Reason as to why our site and countless others were down last night

djsina2

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2019
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Do we know what happens when he tries? Is it simply a timeout or is there an error message returned in the browser?

Have him do the following and report back with the results of each:

1. Google "what's my IP" and tell us the xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx address
2. Do a nslookup or ping www.whatsbestforum.com
3. Ping 104.192.220.136
4. Try http://104.192.220.136/ in a browser
5. Try http://www.whatsbestforum.com in a browser he's never used before
 

djsina2

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2019
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Ok, wasn't sure this was the same person. Have him try and other steps. Specifically have him try and ping the server by IP. If he cannot then it is still being blocked somewhere and has nothing to do with DNS, browser cache, etc.
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Ok, wasn't sure this was the same person. Have him try and other steps. Specifically have him try and ping the server by IP. If he cannot then it is still being blocked somewhere and has nothing to do with DNS, browser cache, etc.


I have sent all of those messages to him and will await his reply
 

djsina2

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2019
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Do you know where the block was being implemented? Is it on a router, firewall, or on the server itself? Either way, it would be relatively easy to see what is happening in real-time if you can have the user try to access the site while the tech on the other end is watching for the incoming packet.
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
From Anthony

1. My IP address is 218.250.94.182.
2. I can’t ping www.whatsBestforum.com
3. I am able to ping 104.192.220.136. Actually, I am accessing WBF using this IP address directly.
4. I just install Firefox. Try www.whatsbestforum.com in Firefox gives Error message: We are having trouble that site.
 

djsina2

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2019
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This seems to be a DNS issue. I will be back to a computer in an hour and will check some ideas I have.
 

howiebrou

Well-Known Member
Jun 29, 2012
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I still can not get on without a VPN. Applies to my android phone, windows laptop, windows Pc, IMac, Office IMac, Ipads.....now I have NordVPN installed all over the placeo_O
 

djsina2

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2019
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For Anthony, I looked up his HK ISP and tried to determine what DNS servers he is using. The ISP's DNS servers appear to be in CIDR 218.102.0.0/15. This network is in the MaxMind database labeled as CN, which I assume means China and I also assume the WBF ISP is using to generate their block list. Theory is this is breaking DNS since there is no way for the HK DNS servers to do their recursive lookups and reach the WBF DNS server to resolve www.whatsbestforum.com.

Can someone in HK who is having the issue tell me which DNS servers you are using? This info would be located in your router.
 
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djsina2

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2019
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howiebrou - What is your IP when you are not on the VPN? You can get this by Googling "what's my IP".
 

djsina2

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2019
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Also, since we know Anthony's IP is not blocked now, but assume the DNS servers are, he should be able to change his DNS servers to 1.1.1.1 and 1.1.0.0 and then reach www.whatsbestforum.com as usual. He would need to override the DNS servers he is getting from his ISP via DHCP. This can usually be done in the router config.
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Also, since we know Anthony's IP is not blocked now, but assume the DNS servers are, he should be able to change his DNS servers to 1.1.1.1 and 1.1.0.0 and then reach www.whatsbestforum.com as usual. He would need to override the DNS servers he is getting from his ISP via DHCP. This can usually be done in the router config.

I have already asked him to do that this morning
 

adyc

VIP/Donor
Jan 5, 2013
873
399
973
I am now able to access www.whatsbestforum.com directly. I now use 1.1.1.1 as my DNS sever. I do suspect the lifting of the block takes one or two days to be effective. Last night, I can’t access. This morning, I am able to access without making changes to my network configurations.

A big thanks to all for helping HK users getting back to WBF.
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Here is what probably resolved everything From our ISP

We have checked everything and the IP is not listed on any blocks.
But we believe we know what is happening.
When they are trying to resolve your domain name to IP it is not working because China was blocked to the DNS servers as well.
At this time we have asked our engineers to change the firewall rule and now DNS ports are open and they should be able to resolve to the IP and it should work.
If not have them ping your domain and see if they get any IP results.
If not then it is a DNS issue on their side and they should use a new DNS server.
Please let us know of the outcome.

***Please do not reply though email. Please use your ticket system at https://clients.urljet.com when replying back to us.
 
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howiebrou

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Jun 29, 2012
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Thanks Steve. I just tried changing my DNS on my iPads again to 1.1.1.1. Seems to work now. Will check on other devices too.

Thanks

Howie

P. S update: didn't work on Android phone so far...
 
Last edited:

djsina2

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2019
1,126
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Just to be clear, according to Steve they are allowing port 53 in the firewall rules. This would permit the HK DNS servers reaching the WBF DNS servers. Therefore, you should be able to go back to your ISP DNS servers if you want. That said, 1.1.1.1 and 1.1..0.0 is secure DNS that everyone should be using anyway (no tracking, no logging).
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
As Paul Harvey used to say..."and now you now the rest of the story....

Unbeknownst to me our ISP again blocked China and Hong Kong as I received an email from Anthony in Hong Kong stating he could not log in. Checking with our ISP they confirmed that they did as they had ongoing concerns.

So choices at that point were either VPN's for our Hong Kong members, WBF to go VPN or to do what I chose as I do not want to lose our members from Hong Kong and China

We have now added a DDoS block as confirmed below





Hello,
Your domain is now going through our DDoS firewall.
There are no country blocks on there for your domain and all data should be flowing through except the ones that are attacking.
Please let us know if you have further questions.


So to Anthony, CK, Howie etc, if you cannot access WBF please Email me as there should be no issues
 
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