will then register as an authorised user and your account will be opened by Telstra.

How do I register?
Click the Register link in the Navigation Menu, complete the Personal Details form and click the Submit button. Telstra will then open your account and send you an email notification for validation. You will then be able to access the functionality of Service Tools.

How do I correct my personal data?
Simply click the My Details link in the Navigation Menu, edit your details and click the Submit button. The new data will be updated in Telstra's central database. Telstra complies with the Data Protection Act, 1998.

How is my personal data protected?
Only you and an authorised Telstra customer service representative can see your personal details. Your username and password combination are authenticated at login and every web page verifies that you are permitted to access specific data. All logins, (successful or not) are tracked, and an alert raised if there is any attempt to bypass the protection mechanism. We also record the date when the site was last accessed by your username in order to monitor dormant/unused accounts.

Please see the privacy policy statement on the Registration page on how we use any of your data.

Does Service Tools use cookies?
The website uses two cookies - Service Tools Email and a session identifier. The first is used to remember your login identifier in order to complete the login form for subsequent visits to the site. The session identifier maintains authentication as you navigate the site. You may delete these cookies between visits to the site without any problems arising.

Please see the privacy policy statement on the Registration page on how we use any of your data.

How do I raise a fault ticket?
Click the My Account link in the Navigation Menu, then click the tickets link to see a list of previously raised tickets with a link to full details and progress, together with a link to raise a new ticket. To raise a new ticket, click the show new ticket form link and complete the submission form.

What is your response time to a problem escalation?
We respond to low and medium priority email tickets in the order in which they are received. However, high priority tickets are flagged and dealt with immediately.

How qualified are your support team?
Many of our support staff have Microsoft Certified and Red Hat Linux Certified credentials. Only experienced technicians are assigned to your account.

What level of RAID do you provide?
In general we provide mirroring (RAID level 1) but we can provide any RAID level you require, as long as you have the appropriate hardware to support it.

What browsers are compatible with this website?
The website has been tested to be standards compliant with the W3C Validator. The site is known to work in:

  • Opera for Windows® and Linux
  • Mozilla Firefox for Windows® and Linux
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 6

Note: The Java applet depends on the proper installation of Java for which Telstra cannot provide support.

How do I get a Java applet working?
Firefox users:

  1. Download the latest Java plugin.
  2. Install the plugin. See instructions for installing the Firefox plugin for Java.

Opera users:

  1. See the Opera plugins page.

What is RSS?
RSS feeds enable you to view your Service Tools status messages on any RSS-enabled equipment, e.g. mobile phone, RSS news reader, Firefox web browser.

RSS stands for RDF Simple Syndication or Really Simple Syndication, an XML format for syndicating Web content, i.e. it allows you to use a desktop, laptop, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or mobile phone to read RSS-distributed content. You can easily modify, enhance and update existing feeds.

Syndicated content includes such data as news feeds, events listings, news stories, headlines, project updates, and corporate information.

Note: Telstra advise caution if you intend setting up a RSS client via a mobile data connection as charges can be incurred even when there is no new news.

How do I use/read the RSS feeds?
There are a large number of RSS clients available. Examples include:

  • For Windows and Linux, the Mozilla Firefox web browser has a basic RSS client built in. The feature is called "Live Bookmarks".
    Down on the bottom bar of the window, there's an orange icon RSS feed icon, just click with the left mouse button, and add it to your bookmarks toolbar folder. You will then get the orange icon on that toolbar with a drop-down arrow which shows the messages. Click on them to bring the message into the browser window.
    The Firefox RSS client has the advantage that if you log in, it will use the same session and thus retrieve personalised messages, instead of just the generalised announcements that are not specific to you.
  • For Windows and Linux, there's the Opera Web Browser
    In the "Mail->Newsfeeds" menu, add the entry "http://st.uk.telstra.com/portal/rssfeed.jsp".
    Although not freeware/GPL, Opera will run in an advertising-supported mode and, for a reasonable fee, can be registered to remove the adverts.
    The Opera RSS client has the advantage that when you log in, it will use the same session and thus retrieve personalised messages, instead of just the generalised announcements that are not specific to you.
  • For Windows and Linux, there's the Thunderbird mail & rss client
    In the tools->accounts popup window, add an RSS account if do don't already have one, and create an RSS subscript with the feed URL "http://st.uk.telstra.com/portal/rssfeed.jsp".
    Thunderbird is a freeware/GPL program, and therefore incurs no costs.
    Unfortunately, Thunderbird does not support authenticated feeds, and will only present the non-personalised messages. It also seems to have a bug in how it recognises messages, and ignores messages which are updated leaving them marked as read.
  • For the Palm Pilot, there is a commercial program called QuickNews.
    Just add the newsfeed "http://st.uk.telstra.com/portal/rssfeed.jsp".
    The iSiloX program has a beta release which will download RSS feeds but not in real-time.
  • For Linux/KDE only, there's akregator. For embedded linux on arm, e.g. Sharp Zaurus, there's DmBlogger.

Do you offer a Reseller Service Tools package?
The "Reseller Service Tools" is under development. Please contact your Account Manager for further details.

Does Service Tools allow me to monitor my hosted solutions?
The hosting element of the new Service Tools package is under development. Existing customers can view their usual service information provided through the old myPSINet facility via Service Tools. For further details please contact your Account Manager.

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