To emphasize the importance of etiquette of usage, the user requirements listed at the begining of this document are reiterated here.
The BLAST URLAPI is a free public resource provided by NCBI. To ensure the availability of this service and fair access to our users, NCBI imposes guidelines for its usage:
a. Limit all scripts to the off peak hours of 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (USA).
b. For URLAPI scripts, do NOT send requests faster than once every 3 seconds.
c. While polling for results with RIDs, do NOT request results at rates greater than once per minute.
d. Please use the '&EMAIL=' field (and the '&TOOL=' for distributed software), in the BLAST URLAPI, so that we can contact you if there is a problem.
e. Plan for errors and unreturned results.
f. Do NOT write scripts which resubmit failed searches repetitively.
NCBI reserves the right to cancel long standing searches and block scripts which are flooding the BLAST servers. If you have any questions prior to running scripts please contact [blast-help@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov].