UPC problem connecting to web server

curiousb

Not sure if this is the right place for this problem. Mods feel free to move.

I am using UPC broadband (240mb and working well).

I am a web designer and host a number of client sites on a Virtual Private Server. Over the past few days, some clients have reported problems sending/receiving emails, or delays in receiving emails. The only common denominator I can find so far is that they use UPC as their broadband provider.

I have checked the VPS, and so has the text support, and all seems fine there.

I have set up test email accounts and when I myself connect via UPC, the connection to the mail server usually fails, but if I connect using my phone as a hotspot, it seems fine.

I also cannot connect to my hosting control panel via a browser, with UPC, I just get a page not found error.

UPC are aware of this and have escalated it to their IT guys and I am waiting to hear back, but i am wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem in some form?

I am pulling my hair out here in frustration, as I have been trying to sort this out for the last 2 days to no avail so far.

Thanks for any suggestions!

degsie

Maybe DNS problems? Switch to Google DNS or OpenDNS to test.

curiousb

degsie wrote: »

Maybe DNS problems? Switch to Google DNS or OpenDNS to test.

Thanks for the suggestion, hadn't thought of that but unfortunately no change.

I changed the DNS to Googles DNS servers, flushed my DNS, restarted the mail package and still the same errors.

Thanks anyway!

Spear

A 404 response from the control panel would suggest a response from the server though, assuming it's not being generated locally. I'm on a UPC connection as well, send me a link to the control panel page (though not the credentials), and I'll have a look at the response.

curiousb

Spear wrote: »

A 404 response from the control panel would suggest a response from the server though, assuming it's not being generated locally. I'm on a UPC connection as well, send me a link to the control panel page (though not the credentials), and I'll have a look at the response.

PM sent, thanks for the help.

According to my Hosting company there are reports of outages and their data centre has reported the issue to UPC.

Cuddlesworth

Do a tracerotue to the webserver IP. I've seen some weird routing recently with Lvl3 peering to UPC IRE.

Spear

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Do a tracerotue to the webserver IP. I've seen some weird routing recently with Lvl3 peering to UPC IRE.

Got an example of that?

curiousb

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Do a tracerotue to the webserver IP. I've seen some weird routing recently with Lvl3 peering to UPC IRE.

Using MTR I get:

Barrys-MacBook-Pro.local (0.0.0.0) Thu Apr 9 14:47:10 2015
Keys: Help Display mode Restart statistics Order of fields quit
Packets Pings
Host Loss% Snt Last Avg Best Wrst StDev
1. 192.168.0.2 0.0% 139 0.6 0.7 0.6 2.0 0.2
2. 176.61.126.1 0.0% 139 10.1 13.5 6.7 24.9 2.4
3. 109.255.254.29 0.0% 139 39.0 12.9 7.4 39.0 4.6
4. 84.116.238.70 0.0% 139 16.7 14.5 10.7 23.4 2.2
5. nl-ams04a-ri2-xe-8-3-0.aorta.net 0.0% 139 15.3 15.0 10.6 54.5 4.5
6. 84.116.238.13 0.0% 139 11.6 15.1 9.4 62.8 5.8
7. 089-101-166166.ntlworld.ie 0.0% 139 22.9 76.0 10.3 285.3 87.0
8. 217.115.117.203 0.0% 139 16.4 15.3 10.5 26.9 2.8
9. vps.myserver.com 0.0% 139 16.6 98.8 10.1 11470 971.7

curiousb

screenshot for better formatting

curiousb

I'm still having this problem and thought if I listed the pertinent points it might help:

1. I can't access my web server control panel from my macbook (any browser) over my UPC broadband connection.

2. If I connect using my phone as a hotspot (three, 4G) I can connect fine.

3. I can view websites on my web server which use the same shared IP address as my web server in my browser.

4. I get exactly the same results using another Mac on my network.

5. If I set a proxy server for the ethernet connection on my macbook I can connect to my web server using UPC.

5. I have the Ubee EVW3226 router and I have done a factory reset on it to no avail.

6. Firebug tells me the GET request for the IP address is ABORTED, so the request doesn't seem to be making its way to the server at all.

7. Spear has suggested doing a full packet capture to try to figure out where the problem is, but it is a bit beyond me I gave up last night..


So if anyone has any other suggestions to try I would really appreciate it.

degsie

I know that incorrect MTU setting on routers can cause weird connectivity problems. Maybe have a poke around with that?

curiousb

This is so frustrating because now I cannot connect to my web server unit my phone as a hotspot, whereas I could earlier this morning.

I can also only see some of the sites I host in a browser, some display and some don't.

Totally at my wit's end with this.

Haven't checked MTU settings on router yet as the problem is now happening when unplugged from the router as well.

Spear

It's worth pointing out that he's receiving an explicit connection refused response to curl requests, regardless of the target port.

Cuddlesworth

Spear wrote: »

Got an example of that?

Nothing saved. My webserver traffic was bouncing over the Atlantic and back last Dec and this Feb it was arriving in the Netherlands and into a black hole. Both times it was through Lvl3 where the routing was messed up. I'm in a position where I can log a call directly with them though.

curiousb wrote: »

This is so frustrating because now I cannot connect to my web server unit my phone as a hotspot, whereas I could earlier this morning.

I can also only see some of the sites I host in a browser, some display and some don't.

Totally at my wit's end with this.

Haven't checked MTU settings on router yet as the problem is now happening when unplugged from the router as well.

I would suggest contacting your hosting provider. The problem isn't specific to your home connection any-more.

curiousb

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

I would suggest contacting your hosting provider. The problem isn't specific to your home connection any-more.

Yep, I had done this earlier in the week and got the various different replies of 'oh it's nothing to do with us...' but they did escalate it to the IT tech people.

And believe it or not, yesterday evening about 6pm everything suddenly started working correctly again, with no help from me. I had been out at a meeting, where I tried the wifi and could connect to everything fine. Then I came home, plugged in and all was good with the world again!

It must have been UPC finally figuring it out!

Thanks for everyone who helped me try to figure this out over the past few days!

Spear

I'd very curious to hear what the answer was from UPC then.

curiousb

Spear wrote: »

I'd very curious to hear what the answer was from UPC then.

Ditto, but I doubt I'll hear it. I don't have the will power to contact them yet again to try to find out!