.com......

[BA80]

..... is being flakey again. It's been in and out for me the last few days. TC can't even get on where he is. I've been communicating with him on the other forum.

In case any of you have had issues here's what TC has to say..... http://hitechkc.dyndns.org:78/phpbb3...e3c48&start=10

[3Phase]

HOSTS file

Greg (and T.C. if he can see this),

Add the site IP address to your HOSTS file. If it really is a DNS lookup problem, that'll bypass the lookup stage of the connection and just try to connect.

If it's not a DNS problem then the HOSTS file entry won't help at all, it'll just fail faster because it will skip the lookup part before the site fails to load.


For *BSD/Linux/UNIX you already have clue and know what to do.

For Mac-people that expect everything to just work seamlessly:
sudo nano /etc/hosts

For Windows, the HOSTS file lives in a folder below System32 and unless someone has hammered the file permissions flat then you will need to be an Administrator to edit and save the file.


C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\HOSTS

# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost

209.151.89.187 xs11.com


.

[JeffH]

As Scott is saying it is likely YOUR HOSTS DNS files. I'm in north eastern North Carolina this week and xs11.com has been working flawlessly since it came back on line (yesterday afternoon 30th I think it was). Both on my cheapo windows laptop and via my 4G Phone. Immediate access every time into .com

I'm not an IT guy (and IT guru should comfirm) but RUN: ipconfig / flushdns should fix it. But Scotts way better adding it. Take away is it is likely the PCs blocking this. Not your service providers and not .com

I also see quite a few XSives from all over the country have been On and they don't seem to be having any access issues or complaints either.

Jeff

[ViperRon]

DNS Is Doman Name Services attaches the name of the Site XS11 to an IP address location so that things can get sent and returned to the proper location.

When a change is made and things are redirected like the site was to Amazon it can take some time to update on the servers across the WEB.

Some servers have so much demand that they have to set priorities and updates are not a priority. Other times the bad information is cashed in a table (stored in memory and not cleared) so when a person gets to this server it remembers the bad address and previous failure to reach it and does not even bother to do an update and get the proper routing information.

DNS is handled in a hierarchical manner which means you have large network servers like Google and lower network DNS servers like Sprint or Verizon on down the line to your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and all of them depend on the higher level to have the proper information on where to route your request. There is no one server big enough to have all of the addresses and do all the routing so they are webbed together giving many different routes to get information and paths to send the data through.

Therefore in this system those high level do not update everything immediately and sometimes the lower level DNS servers get overwhelmed and it takes time for all this to work its way out.

The Host table gives your PC all the addressing info for where to send and receive for communication to the HOST you are going to. However higher servers on your network can recognize that you are sending a message to an address that it remembers failed and drop your request anyway.

So there is no foolproof way to insure someone else's issue will not stop you. Usually administrators of the DNS servers will observe the failures and clear the DNS cash and it will update and work its way out .

Probably lost some of you in this but trying to dummy down how it works and the explanation of the problems even when you understand is not simple. Hope some of you got a clearer picture.

[DeanR]

Site is working great here today.
In fact better, because I'm now getting email alerts to subscribed threads, which has not been working for quite a while.

[dbbrian]

I am getting on but not without some delay, and a message saying the site is not accessible.

Maybe it has something to do with the Roger wireless outage - I've had no service since Thursday afternoon - a VERY long time for it to be down

http://canadianoutages.com/status/rogers/map/

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there folks,

I'm back!! Yep, like ViperRon said, it's just a matter of some of the servers en route to my computer. I remember doing a tracerroute a while back, and it took like 17 hops across the NET before I got to XS11.com. SO.....just had to sit and wait until everything caught up!

Was finally able to register a couple of new members, one that had applied BEFORE the crash, so it's been a bit frustrating for him for sure!

I tried flushing the DNS cache, the browser cache, I didn't even have a HOSTs file where it's supposed to be. I had forgotten, but I had edited it with the OLD IP address, but had never put it where it needed to be...C:\windows\system32\ folder, and the text lines were # remarked out anyways. I did follow Scott/3Phase's instructions, re-edited the Hosts file, set the lines for XS11.com to active instead of just remarked, and then copied it to the proper folder. But it didn't help anyways, but once the rest of the servers propagated the correct DNS info, then it finally showed up in my browser!

In case you all didn't follow the link that Greg provided about what happened, about a year ago we had acquired an external DNS service vs. the site's Hosting servers, but that account expired last week, and that service just pointed our site to AMAZON instead of leaving it alone....nice! We had made that switch last year when we had had what we thought was a lot of DNS issues with the HOST site/servers. Over a year ago, our Host account was more limited, and after we reached a certain amount of bandwidth, the HOST would just shut off access to the site so that other sites/accounts on that same server could function. SO...we upgraded the account to allow a lot more bandwidth, but they moved our site to another server, and the DNS stuff didn't get updated right or such, and that's when we went to the external DNS handler!

We are now back with the HOST servers and DNS servers/handlers, so hopefully it's gotten all straightened out, and will work right from now on!?

T.C.

[MarkD]

So far, so good! Thanks for the trouble shooting and getting this awesome site back up and running.

[madmax-im]

still having some trouble logging on...before this meltdown there was no delay either on my phone or on the desktop...Now when I click on the site icon ...on the computer it takes about 10 seconds before the home page pops up...before that the page is blank...on my phone its about the same amount of time...prior to the meltdown access was nearly immediate...plus navigating around this site is much slower too...each separate area i wish to go to takes sevseral seconds more than usual to successfully navigate my way to the desired thread...overall its just a minor inconvienience but one thats quite noticeable...such is the price to pay for having .com back up and running...it seemed like it was a long 3 days without the site...

[Prothec]

It was still going in and out for me using my ISPs DNS servers this morning. It only now occurred to me to do a lookup on the IP against another DNS server and add it to my hosts file.

I've been using google to look up cached versions of pages for the past few days to keep from going into withdrawal

[TopCatGr58]

Hey BNE,

On your computer, did you try doing the FLUSH DNS process?

Depending on your Operating System, Win8, 7, Vista etc, you just need to get into a Command prompt...the old black screen window of DOS, and then type the command
ipconfig /flushdns and then hit the return/enter key, and you should then see a message

Windows IP configuration successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.

Then EXIT the dos prompt/window by typing Exit, Enter and it should go away.

As to your phone, don't know how to or if it can be cleaned??

Also you can try clearing the browsing temporary files cache.

And, did you see the info earlier in this thread about SETTING your DNS info on your computer in the HOSTs file so that the computer/browser would not need to use the DNS servers to LOOKUP the site's IP address, but be able to directly to the site??

T.C.

[BA80]

Been off for me for the last day or so. Getting notifications but can't access the site.

Got a window this morning though.

[3Phase]

Welcome back, T.C.!

The site's pretty much instantaneous for me. There's some occasional lag but nothing unusual. A DNS lookup takes fractions of a second and once you have a numeric IP address from a remote Server or your local HOSTS file that's it, DNS is done.

Unless you're trying to use a site that has every second word along with all the graphics off-page or off-site and triggering hundreds of DNS requests just to load the first paragraph, any problem is not a DNS problem, it's a routing or site problem and since neither of those resources are on your local machine it's pretty much beyond your control.

You can't do anything about site problems unless you're a site or hosting company owner/administrator but you can sometimes get around a routing problem or a caching problem -- which is still ultimately a routing problem -- by using a proxy to sort of come at the site from a different direction. I know it used to be possible to manually specify the route used for a connection and bypass any troublesome routers but that was a long time ago and quite frankly you'd be better served by cleaning lint off the dog or watching "I Love Lucy" reruns until the problem is fixed.

.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey again BNE,

Another fun exercise you can do is to perform a Tracert procedure to see how long it takes to go thru each Server on your way to XS11.com . And you can send the output of the search to a text file. Use a command prompt, and be patient after you hit the enter key, takes some time to do the search, like a minute total, and with the SAVE to file option, you don't see the results on screen...just have to wait until the cursor returns to the next line to know when it's done. You can do the tracert WITHOUT the send to file ending first just to see the results ON SCREEN.

Here's the results from my laptop out here in Va. to xs11.com

command to type: note spaces between command word, the site name, the > and the file destination.
tracert www.xs11.com > c:\temp\trace.txt

Tracing route to www.xs11.com [209.151.89.187]

over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 22 ms 71 ms 6 ms Linksys15118 [192.168.1.1] *Router*

2 105 ms 9 ms 8 ms 10.5.12.1 *Private*

3 68 ms 101 ms 101 ms 100.127.41.14 *Private*

4 25 ms 510 ms 153 ms 172.22.51.110 *private-Wired* Modem ?

5 21 ms 306 ms 204 ms ashbbprj02-ae2.0.rd.as.cox.net [68.1.4.139] *Macon, Georgia*

6 97 ms 17 ms 115 ms xe-0-1-3.er1.iad10.us.zip.zayo.com [64.125.12.165] *Wash, DC*

7 240 ms 101 ms 102 ms ae6.cr1.dca2.us.zip.zayo.com [64.125.20.117] *Portland, Or*

8 126 ms 94 ms 108 ms ae27.cs1.dca2.us.eth.zayo.com [64.125.30.246] *White Plains, NY*

9 131 ms 102 ms 101 ms ae4.cs1.lga5.us.eth.zayo.com [64.125.29.202] *White Plains, NY*

10 124 ms 102 ms 101 ms ae3.cs1.ord2.us.eth.zayo.com [64.125.29.209] *White Plains, NY*

11 738 ms 101 ms 102 ms ae27.cr1.ord2.us.zip.zayo.com [64.125.30.243] *White Plains, NY*

12 125 ms 102 ms 63 ms ae12.mpr1.den1.us.zip.zayo.com [64.125.20.250] *L.A., CA.*

13 62 ms 141 ms 101 ms 208.185.23.10.t01440-06.above.net [208.185.23.10] *Houston, Tx*

14 121 ms 101 ms 101 ms 41.ae2.cen01-mls-dc-core-b.cen01.latisys.net [205.214.65.142] *Aurora, Co*

15 124 ms 102 ms 59 ms 205-214-65-122.static.eng01.latisys.net [205.214.65.122] *Aurora, Co*

16 74 ms 126 ms 102 ms vl23.mls-dc-dist-b.eng01.latisys.net [208.42.224.38] *Englewood, Co.*

17 127 ms 103 ms 99 ms 64.119.182.106 *Englewood, Co.*

18 127 ms 102 ms 101 ms www.xs11.com [209.151.89.187] *Englewood, Co.*

Trace complete.

T.C.

**I edited my results showing the location of the servers**

[madmax-im]

Yes TC I did read all of that stuff...didnt think anything would apply here...I dont consider myself tech savvy so most of this is beyond me...:eek