Second Opinion Please on Site Access Problems.

[SVFan]

I submitted a ticket on 8/17 @ 1PM (CST) regarding problems accessing my site.

I submitted a copy of a tracert:


First two hops removed

3 39 ms * 38 ms GE-1-38-ur01.minnehaha.mn.minn.comcast.net [68.87.176.249]
4 18 ms 37 ms * te-8-1-ar02.roseville.mn.minn.comcast.net [68.87.174.141]
5 51 ms 57 ms 54 ms 12.118.20.9
6 33 ms 36 ms 61 ms tbr2-p033701.sl9mo.ip.att.net [12.123.24.206]
7 29 ms 61 ms 61 ms tbr2-cl7.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.122.10.45]
8 59 ms 60 ms 59 ms gar1-p390.chail.ip.att.net [12.123.4.65]
9 63 ms 60 ms 60 ms 12.119.137.46
10 63 ms 29 ms 60 ms ge-4-1-0--0.cr02.chcg.il.frontiernet.net [74.40.4.141]
11 76 ms 107 ms 115 ms so-1-0-0--0.cr01.slkc.ut.frontiernet.net [74.40.4.237]
12 108 ms 107 ms 108 ms ge-0-0-0--0.gw02.slkc.eli.net [207.173.115.246]
13 107 ms 108 ms 107 ms gw0-cust-BLUEHOST-COM.slkc.eli.net [70.97.59.22]
14 * * * Request timed out.


I was unable to access my website on box133, but I was able to access Bluehost.com and Bluehostforum.com.

Bluehost's reply was:

The problem is actually with your ISP's route to our server:

10 63 ms 29 ms 60 ms ge-4-1-0--0.cr02.chcg.il.frontiernet.net [74.40.
4.141]
11 76 ms 107 ms 115 ms so-1-0-0--0.cr01.slkc.ut.frontiernet.net [74.40.
4.237]


Frontiernet has been having many problems with routing to us. I would suggest calling your ISP and having them trace the problem through frontiernet. The site on our end is up and I can also access it from many locations around the world.

The reply came 27 hours after the problem had fixed itself. At which point the site was working fine.

Hop #13 from above is one hop away from my website. box133.bluehost.com [70.103.140.133]

I had friends from 5 different states and 4 different countries try to access my site. None of them could do so for the three hours I was unable to access.

My ISP rounts me through the same two frontiernet.net routers Bluehost noted for ALL bluehost websites. And I was able to access other bluehost websites.



Anyway, I just want to verify that BlueHost is correct in stating the problem is with Frontiernet.net and that all 9 of my friends I had from various points in the world are all experiencing the exact same problems. I am not a DNS or TCP/IP expert by any means, so I'm just trying to wrap my head around this.

To me it sounds like Bluehost didn't actually check the site during the outtage only much later.

If it is a problem with Frontiernet.net then I need to start looking for a new webhost since I can't have every one of my visitors who accesses through frontiernet.net call their ISPs and trace the problems they are experiencing.

[Basil]

Were you unable to log into your cPanel or was it simply your domain that wasn't working?

[SVFan]

Were you unable to log into your cPanel or was it simply your domain that wasn't working?

Cpanel was down too, as was FTP, as was Email (IMAP)

[Early Out]

Anyway, I just want to verify that BlueHost is correct in stating the problem is with Frontiernet.net....No, they were just blowing you off. That tracert reveals, at worst, a slightly sluggish response from a Frontiernet node, but that would not have blocked access to your site - shoot, even 500ms response times don't result in a "page not found" - they just make the page load like dial-up. It's pretty clear that box 133 was down for a while.

[SVFan]

Here is my current outtage: 16:14 (-6:00 GMT).

3 15 ms 15 ms 6 ms GE-1-38-ur01.minnehaha.mn.minn.comcast.net [68.87.176.249]
4 6 ms 6 ms 8 ms te-8-1-ar02.roseville.mn.minn.comcast.net [68.87.174.141]
5 22 ms 22 ms 21 ms 12.118.20.9
6 29 ms 31 ms 30 ms tbr2-p033701.sl9mo.ip.att.net [12.123.24.206]
7 30 ms 30 ms 32 ms tbr2-cl7.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.122.10.45]
8 35 ms 29 ms 29 ms gar1-p390.chail.ip.att.net [12.123.4.65]
9 37 ms 29 ms 29 ms 12.119.137.46
10 38 ms 29 ms 29 ms ge-4-1-0--0.cr02.chcg.il.frontiernet.net [74.40.4.141]
11 84 ms 76 ms 77 ms so-1-0-0--0.cr01.slkc.ut.frontiernet.net [74.40.4.237]
12 85 ms 69 ms 85 ms ge-0-0-0--0.gw02.slkc.eli.net [207.173.115.246]
13 82 ms 75 ms 75 ms gw0-cust-BLUEHOST-COM.slkc.eli.net [70.97.59.22]
14 * * * Request timed out.



3 6 ms 6 ms 8 ms GE-1-38-ur01.minnehaha.mn.minn.comcast.net [68.87.176.249]
4 8 ms 7 ms 7 ms te-8-1-ar02.roseville.mn.minn.comcast.net [68.87.174.141]
5 21 ms 21 ms 21 ms 12.118.20.9
6 36 ms 30 ms 32 ms tbr2-p033701.sl9mo.ip.att.net [12.123.24.206]
7 29 ms 29 ms 30 ms tbr2-cl7.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.122.10.45]
8 29 ms 28 ms 27 ms gar1-p390.chail.ip.att.net [12.123.4.65]
9 35 ms 28 ms 31 ms 12.119.137.46
10 37 ms 29 ms 27 ms ge-4-1-0--0.cr02.chcg.il.frontiernet.net [74.40.4.141]
11 84 ms 77 ms 84 ms so-1-0-0--0.cr01.slkc.ut.frontiernet.net [74.40.4.237]
12 83 ms 76 ms 79 ms ge-0-0-0--0.gw02.slkc.eli.net [207.173.115.246]
13 74 ms 78 ms 74 ms gw0-cust-BLUEHOST-COM.slkc.eli.net [70.97.59.22]
14 75 ms 74 ms 74 ms www.bluehost.com [209.63.57.140]



3 15 ms 15 ms 14 ms GE-1-38-ur02.minnehaha.mn.minn.comcast.net [68.87.176.253]
4 16 ms 16 ms 13 ms te-8-3-ur01.minnehaha.mn.minn.comcast.net [68.87.174.145]
5 7 ms 8 ms 15 ms te-8-1-ar02.roseville.mn.minn.comcast.net [68.87.174.141]
6 29 ms 28 ms 32 ms 12.118.20.9
7 37 ms 37 ms 39 ms tbr2-p033701.sl9mo.ip.att.net [12.123.24.206]
8 30 ms 38 ms 37 ms tbr2-cl7.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.122.10.45]
9 36 ms 36 ms 37 ms gar1-p390.chail.ip.att.net [12.123.4.65]
10 35 ms 36 ms 36 ms 12.119.137.46
11 29 ms 35 ms 35 ms ge-4-1-0--0.cr02.chcg.il.frontiernet.net [74.40.4.141]
12 76 ms 87 ms 78 ms so-1-0-0--0.cr01.slkc.ut.frontiernet.net [74.40.4.237]
13 86 ms 84 ms 85 ms ge-0-0-0--0.gw02.slkc.eli.net [207.173.115.246]
14 83 ms 81 ms 83 ms gw0-cust-BLUEHOST-COM.slkc.eli.net [70.97.59.22]
15 75 ms 81 ms 81 ms bluehostforum.com [70.103.189.52]


As with before, I cannot access box133 (email, ftp, http, CP), but I can access other bluehost sites.

[Basil]

It's up at the moment for me.

[alligosh]

Looks like you are actually getting blocked for hitting the DoS filters (I have xx'd out the IP address in question).

Thu Aug 17 15:00:08 2006 lfd: (CT) IP 66.xx.xx.xx found to have 655 connections - *Blocked* for 1800 secs

The system is seeing you make hundreds of connections in a few minutes, and is blocking your IP address for a half hour. If you are not intentionally making that many connections that fast, then it may be your ftp client. Some of them open and close the connection for every single file (huge waste of resources, if you ask me). If it IS your ftp client, I would suggest either smaller batches of uploads, or archive them (tar) so that you only upload one file, then untar them on the other end.

You can also email support and they can try and help you figure out why so many connections are comming from your computer.

[Early Out]

... it may be your ftp client. Some of them open and close the connection for every single file (huge waste of resources, if you ask me).I've noticed that WS_FTP LE does that, and I don't see any way of telling it not to. It certainly does slow down file transfers when you've got a bunch of small files to move. Can anyone recommend a good FTP client that doesn't engage in this behavior?

[SVFan]

Thank you! The DOS blocking makes the most sense. It is always when I am doing heavy updating to my site (I use Joomla). However the original post problem it was more than just my site. But alas. I think I have some new things to try to keep this from happening.

[redsox9]

I've noticed that WS_FTP LE does that, and I don't see any way of telling it not to. It certainly does slow down file transfers when you've got a bunch of small files to move. Can anyone recommend a good FTP client that doesn't engage in this behavior?

Hi, Early Out:

Is this the freeware version of the software? I have v6.0 from way back when and I don't notice this phenomenon. Sorry, I don't have a recommendation but I look forward to seeing what responses you get.

[Early Out]

Hi, Early Out:

Is this the freeware version of the software? I have v6.0 from way back when and I don't notice this phenomenon.That's exactly the version. It seems to open a new connection for each file that it uploads, choosing a different port for each one. Attached is a log file, showing the transfer of a couple of files. Anything look suspicious to you?

Edit - I think I have identified a clue - turning off passive mode seems to make a big difference (I always defaulted to that because it was required on my prior webhost). More experimentation needed...