Author Topic: Connection reset when trying to submit posts but not when previewing the posts  (Read 1623 times)

Øivind Tøien

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  • Fairbanks, Alaska

It is not quite as simple as the title implies: Lately when I try to submit a post from my home-network, I have started to get error messages that the site cannot be reached - connection reset. It does not help to press the resubmit page button. This happens in spite of that the post can easily be previewed and I can also open another tab and navigate around the NG site. The further mystery is that when I use a VPN client to the university network I do not have this problem, I can both preview and submit posts.

A hypothesis could be that the IP number or domain generated from my internet provider is somehow blacklisted by the posting engine of NG, and that when I make a post through the VPN client via the university network, that different IP no is not blocked.

An alternate hypothesis is that there is something en route from my internet provider to NG that is blocking it and that this is an issue to be taken up with the provider, however why only when submitting posts then?

I did have some access problems (not specific to submitting posts) at the UVP site specific to my home account too lately, however those went away when I deleted the site cookies and logged in again. Deleting all site cookies and logging in again after emptying cache and restarting Chrome did not help for NG.
Øivind Tøien

Øivind Tøien

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Just a test post after a DNS cache flush and reset in hope of getting a new ip no from the DHCP server (forgot to check before-after if it actually changed though).

Edit: That worked! It is a mystery why the old one was blocked though...  Hopefully it will last.
Øivind Tøien

Birna Rørslett

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We experienced some short interlude(s) in the recent day(s) when NG timed out for nefarious reasons. You might have hit that period of troublesome connections.

Eventually every problem vanished into thin air. Hopefully the bliss will last.

Gone

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I think you will find that the "connection" referred to is the internal connection from the reply php file to the database server - nothing to do with the IP or the internet.

Servers need to be regularly rebooted to clear errors etc.

The preview just shows what you have done - there is no writing to the database until the reply is actually posted.

Akira

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For a few days, I've felt that NG has been reacting slower when I'm accessing here.  I'm not sure if that has something to do with the trouble in question.

We experienced some short interlude(s) in the recent day(s) when NG timed out for nefarious reasons.

It is no good that Nikongear is in trouble for NEFarious reasons...
"The eye is blind if the mind is absent." - Confucius

"Limitation is inspiration." - Akira

Gone

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For a few days, I've felt that NG has been reacting slower when I'm accessing here.

NG is very slow compared to just about any other forum!

Øivind Tøien

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We experienced some short interlude(s) in the recent day(s) when NG timed out for nefarious reasons. You might have hit that period of troublesome connections.

Eventually every problem vanished into thin air. Hopefully the bliss will last.

Thanks all for the comments. There is the Log4j vulnerability happening these days and associated attempts for exploits, so not strange there are periods of timeouts.

However this was not random/happening because of intermittency. I tested back and forth many times with and without VPN connection to the university when making posts. It happened every time with my provider and not with the VPN. Then the initial post in this thread was composed while on my providers network and would not post during multiple attempts to submit. I copied the content, switched to VPN and started the post over again and it posted immediately. After thinking for a minute I switched back to the providers network, did the DNS flush etc. described above, and did the next post only 12 minutes later on the provider's network - it was submitted successfully right away. I then edited the post again adding the success comment and it also was submitted without any delay.

I think you will find that the "connection" referred to is the internal connection from the reply php file to the database server - nothing to do with the IP or the internet.

Servers need to be regularly rebooted to clear errors etc.

The preview just shows what you have done - there is no writing to the database until the reply is actually posted.
Does my browser communicate directly with the database? If this is a negotiation between the NG site software and the database only, I do not see why flushing the DNS cache on my computer improved the situation?

For a few days, I've felt that NG has been reacting slower when I'm accessing here.  I'm not sure if that has something to do with the trouble in question.
NG is very slow compared to just about any other forum!

One change I made during my trouble with UVP was to block Google analytics to get in between. I often see the slowness in that connection that may happen before contacting the actual website I am trying to access, waiting for google analytics. I found a description here: https://www.infopackets.com/news/9959/how-fix-disable-google-analytics-firefox-chrome-ie . It did not by itself prevent the troubles at UVP but it seems that many sites are now faster to connect, although Google might not like it...

[Edit: Still good posting from my providers network...]
Øivind Tøien

Akira

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One change I made during my trouble with UVP was to block Google analytics to get in between. I often see the slowness in that connection that may happen before contacting the actual website I am trying to access, waiting for google analytics. I found a description here: https://www.infopackets.com/news/9959/how-fix-disable-google-analytics-firefox-chrome-ie . It did not by itself prevent the troubles at UVP but it seems that many sites are now faster to connect, although Google might not like it...

[Edit: Still good posting from my providers network...]

Thank you for the link.  Actually, I use an ad-blocker plugin called "Ghostery" for my Firefox but haven't had any problem with NG since I had started to use it.  Apparently, Facebook doesn't like it, though..
"The eye is blind if the mind is absent." - Confucius

"Limitation is inspiration." - Akira

Akira

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NG is very slow compared to just about any other forum!

Maybe, but the response has been noticeably slower for several days.
"The eye is blind if the mind is absent." - Confucius

"Limitation is inspiration." - Akira