RC Update 1.650.57 – RestaurantConnect

Update 1.650.57

Background

In the event of lost network connection, our application is designed to ping our servers in order to resume normal communications. We have found that some network security applications such as TrendMicro, Defender, or others, may cause a chain-reaction of excessively high traffic to our application servers.
The automated pings from our application to our servers build up in the HTTP cache.
This build up of connection attempts in the HTTP cache are then traced by the network security application as it investigates. This can produce a sudden high-volume spike in traffic to our servers. The effect is similar to a DDoS attack as our servers attempt to keep up with the volume of hits.
If the number of hits exceeds 2,000 requests within a 5 minute period, our firewall blocks the restaurant's IP Address thinking that our application servers are under attack. Now blocked by the firewall, our application at the restaurant continues to try and establish connectivity, building up the HTTP cache with connection attempts. At the same time, the network security application keeps tracing these HTTP connection attempts. The compound effect of the two spirals into a massive chain-reaction of traffic.
Example of recent traffic spike in 5 minute increments:

Resolution

We have removed our application's automated attempts to connect with our servers.
This will eliminate the potential for network security applications to unpack stored HTTP connection attempts onto our application servers in bulk.
In addition, in the event that a computer does lose it's Internet connection, we have made an improvement that will ensure that the application will not have to be re-registered in order to resume operation.

Buttons and UI elements have had a minor refresher update to improve contrast and visual appeal: