The Exchange Network Grant Program at the Environmental Protection Agency is experiencing technical issues with the mailbox [email protected]. Individuals writing to this inbox may receive a response message stating that the email was undeliverable. Any potential applicants experiencing this issue should send inquiries directly to Erin McGown, Acting Exchange Network Grant Program Manager, at [email protected]. EPA will send a follow-up notification when this problem has been resolved.
 
Thank you,
Exchange Network Grant Program

The previously reported connectivity issues affecting the Exchange Network and CROMERR Shared Services have been resolved as of 6:45 PM Eastern on April 4, 2022. Should you have any questions, please contact the Exchange Network Help Desk. Thank you for your patience.

EPA’s Central Data Exchange is currently experiencing connectivity issues that may intermittently impact users of the Exchange Network and Shared CROMERR Services. CDX is working with EPA’s network team and their service provider to resolve the issue. Updates will be shared as they become available. Thank you for your patience.

In support of the FY 2022 Exchange Network (EN) Grant cycle, the EPA will host two webinars to assist interested applicants. The webinars will be held on Wednesday April 6th and Monday April 11th. Each webinar will include the same presentation on the following topics: a brief overview of the EN Grants Program and FY 2022 timeline, critical elements of the Solicitation Notice, notable changes from FY 2021, an overview of new guidance materials and optional templates, and common mistakes to avoid. This will be followed by a question-and-answer session with participants. Please note that the sessions will end when all the participants’ questions have been addressed.
 
Notes on Joining the Webinars

• Note: The webinars will be given through Microsoft Teams, which can be joined by clicking the links provided below. Please note these links are different for each webinar.
• Note: To enter a meeting, click the appropriate link below; you will be prompted to ‘choose your video and audio options’. Select your audio preference (e.g. ‘computer audio’), ensure your camera is turned off, mute yourself, and then click ‘join meeting’.
  • During the call, you can unmute yourself to ask a question by clicking on the microphone icon (top of the screen).
    • Questions can also be typed into the TEAMS ‘Meeting Chat’.  

Webinar Details and Connection Information

Wednesday, April 6th, 3 – 4:30 p.m. ET

• TEAMS Presentation Link (Recommended Format) – https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_ZTRkNTBmMDQtYTExOC00MWY0LTgyMGQtZjE4ZGViNTA2NTgy%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2288b378b3-6748-4867-acf9-76aacbeca6a7%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22ba29ef8d-9344-44c3-8ef7-94f4fe17adfb%22%7d
• Dial-In Option (Audio Only) – Number: 1(202) 991-0477; Conf. ID: 490 520 552# 

Monday, April 11th, 12:30 – 2:00pm ET

• TEAMS Presentation Link (Recommended Format)- https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_OTA5MDQ5ZTktNjg5MS00MGRmLWI2MzktMzgwY2QzYmYzMDg2%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2288b378b3-6748-4867-acf9-76aacbeca6a7%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22ba29ef8d-9344-44c3-8ef7-94f4fe17adfb%22%7d
• Dial-In Option (Audio Only) Number: 1(202) 991-0477; Conf. ID: 880 993 899#

Please direct any questions to Erin McGown, Exchange Network Grants Acting Program Manager, at [email protected].
 
Although not mandatory, we would appreciate if you would pre-register for webinar sessions by sending an email to Shela Poke-Williams ([email protected]) indicating the session you plan to attend and listing the participant name(s), organization, and state, tribe, or territory. Please note that EPA will maintain these records internally and they will not be shared with any third parties.

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Exchange Network (EN) Grant Program Solicitation Notice (SN) has been published to Grants.gov and is available here: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=338471. Applications are due to EPA by 11:59 PM Eastern Time, Sunday, May 1st, 2022. Additional guidance tools, including optional fillable templates for the cover letter, project narrative (work plan), and budget narrative attachment form, are available for applicants on the EPA EN Grant Program website. Applicants are encouraged to carefully review the new FY22 SN, as significant updates have been made since the FY21 version. Information on applicant webinars will be provided shortly.

The purpose of the Exchange Network (EN) grant program is to foster better environmental management and decision-making through increased access to timely, high quality, environmental information. An applicant’s proposed project goals and outputs should align with one or more EN Funding Areas as described in Section I-B of the SN and EPA’s Draft FY 2022-2026 Strategic Plan (Draft Plan). Applicants are encouraged to read the full text of the Draft Plan at: 
https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2021-10/fy-2022-2026-epa-draft-strategic-plan.pdf. 

EPA expects to award 20-30 grants of up to $400,000 each, totaling approximately $8,000,000 in FY22. Most awards will be in the $50,000 to $200,000 range. The exact number of grants will depend on the number of applications submitted to EPA by the application deadline, the amounts of proposed project budgets, and the quality of proposals. 

EPA only accepts project proposals for EN grants submitted electronically through Grants.gov, unless applicants have a waiver. Please allow for enough time to successfully submit your application and allow for unexpected errors requiring you to resubmit. EPA anticipates that it will announce selection decisions around August 2022, and tentatively plans to issue awards by October 2022. 

For more information, please contact:
Erin McGown
EN Grants Program Manager
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
E: [email protected]

As previously reported in August and September, the U.S. EPA Central Data Exchange (CDX) plans to perform system migrations on several PRODUCTION Exchange Network services beginning this Friday, October 15, 2021 at 5:00 PM. This follows the migration of the same services in the TEST environment that took place during the weekend of September 24th. 

• PRODUCTION MIGRATION WINDOW – Friday, October 15, 2021, 5:00 PM ET to Monday, October 18, 2021, 8:00 AM ET.

What will be the Impact to Partner Agencies?
During the planned migration window, users of the Exchange Network and CDX Web services listed below will experience outages. Please plan accordingly and schedule any transactions outside of these windows. As part of this migration, some services will be assigned new IP addresses. IMPORTANT: Partner agencies with strict firewall rules may need to adjust those rules to allow traffic from the new IP addresses in order to continue accessing the services. Please see below for the new IP addresses for each service in the PRODUCTION environment.  
 
All URLs for the impacted services listed below will remain the same as they are today.
 
What Services will be Impacted?
The services listed below will be migrated to a new PRODUCTION environment. The services marked with ** will also be assigned new IP addresses for inbound and outbound traffic as indicated below.

• **CDX Next Generation Node (NGN)
  See New IP Addresses Below
• **CDX .Net Node
  See New IP Addresses Below
• **Exchange Network Services Center (ENSC)
  See New IP Addresses Below
• **Exchange Network Discovery Service (ENDS)
  See New IP Addresses Below
• Shared CROMERR Services (SCS)
  No impact to current IP address
• CDX Web
  No impact to current IP address

 
New IP Addresses – PRODUCTION
These new IP addresses will be effective in the PRODUCTION environment after the planned migration during the weekend of October 15, 2021.
 
Traffic going TO the PRODUCTION NGN and .Net Node/ENDS/ENSC will go to the same IP address as the production NAAS:
204.47.254.197
 
Traffic coming FROM the PRODUCTION NGN and .Net Node/ENDS/ENSC will be from one of the following IPs at random (Note: these are the same as in TEST):
134.67.179.44
134.67.179.45
134.67.179.46
134.67.179.47
161.80.1.160
161.80.1.161
161.80.1.162
161.80.1.163
 
Please adjust your agency’s firewall rules accordingly.
 
Have Questions?
Please direct any questions or concerns to the Exchange Network Help Desk:

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: 1-888-890-1995 (Select Option 1 and then Option 5 from the menu) 
  Available 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM Eastern

As reported on August 20, the U.S. EPA Central Data Exchange (CDX) plans to perform system migrations on several Exchange Network services beginning this Friday, September 24. The migrations will happen first in the TEST environment and then in the PRODUCTION environment. The planned dates for these migrations are:

• TEST – Friday, September 24, 2021, 5:00 PM ET to Monday, September 27, 2021, 8:00 AM ET.
• PRODUCTION – Friday, October 15, 2021, 5:00 PM ET to Monday, October 18, 2021, 8:00 AM ET.

 
What will be the Impact to Partner Agencies?
During these planned migration windows, users of the Exchange Network and CDX Web services listed below will experience outages. Please plan accordingly and schedule any transactions outside of these windows. As part of this migration, some services will be assigned new IP addresses. IMPORTANT: Partner agencies with strict firewall rules may need to adjust those rules to allow traffic from the new IP addresses in order to continue accessing the services. Please see below for the new IP addresses for each service in the TEST and PRODUCTION environments.  
 
All URLs for the impacted services listed below will remain the same as they are today.
 
What Services will be Impacted?
The services listed below will be migrated to a new environment in both TEST and PRODUCTION. The services marked with ** will also be assigned new IP addresses for inbound and outbound traffic as indicated below.

• **CDX Next Generation Node (NGN)
  See New IP Addresses Below
• **CDX .Net Node
  See New IP Addresses Below
• **Exchange Network Services Center (ENSC)
  See New IP Addresses Below
• **Exchange Network Discovery Service (ENDS)
  See New IP Addresses Below
• Shared CROMERR Services (SCS)
  No impact to current IP address
• CDX Web
  No impact to current IP address

 
New IP Addresses – TEST
These new IP addresses will be effective in the TEST environment after the planned migration on September 24, 2021.
 
Traffic going TO the TEST NGN and .Net Node/ENDS/ENSC will go to the same IP address as the test NAAS:
204.47.254.135
 
Traffic coming FROM the TEST NGN and .Net Node/ENDS/ENSC will be from one of the following IPs (at random):
134.67.179.44
134.67.179.45
134.67.179.46
134.67.179.47
161.80.1.160
161.80.1.161
161.80.1.162
161.80.1.163
 
Please adjust your agency’s firewall rules accordingly.
 
 
New IP Addresses – PRODUCTION
These new IP addresses will be effective in the PRODUCTION environment after the planned migration on October 15, 2021.
 
Traffic going TO the PRODUCTION NGN and .Net Node/ENDS/ENSC will go to the same IP address as the production NAAS:
204.47.254.197
 
Traffic coming FROM the PRODUCTION NGN and .Net Node/ENDS/ENSC will be from one of the following IPs at random (Note: these are the same as in TEST):
134.67.179.44
134.67.179.45
134.67.179.46
134.67.179.47
161.80.1.160
161.80.1.161
161.80.1.162
161.80.1.163
 
Please adjust your agency’s firewall rules accordingly.
 
Have Questions?
Please direct any questions or concerns to the Exchange Network Help Desk:

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: 1-888-890-1995 (Select Option 1 and then Option 5 from the menu) 
  Available 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM Eastern

The U.S. EPA Central Data Exchange (CDX) plans to perform system migrations on several Exchange Network services in the coming weeks. These migrations will happen first in the TEST environment and then in the PRODUCTION environment. The planned dates for these migrations are:

• TEST – Friday, September 24, 2021, 5:00 PM ET to Monday, September 27, 2021, 8:00 AM ET.
• PRODUCTION – Friday, October 15, 2021, 5:00 PM ET to Monday, October 18, 2021, 8:00 AM ET.

 
What will be the Impact to Partner Agencies?
During these planned migration windows, users of the Exchange Network and CDX Web services listed below will experience outages. Please plan accordingly and schedule any transactions outside of these windows. As part of this migration, some services will be assigned new IP addresses. IMPORTANT: Partner agencies with strict firewall rules may need to adjust those rules to allow traffic from the new IP addresses in order to continue accessing the services. Please see below for the new IP addresses for each service in the TEST and PRODUCTION environments.  
 
All URLs for the impacted services listed below will remain the same as they are today.
 
What Services will be Impacted?
The services listed below will be migrated to a new environment in both TEST and PRODUCTION. The services marked with ** will also be assigned new IP addresses for inbound and outbound traffic as indicated below.

• **CDX Next Generation Node (NGN)
  See New IP Addresses Below
• **CDX .Net Node
  See New IP Addresses Below
• **Exchange Network Services Center (ENSC)
  See New IP Addresses Below
• **Exchange Network Discovery Service (ENDS)
  See New IP Addresses Below
• Shared CROMERR Services (SCS)
  No impact to current IP address
• CDX Web
  No impact to current IP address

 
New IP Addresses – TEST
These new IP addresses will be effective in the TEST environment after the planned migration on September 24, 2021.
 
Traffic going TO the TEST NGN and .Net Node/ENDS/ENSC will go to the same IP address as the test NAAS:
204.47.254.135
 
Traffic coming FROM the TEST NGN and .Net Node/ENDS/ENSC will be from one of the following IPs (at random):
134.67.179.44
134.67.179.45
134.67.179.46
134.67.179.47
161.80.1.160
161.80.1.161
161.80.1.162
161.80.1.163
 
Please adjust your agency’s firewall rules accordingly.
 
 
New IP Addresses – PRODUCTION
These new IP addresses will be effective in the PRODUCTION environment after the planned migration on October 15, 2021.
 
Traffic going TO the PRODUCTION NGN and .Net Node/ENDS/ENSC will go to the same IP address as the production NAAS:
204.47.254.197
 
Traffic coming FROM the PRODUCTION NGN and .Net Node/ENDS/ENSC will be from one of the following IPs at random (Note: these are the same as in TEST):
134.67.179.44
134.67.179.45
134.67.179.46
134.67.179.47
161.80.1.160
161.80.1.161
161.80.1.162
161.80.1.163
 
Please adjust your agency’s firewall rules accordingly.
 
Have Questions?
Please direct any questions or concerns to the Exchange Network Help Desk:

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: 1-888-890-1995 (Select Option 1 and then Option 5 from the menu) 
  Available 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM Eastern

Over the weekend of July 23rd, the U.S. EPA’s Central Data Exchange (CDX) core services migrated to a new database platform. Beginning the morning of July 26th, performance issues began manifesting for some users when interacting with the CDX Next Generation Node (NGN), Exchange Network Services Center (ENSC), and Exchange Network Discovery Service (ENDS). Initial tuning attempts provided limited relief. On the evening of Wednesday, July 28th configuration changes were made to alleviate the widespread performance issues.

As of the evening of August 2nd, there are no known widespread performance issues impacting Exchange Network services, and the situation continues to be actively monitored.

If you have any questions or need to report an issue, please contact [email protected].

This is a reminder that the EPA will host a FY 2021 EN Grant Applicant Feedback session to support the development and planning of the upcoming Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Exchange Network (EN) grant cycle and solicitation notice. This session will be held this Thursday July 29^th from 3:00 – 4:30 PM Eastern Time. The EPA will be asking for general feedback on the clarity and usability of the EN Solicitation Notice (SN), as well as seeking feedback on the available funding opportunities within the Notice, the applicant guidance appendices and optional templates, and the inclusion of the E-Enterprise Digital Strategy guiding principles.

The discussion on the SN will be followed by an open feedback session with participants on the call, in which they can provide comments or thoughts on any aspect of the EN Grant Program.

If you aren’t able to join this meeting, but would like to provide feedback on the FY’21 EN Grant Solicitation Notice or the application process, please email your comments to Erin McGown at [email protected] before August 5^th, 2021.

Session Connection Information:

Thursday, July 29th, 2021, 3:00 – 4:30pm ET

• TEAMS Presentation Link (Recommended Format): Click here to join the meeting
• Dial-In Option (Audio Only) Number: +1 202-991-0477; Conference ID: 643 615 68#

Please direct any questions to Erin McGown, at [email protected].

Although not mandatory, we would also appreciate if you would pre-register for the session by sending an email to Shela Poke-Williams ([email protected]) indicating your organization, name(s), and state, tribe, or territory. Please note that EPA will maintain these records internally and they will not be shared with any third parties.

The U.S. EPA Central Data Exchange (CDX) will be performing system maintenance from Friday, July 23, 2021, 6:00 PM ET to Monday, July 26, 2021, 8:00 AM ET. Users of the Exchange Network and CDX Web will experience intermittent service outages during that planned maintenance window. Shared CROMERR Services are not expected to be impacted. Please plan accordingly and schedule any transactions outside of the maintenance window. 

Please direct any questions to the Exchange Network Help Desk:

• Email: [email protected]
   
• Phone: 1-888-890-1995 (Select Option 1 and then Option 5 from the menu) 
  Available 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM Eastern

To support the development and planning of the upcoming Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Exchange Network (EN) grant cycle and solicitation notice, the EPA will host a FY 2021 EN Grant Applicant Feedback session. This session will be held on Thursday July 29^th from 3:00 – 4:30 PM Eastern Time. The EPA will be asking for general feedback on the clarity and usability of the EN Solicitation Notice (SN), as well as seeking feedback on the available funding opportunities within the Notice, the applicant guidance appendices and optional templates, and the inclusion of the E-Enterprise Digital Strategy guiding principles.

The discussion on the SN will be followed by an open feedback session with participants on the call, in which they can provide comments or thoughts on any aspect of the EN Grant Program.

If you aren’t able to join this meeting, but would like to provide feedback on the FY’21 EN Grant Solicitation Notice or the application process, please email your comments to Erin McGown at [email protected] before August 5^th, 2021.

Session Connection Information:

Thursday, July 29th, 2021, 3:00 – 4:30pm ET

• TEAMS Presentation Link (Recommended Format): Click here to join the meeting
• Dial-In Option (Audio Only) Number: +1 202-991-0477; Conference ID: 643 615 68#

Please direct any questions to Erin McGown, at [email protected].

Although not mandatory, we would also appreciate if you would pre-register for the session by sending an email to Shela Poke-Williams ([email protected]) indicating your organization, name(s), and state, tribe, or territory. Please note that EPA will maintain these records internally and they will not be shared with any third parties.

As announced on May 6, 2021, U.S. EPA is migrating Shared CROMERR Services (SCS) to a new hosting environment. After a successful migration of the TEST environment on May 14, EPA will move the PRODUCTION environment on June 4, 2021. 

Details

Users of SCS can expect the service to be offline beginning at 9:00 PM Eastern on Friday June 4, 2021. Service will be restored prior to 8:00 AM Eastern on Monday, June 7, 2021.

No SCS services endpoints will change after the migration. All endpoints will remain as follows:

• Dev endpoint – https://encromerrdev.epacdxnode.net
• Test endpoint – https://encromerrtest.epacdxnode.net
• Production endpoint – https://encromerr.epa.gov

All IP addresses WILL change after the migration.

IMPORTANT: IP ADDRESS CHANGES MAY REQUIRE PARTNERS TO ADJUST FIREWALL RULES TO ACCESS SCS SERVICES.

The new IP addresses will be:

• DEV: 40.71.227.82 (in effect as of May 14)
• TEST: 204.47.254.135 (in effect as of May 14)
• PROD: 204.47.254.197 (in effect starting on June 7)

U.S. EPA recommends testing SCS services in each of the respective environments based on the dates above to ensure no firewall changes are required.
 
Shared CROMERR Services Help Desk 
If you experience any difficulties or have questions, please contact the Shared CROMERR Services Help Desk.

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: 1-888-890-1995 (Select Option 1 and then Option 5 from the menu) 
  Available 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Exchange Network partners will experience intermittent outages in the TEST environment for data flows to/from U.S. EPA’s Central Data Exchange (CDX) Node.

The TEST CDX Node will be intermittently unavailable during the following time frames:

• Wednesday, May 19, 2021 from 6:00 PM – 11:59 PM EDT
• 4:00 PM EDT on Friday, May 21, 2021 through 8:00 AM EDT on May 24, 2021

Production data flows will not be impacted during these maintenance windows. 

If you have any issues or questions, please contact the Exchange Network Help Desk using the options below.

Exchange Network Help Desk:

• Email: [email protected]
   
• Phone: 1-888-890-1995 (Select Option 1 and then Option 5 from the menu) 
  Available 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM Eastern

In the coming weeks, U.S. EPA will be migrating Shared CROMERR Services (SCS) to a new hosting environment. The migration, which will include SCS SOAP, REST, and advanced portal services, will take place on the following dates:

• May 14, 2021 – Dev and Test Environment
• June 4, 2021 – Production Environment 

Details

No SCS services endpoints will change after the migration. All endpoints will remain as follows:

• Dev endpoint – https://encromerrdev.epacdxnode.net
• Test endpoint – https://encromerrtest.epacdxnode.net
• Production endpoint – https://encromerr.epa.gov

All IP addresses WILL change after the migration.

IMPORTANT: IP ADDRESS CHANGES MAY REQUIRE PARTNERS TO ADJUST FIREWALL RULES TO ACCESS SCS SERVICES.

The new IP addresses will be:

• DEV: 40.71.227.82
• TEST: 204.47.254.135
• PROD: 204.47.254.197

U.S. EPA recommends testing SCS services in each of the respective environments based on the dates above to ensure no firewall changes are required.
 
Shared CROMERR Services Help Desk 
If you experience any difficulties or have questions, please contact the Shared CROMERR Services Help Desk.

• Email: sharedcromerrservices@epacdx.net
• Phone: 1-888-890-1995 (Select Option 1 and then Option 5 from the menu) 
  Available 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

**This message contains important details about changes to the Exchange Network Authentication and Authorization Service (NAAS)** 

Thank you to all the teams that have worked patiently to help test and troubleshoot the updated NAAS TEST environment.

Based on the testing and resolution of almost all reported issues, the migration of the NAAS application is proceeding in PRODUCTION on Saturday, April 24th from 8am to 4pm.

After the migration, EPA and its contractors will be actively monitoring traffic, working with the Exchange Network Help Desk, and partnering with teams to address any reported issues as quickly as possible. Please continue to work with the Exchange Network Help Desk if you have any questions or concerns.

Reminders:

• The Exchange Network Help Desk can provide new Secure Authentication Keys if you need one for TEST or PRODUCTION.
   
• New TEST and PRODUCTION IP Addresses are listed below. If you have outbound firewall rules to the NAAS, please make sure you enable access to these IP Addresses:
  • TEST: 204.47.254.135
  • PRODUCTION: 204.47.254.197

EXCHANGE NETWORK HELP DESK

• Email: [email protected]
   
• Phone: 1-888-890-1995 (Select Option 1 and then Option 5 from the menu) 
  Available 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM Eastern

Beginning on April 23, U.S. EPA will be making updates to the Exchange Network Quality Assurance Server (QA Server). The QA Server currently provides a set of SOAP web services for synchronous and asynchronous XML schema validations, schematron validation, XML transformation via XSLT, and virus scanning.  

As part of this reengineering effort, the current QA Server will be updated and migrated to a new platform. Some older, unused functionality will be retired, but most of the current functionality will remain the same. Exchange Network partners typically interact indirectly with the QA Server when downloading schema validation reports for an Exchange Network data flow. Most partners should experience little to no impact from these changes. 

Here are some important highlights about the upcoming changes:

• The current endpoints for the QA Server will not change:
  • Test endpoint will remain https://tools.epacdxnode.net
  • Production endpoint will remain https://cdxtools.epa.gov
     
• Virus Scanning will no longer have its own Web Services Definition Language (WSDL). The method will be consolidated under the remaining WSDLs. Virus scanning can be performed synchronously with the Validator_v30.wsdl or asynchronously with the ValidatorEx_v30.wsdl.
   
• The Validator and ValidatorEx XSLT document transformation service and the Schematron validation service will be deprecated.
   
• 2 WSDLs will remain available for use:
  • Validator_v30.wsdl
  • ValidatorEx_v30.wsdl

Please see below for more information about the timeline and other considerations.
 
Timeline
The schedule for deploying the changes is as follows:

• Test Environment – April 23, 2021
• Production Environment – April 30, 2021

After changes deploy to the Test environment, you may test services using the new QA server. If you have any issues or questions, please contact the Exchange Network Node Help Desk (see contact information below).
 
Exchange Network Node Help Desk 
For any questions or comments, or to report testing issues, please contact the Exchange Network Node Help Desk via:

• Email: [email protected]

**This message contains important new details about previously reported changes to the Exchange Network Authentication and Authorization Service (NAAS)** 
 
Thank you to all the teams that have helped test and provide feedback on the new TEST environment of the NAAS. Your responsiveness helps make the application better and helps EPA prepare for the forthcoming migration of the Production NAAS. At this time, EPA and its contractor team are still working with some organizations to help them diagnose and resolve issues with their applications, but the majority of teams’ issues have been resolved.
 
Here are some important updates on the ongoing migration process:

• NAAS Production Environment Cutover Pushed Back One Week
  In the interest of letting partners test more thoroughly and resolve as many issues as possible, EPA is delaying the Production NAAS cutover until the weekend of April 24^th. Once plans are finalized, we will send another EN Alert with a specific outage window.
   
• Policy and Access Denied Issues 
  This has been the most widespread issue reported to the EN Help Desk. The previous TEST NAAS implementation contained some blanket policies that allowed some TEST users to perform their work without having the correct policy credentials in place for their accounts. The new NAAS is enforcing policies correctly. Consequently, in the TEST environment, some users may need to request policies for the USER ACCOUNT and DATAFLOW that they are working in. Please continue to contact the EN Help Desk to have these policies put in place. So far, missing policies do not appear to be similarly widespread in Production. Further research is ongoing to prepare for the production cutover and ease agencies’ transitions.

Please continue to work with the EN Help Desk if you have any questions or concerns.
 
Reminders:

• The node help desk can provide new Secure Authentication Keys if you need one for TEST or PRODUCTION.
   
• New TEST and PRODUCTION IP Addresses are listed below. If you have outbound firewall rules to the NAAS, please make sure you enable access to these IP Addresses:
  • TEST: 204.47.254.135
  • PRODUCTION: 204.47.254.197

Exchange Network Help Desk

• Email: [email protected]
   
• Phone: 1-888-890-1995 (Select Option 1 and then Option 5 from the menu) 
  Available 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM Eastern

**This message contains important details about changes to the Exchange Network Authentication and Authorization Service (NAAS)** 
 
On Monday, April 5^th at 6:00 PM EDT, U.S. EPA deployed changes to the TEST environment of the Exchange Network Authentication and Authorization Service (NAAS). These changes are part of the previously reported migration to a new NAAS platform.
 
EPA is asking partner agencies to test their Exchange Network applications and data flows and report any issues to the Exchange Network Help Desk (see contact info below). Partners should test their ability to authenticate, submit, and solicit data with EPA’s Central Data Exchange (CDX) in the TEST environment.
 
EPA is currently tracking a handful of issues that they hope to have resolved within the next 1-2 days. These include:

• Policy and Access Denied Issues – The previous NAAS implemented policy conditions inconsistently and some users were able to perform their work without being granted the necessary NAAS policies. The updated NAAS is enforcing policies correctly. If you are receiving an error that states “Access Denied” or “Access to the requested resource… is not permitted based on policy”, please reach out to the Exchange Network Help Desk and share the USER ACCOUNT that you are using and the DATA FLOW you need to access. The Help Desk will apply the correct policy for you.

• “Multiref” Error – Users may see an error message that states: “Message part multiRef was not recognized. (Does it exist in service WSDL?)”. This issue occurs when some NAAS v2 method parameters are transferred as multiRef elements rather than simple XML elements. This is a known issue for partners that are using v1 of the NGN Node. This issue affects NAAS v2 methods in: auth.wsdl, policy.wsdl, securitytoken.wsdl, usermgr.wsdl. NAAS v3 methods are unaffected.

• Validation report errors – The QA Server is having issues responding with validation reports. This is being rectified.

If you are experiencing these or any other connectivity issues with the NAAS TEST environment, please contact the Exchange Network Help Desk as soon as possible. This will allow support staff ample time to resolve issues before the planned migration of the NAAS Production environment on April 18^th.

The NAAS Production environment cutover is still planned to occur on the weekend of April 18^th, assuming successful testing by EN partner agencies. If partners are having trouble pinpointing or resolving issues in the TEST environment, EPA may delay the changes to PRODUCTION until the weekend of April 25th.
 
Please work with the Exchange Network Help Desk if you have any questions or concerns.

• The Help Desk can provide new Secure Authentication Keys if you need one for TEST or PRODUCTION.

• The new NAAS TEST and PRODUCTION IP addresses are listed below. If you have outbound firewall rules to the NAAS, please make sure you enable access to these IP addresses:
  • TEST: 204.47.254.135
  • PRODUCTION: 204.47.254.197

 Exchange Network Help Desk

• Email: [email protected]

• Phone: 1-888-890-1995 (Select Option 1 and then Option 5 from the menu) 
  Available 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM Eastern

The NAAS Backwards Compatibility Layer (BCL) has been deployed in the Development environment for the past week and is very stable. Thanks to the development teams that have helped test things so far. There are a few remaining small issues we need to verify and potentially work through with our teams. In an abundance of caution, we are delaying the cutover of the TEST NAAS one week to make the NAAS as fully ready for partners as possible.

• NAAS Test Environment Cutover – Is now planned to happen on Monday night, 6pm on April 5^th. We expect roughly two hours of downtime. At this point we will be asking teams to test the NAAS BCL, let us know if things are working for them, and work with us to help troubleshoot and resolve any issues that they may encounter.
• NAAS Production Environment Cutover – is still planned to occur the weekend of April 18^th , assuming testing can be verified by partners. If partners are having trouble pinpointing issues or resolving them after the test cutover, we may fall back to the following weekend, April 25th IF NECESSARY. 

Again, please work with the node help desk if you have any questions or concerns. Reminders:

• The node help desk can provide new Secure Authentication Keys if you need one for TEST or PRODUCTION.
• New TEST and PRODUCTION IPs are listed below. If you have outbound firewall rules to the NAAS, please make sure you enable access to these IPs:
  • TEST: 204.47.254.135
  • PRODUCTION: 204.47.254.197

NODE HELP DESK:
Phone: 888.890.1995
Email: [email protected]
https://www.exchangenetwork.net/about/contacts/network-help-desk/