Announcement

**CatatonicBug** · 10-02-2009, 10:41 AM

Originally posted by Bigfoot View Post

You can always use a service like dyndns.org. On some routers you can input your settings and it will keep track of your ip address and update it as necessary. It is a free service.

Also, why put the pc in the DMZ. Just use port forwarding and forward 3389 to that machine. In fact you can forward different ports to different machines. For example forward 3390 to a second pc. Change the rdp listening port on that machine and you can use remote desktop directly to that machine as well.

I'll have to look into that dyndns thing. I had never heard of it. As for the DMZ thing, it's easy. That's why I do it. I have never messed with ports at all, and I don't even think my router supports that (it may, but I have never looked into it). I've always been happy with the DMZ idea though.

**cywelchjr** · 10-02-2009, 10:48 AM

Originally posted by CatatonicBug View Post

My isp WON'T assign a static IP address unless I pay as a business. If you have a static IP address, you can then set up and host a website/public email domain from home. My website is hosted by yahoo, so they control the DNS. I have to pay them just under $9/mo for them to host my website/personalized email address.

If I have to connect to my home network remotely, I have to check before I leave the house and find out what my IP address is that day (it stays the same for a while, but changes every few weeks). I have my PC set as the DMZ on my router, so when I use Remote Desktop, it goes directly to that PC. I can then use Remote Desktop from that PC to access any other PC in my home network (I use a Win Server '03 PC as my Domain controller).

One of the advantages of the firmware I run in my routers is that they work with dyndns and some others that let you (with proper support) have an actual url you can use and any time your IP changes the router updates the record. In this way I can always use the domain name. In my case I can use cywelchjr.boldlygoingnowhere.org to get to my router, this lets me VPN in and access my LAN from just about anywhere. This would also let me run a website if I wished, since I could give users the domain name and it will always point at the correct address since the router keeps it updated any time the ip address changes.

**cywelchjr** · 10-02-2009, 10:50 AM

Originally posted by Bigfoot View Post

You can always use a service like dyndns.org. On some routers you can input your settings and it will keep track of your ip address and update it as necessary. It is a free service.

Also, why put the pc in the DMZ. Just use port forwarding and forward 3389 to that machine. In fact you can forward different ports to different machines. For example forward 3390 to a second pc. Change the rdp listening port on that machine and you can use remote desktop directly to that machine as well.

Actually you can go a step further, you can map the port 3390 coming into the router to go to port 3389 on the other computer so you don't have to change anything except the client settings to connect. You can use that same technique to access web servers on more than one machine by mapping port 80,81,82 etc to port 80 on those machines.

**jmnjrpa** · 10-02-2009, 11:24 AM

If in essence changing your IP addy allows access then the problem is with the website. Problem points to site with so many people having issues at the same time.

**CatatonicBug** · 10-02-2009, 01:00 PM

Originally posted by jmnjrpa View Post

Problem points to site with so many people having issues at the same time.

I agree. It may be the site, the company that hosts the site, or the DNS records for the site, but it's definitely something on that end of it.

**cywelchjr** · 10-02-2009, 01:45 PM

Ok, I just did a traceroute to see if I could get some idea of what is going on as the site is still slow as molassas while pretty much every other site is fine. The issue appears to be about 4 hops in front of the site, at 4.79.80.14 which resolves to DATA393-HOL.car1.Denver1.Level3.net. It has a very high ping time, which means high latency but also can be a sign that the location that router is at is under attack. The attack could also be what is blocking some users out of the site as well, since the location could be fighting back by blocking IP's that it thinks are attacking it (actually a common way of fighting DDOS attacks).

An interesting fact, since I have access to servers that are on a different backbone provider than my office computers, I can do some remote testing. I did the same traceroute from the servers, which go through xo.net over the backbone VS level3.net for the office and I get totally different results. I'm going to try accessing the site through one of my servers and see if I get better results as far as how the system is running, it may not after all have anything to do with the site specifically, but the backbone your using to get there.

**cywelchjr** · 10-02-2009, 01:49 PM

Wow! What a difference! Other than the bit of slowness that I get because it's accessed through RDC, the site is so much faster. I'll try again tonight from home, as I believe comcast.net goes through yet another backbone (or maybe they use level3.net like our DSL provider at work). Of course the server I'm accessing through at the moment has a 2Mb connection burstable to 50Mb, so it's a pretty hot connection, but that is actually often less of an issue than latency is.

**Larrym** · 10-02-2009, 02:27 PM

A Complicated Web

Just reporting in that from here in Blaine, WA the site is performing up to expectations.

It's safe to assume that any website is under attack to some degree or another. Like I said in my "snails pace" thread, I think that it's quite nice that this site may have been noticed by a hacker and possibly used as a proving ground for his/her "havok" skills. I mean that it may have been a target for the "spurious requests for service" which ended up denying us real users access. Or it may have just been a software/hardware glitch from a new "revision" somewhere. Either way the problem was not on DGXSER's end of the link.

Wow! I'm glad that someone here has an interest/knowledge in the way computers and the web work. Me? It didn't hold my interest so I went from computers straight into robotics. Almost makes me want to get more into the web world..........

Meh....I'll stick with robotics.

**JWSanders** · 10-02-2009, 02:27 PM

I removed a couple about a GB of log files (damn Russian search engine Yandex is hammering us again - I've already had to block them once) from the sites space last night and it seems to be functioning a lot better. May be a coincidence, but hey, I'll take what I can get.

Judging by what I've read, it sounds to me like some kind of DNS issue.

Not that it may be an issue, but there are bugs out here that can overwrite several brands of routers and put their own DNS info in them. It causes lots of headaches.

I will be going through the site this weekend to optimize a few things, do some backups, and other stuff.

**Crazcnuk** · 10-02-2009, 06:36 PM

Anyone out there, who has an old PC laying around agathering dust, can actually turn the old PC into a router.

You can download PFSense or other similar freeware and use that old P4 as a fully functioning router.

http://www.pfsense.com

These are often used for small businesses that need a more robust router/switch solution than the common end user boxes, but aren't up to needing (or paying for) a Cisco commercial setup.

I haven't played with it a lot, myself, but I know there are dozens of them setup around my town. These boxes offer more robust firewall, more configurability, and drag that old 'useless' PC out of the closet.

**JWSanders** · 10-02-2009, 06:48 PM

I am more convinced than ever it's a DNS issue. About 2 hours after making my last post I lost all connectivity to the site through Comcast. My verizon card is still working, however.

Still working on it.....

Well...now it's working again, and faster than ever. I guess wishful thinking does indeed help.

**b.walker5** · 10-02-2009, 07:14 PM

Originally posted by Crazcnuk View Post

Anyone out there, who has an old PC laying around agathering dust, can actually turn the old PC into a router.

You can download PFSense or other similar freeware and use that old P4 as a fully functioning router.

http://www.pfsense.com

These are often used for small businesses that need a more robust router/switch solution than the common end user boxes, but aren't up to needing (or paying for) a Cisco commercial setup.

I haven't played with it a lot, myself, but I know there are dozens of them setup around my town. These boxes offer more robust firewall, more configurability, and drag that old 'useless' PC out of the closet.

Thanks for that, It looks interesting. I'm going to download it and have a play.

**bikerphil** · 10-02-2009, 07:15 PM

I've been having sporadic problems on my end too (slow or no connect) and I'm running on Comcrap. It's been fine today, little bit slow compared to a couple weeks ago. It's always been blazing fast loading.

**cywelchjr** · 10-02-2009, 11:26 PM

Just did a check from home, and at least here comcast uses level3, and they either have a bad router or are under attack. All routes that I can do that don't go through level3 go pretty good, those that go through level3 have trouble.

**ELDR** · 10-03-2009, 10:22 PM

Hi Can't access xs11 from home but can from the office

I ran the tracert command on both home and office and the home system looses it (times out) at static.data393.net 208.42.224.102 (6 tries) while the office machine goes through 3 different ip at static.data393.net and is successfull

My home PC is on Rogers.com and I can send the IP address if it will help

I miss my xs11.com

VNC to the office is slow

Announcement

Question for Internet Guru's??

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment