DNS issue?

Hey all,

I've been having a spot of trouble accessing this site for about the last week. My DNS keeps resolving to 108.162.195.182, which is apparently some cloudflare site that boasts some "always online" tech or other, and either said "no cached page is available" or fed me a cached page. I had to manually edit my hosts file to get an IP that actually worked - 174.132.204.34 (gotten off of a remote whois service on the web).

Any idea why your DNS doesn't point to your servers from all locations?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jack_Simth

Hey all,

I've been having a spot of trouble accessing this site for about the last week. My DNS keeps resolving to 108.162.195.182, which is apparently some cloudflare site that boasts some "always online" tech or other, and either said "no cached page is available" or fed me a cached page. I had to manually edit my hosts file to get an IP that actually worked - 174.132.204.34 (gotten off of a remote whois service on the web).

Any idea why your DNS doesn't point to your servers from all locations?

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Sending you to one of those many IPs, dependent on your location in the world, is the correct behaviour. You can see the announcement here (under the section titled "Improving Website Speed"). Please change your hosts file back immediately.

If the Content Delivery Network (CDN) is unable to contact the site, it will attempt to deliver a cached version of the pages if one is available.


If the site is inaccessable for more than a short blip, then we want to know details about it so that we can report it. Instructions for what we would like to know are below:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rawhide

If you're receiving these messages, I want to know about it. Please include the following information:

The exact error message

When it happened and how long it lasted.

If the alt site worked

The results from pinging www.giantitp.com and alt.giantitp.com
In Windows, you can get this by opening a command prompt (Start > Run > cmd, then press Enter), then typing "ping www.giantitp.com", press Enter, type "ping alt.giantitp.com", press Enter (both sans quotes)

The results of a traceroute (aka tracert) to www.giantitp.com and alt.giantitp.com
In Windows, you can get this by opening a command prompt (Start > Run > cmd, then press Enter), then typing "tracert www.giantitp.com", press Enter, type "tracert alt.giantitp.com", press Enter (both sans quotes)

For full troubleshooting purposes, it would also be really good if you could include your public IP address at the time, you can send this to me in a PM. You can get this by going to Google and typing in "my ip" (sans quotes).

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OK....

My subscriptions folder gives:

This website is offline

No cached version is available
What's wrong?
The most likely causes:

The server is down for maintenance
There may be a network problem
The site may be experiencing excessive load


Retry for a live version of the site
What's CloudFlare?

This website uses CloudFlare in order to help keep it online when the server is down by serving cached copies of pages when they are unavailable. Unfortunately, a cached copy of the page you requested is not available, but you may be able to reach other cached pages on the site.


The recruiting are gives:
Database backup in progress, please try again in 30 minutes.

D&D 3e/3.5e/d20 gives:
This page (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=59) is currently offline. However, because the site uses CloudFlare's Always Online™ technology you can continue to surf a snapshot of the site. We will keep checking in the background and, as soon as the site comes back, you will automatically be served the live version. Always Online™ is powered by CloudFlare | Hide this Alert




jack@jack-desktop:~$ ping -c 4 alt.giantitp.com
PING alt.giantitp.com (174.132.204.34) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 22.cc.84ae.static.theplanet.com (174.132.204.34): icmp_seq=1 ttl=52 time=52.9 ms
64 bytes from 22.cc.84ae.static.theplanet.com (174.132.204.34): icmp_seq=2 ttl=52 time=55.9 ms
64 bytes from 22.cc.84ae.static.theplanet.com (174.132.204.34): icmp_seq=3 ttl=52 time=55.3 ms
64 bytes from 22.cc.84ae.static.theplanet.com (174.132.204.34): icmp_seq=4 ttl=52 time=55.4 ms

--- alt.giantitp.com ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3003ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 52.989/54.907/55.923/1.155 ms

jack@jack-desktop:~$ ping -c 4 www.giantitp.com
PING www.giantitp.com (108.162.195.182) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 108.162.195.182: icmp_seq=1 ttl=53 time=30.8 ms
64 bytes from 108.162.195.182: icmp_seq=2 ttl=53 time=30.8 ms
64 bytes from 108.162.195.182: icmp_seq=3 ttl=53 time=38.7 ms
64 bytes from 108.162.195.182: icmp_seq=4 ttl=53 time=36.9 ms

--- www.giantitp.com ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 15134ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 30.867/34.365/38.735/3.549 ms

jack@jack-desktop:~$ traceroute www.giantitp.com
traceroute to www.giantitp.com (108.162.195.82), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1) 0.864 ms 0.996 ms 1.332 ms
2 73.98.6.1 (73.98.6.1) 10.680 ms 10.892 ms 11.727 ms
3 te-7-2-ur03.olympia.wa.seattle.comcast.net (68.87.205.97) 11.065 ms 11.159 ms 11.377 ms
4 ae-25-0-ar03.burien.wa.seattle.comcast.net (69.139.164.173) 12.092 ms 12.309 ms 12.535 ms
5 ae-1-0-ar03.seattle.wa.seattle.comcast.net (68.85.240.94) 13.743 ms ae-2-0-ar03.seattle.wa.seattle.comcast.net (68.86.177.146) 13.461 ms ae-1-0-ar03.seattle.wa.seattle.comcast.net (68.85.240.94) 13.926 ms
6 he-1-5-0-0-10-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.94.57) 29.405 ms he-1-6-0-0-11-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.92.33) 25.903 ms he-1-6-0-0-10-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.94.69) 22.315 ms
7 pos-1-11-0-0-cr01.sacramento.ca.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.87.173) 29.816 ms 29.417 ms 32.134 ms
8 pos-0-6-0-0-cr01.sanjose.ca.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.86.202) 38.471 ms 38.562 ms 38.780 ms
9 pos-0-9-0-0-pe01.11greatoaks.ca.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.88.110) 39.746 ms 39.342 ms 39.180 ms
10 173.167.57.122 (173.167.57.122) 40.027 ms 38.863 ms 39.452 ms
11 as13335.xe-8-0-5.ar2.sjc1.us.nlayer.net (69.22.130.146) 37.193 ms 37.640 ms as13335.xe-9-0-2.ar2.sjc1.us.nlayer.net (69.22.153.74) 32.071 ms
12 108.162.195.82 (108.162.195.82) 35.899 ms 32.622 ms 32.638 ms
jack@jack-desktop:~$ traceroute alt.giantitp.com
traceroute to alt.giantitp.com (174.132.204.34), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1) 0.753 ms 1.080 ms 1.292 ms
2 73.98.6.1 (73.98.6.1) 9.509 ms 14.843 ms 14.931 ms
3 te-7-2-ur03.olympia.wa.seattle.comcast.net (68.87.205.97) 14.344 ms 14.354 ms 14.445 ms
4 ae-25-0-ar03.burien.wa.seattle.comcast.net (69.139.164.173) 15.040 ms 15.243 ms 15.468 ms
5 ae-1-0-ar03.seattle.wa.seattle.comcast.net (68.85.240.94) 16.687 ms 16.901 ms ae-2-0-ar03.seattle.wa.seattle.comcast.net (68.86.177.146) 16.245 ms
6 he-1-6-0-0-11-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.92.33) 25.469 ms he-1-6-0-0-10-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.94.69) 28.630 ms he-1-8-0-0-11-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.95.249) 22.214 ms
7 be-10-pe03.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.84.74) 12.890 ms 12.632 ms 16.575 ms
8 ae13.bbr01.wb01.sea02.networklayer.com (75.149.228.38) 16.410 ms 17.241 ms 16.135 ms
9 ae0.bbr01.cs01.den01.networklayer.com (173.192.18.145) 82.177 ms 81.898 ms 82.476 ms
10 ae12.bbr02.eq01.dal03.networklayer.com (173.192.18.138) 59.240 ms 59.416 ms 59.616 ms
11 po32.dsr01.dllstx3.networklayer.com (173.192.18.229) 59.707 ms po32.dsr02.dllstx3.networklayer.com (173.192.18.231) 60.022 ms po32.dsr01.dllstx3.networklayer.com (173.192.18.229) 56.480 ms
12 te2-1.dsr01.dllstx2.networklayer.com (70.87.255.66) 53.368 ms 53.304 ms 53.310 ms
13 te5-1.car13.dllstx6.networklayer.com (70.87.254.234) 53.429 ms te6-1.car13.dllstx6.networklayer.com (70.87.254.238) 53.757 ms te5-1.car13.dllstx6.networklayer.com (70.87.254.234) 53.317 ms
14 22.cc.84ae.static.theplanet.com (174.132.204.34) 54.121 ms 55.836 ms 55.942 ms
jack@jack-desktop:~$


I'm at: 67.168.187.103 (not that you can't just read it off the site logs).

The issue started up... Monday or Tuesday, I think? ... and is still ongoing.

The alt page... works, but apparently I don't remember my password, and the forgot password link on the alt site leads back to the main site... which means I can't give you your answers without keeping my hosts file edited. Ah well. Getting rid of the edit after this post per your request (which means unless you dig up my e-mail and actually e-mail me, I won't be able to give you any further answers until after it's resolved). If it's relevant, my router says my DNS entries are 75.75.75.75 and 75.75.76.76.

Do you experience this issue while using Google Public DNS?

8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4

There are IPv6 addresses as well, but I don't recall those off the top of my head. Could just go look them up.

The URL to request a password reset is:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/admincp/user.php?do=emailpassword
or
http://alt.giantitp.com/forums/admincp/user.php?do=emailpassword

You should be able to use the latter if the first one (www) doesn't work. I have already asked it to send you an email with your password reset code. Note that the link in the email will be to the www page and if the problem is persisting, you may need to change the url in the email from www to alt.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Neftren

Do you experience this issue while using Google Public DNS?

8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4

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Yes, I've also tried two of the Level-3 ones, 4.2.2.1 and 4.2.2.2 as a brief test. I do some aspects of this sort of thing for a living, and have a few public DNS servers memorized as a result.

I'd try clearing my DNS cache, but supposedly Ubuntu doesn't cache DNS entries by default.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rawhide

The URL to request a password reset is:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/admincp/user.php?do=emailpassword
or
http://alt.giantitp.com/forums/admincp/user.php?do=emailpassword

You should be able to use the latter if the first one (www) doesn't work. I have already asked it to send you an email with your password reset code. Note that the link in the email will be to the www page and if the problem is persisting, you may need to change the url in the email from www to alt.

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Thanks - I'm still on the alt site (main still doesn't work), but at least I'm in, now.

Quick question: Have you tried clearing your browser's cache/temporary internet files?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rawhide

Quick question: Have you tried clearing your browser's cache/temporary internet files?

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I've got it set to auto-clear every time I close my browser, which I've done several times since it started. I just used the actual button for clearing it now - no apparent effect. And what shows up on the site changes periodically - earlier, the recruiting forum was showing me a cached page of the database backup notice; now it's saying no cached version available.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jack_Simth

I've got it set to auto-clear every time I close my browser, which I've done several times since it started. I just used the actual button for clearing it now - no apparent effect. And what shows up on the site changes periodically - earlier, the recruiting forum was showing me a cached page of the database backup notice; now it's saying no cached version available.

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How about cookies? Particularly any CloudFlare cookies.

Also, are there any proxies along the way? Technical support is very helpful, but reporting that they can't replicate the issue even when connecting to the same CDN server IP. An outage should not last this long and should affect everyone being sent to that particular IP - when it happens, they then reroute everyone that would normally get that server and get to work on fixing it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rawhide

How about cookies? Particularly any CloudFlare cookies.

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That was it. I've got my browser set to keep those.

OK: Why would a bad cookie cause the system to repeatedly tell me the site was down?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rawhide

Also, are there any proxies along the way? Technical support is very helpful, but reporting that they can't replicate the issue even when connecting to the same CDN server IP. An outage should not last this long and should affect everyone being sent to that particular IP - when it happens, they then reroute everyone that would normally get that server and get to work on fixing it.

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Shouldn't be any proxies, unless my ISP is doing something transparent.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jack_Simth

That was it. I've got my browser set to keep those.

OK: Why would a bad cookie cause the system to repeatedly tell me the site was down?

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Not sure, but that suggestion came from their tech support. Though, they said that it should definitely not be lasting that long.

If you can confirm that it is working again now, I will report that clearing the CloudFlare cookies fixed it so that they can work on it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rawhide

Not sure, but that suggestion came from their tech support. Though, they said that it should definitely not be lasting that long.

If you can confirm that it is working again now, I will report that clearing the CloudFlare cookies fixed it so that they can work on it.

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Yes, it's working again now. I'm posting this from the main site.

Hey all,

OK, this keeps happening, to the tune of about 1/week. The cookie to delete is "cf_use_ob" (yes, it's happening often enough that I took the time to figure out exactly which cookie contains the issue).

That sounds like the cookie is expiring, I think?

*is very glad he tosses his cookies every brower close*

Hey all,

This has been happening daily over the last few days.