We are having some problems with the site!

[Andrea B.]

YOu're not hearing me. There is a lot of DNS damage being cleaned up throughout the network and the risky /etc/hosts fix did NOT work today for a long time through *my* ISP. It is currently working again. But I don't know for how long.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Site5 relies on DYN, the company that was the main target of the attacks. Thus their own DNS servers were attacked as well.

It doesn't help using functional DNS servers, like the OpenDNS servers, when they on occasion have to refresh their DNS info from servers impacted by the attacks. At present, NG has apparently lost its DNS records and is in effect orphaned in cyberspace. Only by making a direct pointer to its IP (through the HOSTS file) outside ordinary name resolution can we access the site.

I agree hard-coding HOSTS isn't a solution for all eternity, but it's the only feasible approach right now until Site5 gets their act together.

When everything is back to normal, open your HOSTS file and add a comment sign (#) first on the line for NG. That's all.

[Andrea B.]

You are not hearing me. I have hard coded my /etc/hosts file. But even that does not always work. It only works intermittently from my US location.

This is not a fix which should be implemented. It is risky to hard code your /etc/hosts file. One little punctuation error and you are borked.

And nobody can read the suggested fix anyway because they cannot access NG.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Erik has sent e-mail to all NG supporters. We see they come back, one by one.

We cannot send info by newsletter as the mailserver is off limits currently.

And of course any error in a HOSTS file will prevent access. However, in a situation where access already is denied, you are no worse off than before

No answer to why your ISP blocks IP addresses. I tried at least four different providers over here and the HOSTS hack works with all of them.

[Andrea B.]

Because some software is written to bypass the /etc/hosts file. I have no way to know where that is happening.

Oh well. As long as you are aware that this may not work for everyone or may not work all the tiime.

[Frank Fremerey]

First time in days I have been able to log on. Thank you all admins for the edit hosts & flush DNS hack

Works for me.

[golunvolo]

I have been away and come back to find this situation. Thankfully I had two emails from Erik and the second solution works for me in Spain. Just clarify that instead of using cmd+O or cmd+X in terminal I had to use alt+O and alt+X. Everything else worked as scripted and I´m, as you can see, back

[Øivind Tøien]

While the name server "hack" did not work out, the hosts file edit has worked so far from my location in Alaska. Thank Erik for emailing information about this temporary fix.

(Interestingly my phone that connects through the PC also seems to have benefited from this as it tested OK without any changes on the phone. Of course a copy of the hosts file was made before the edit so that changes can be easily reversed).

[Frank Fremerey]

PS: I have had several NG issues BEFORE the DDOS storm hit. Several of the uploaded JPEGs were corrupted and I could not see all attachments on many posts. One page  loaded like this:

[Andrea B.]

That's a local problem Frank. Nothing on the server end would cause that.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Looks like a jpg is dumped in text mode?

[Tom Hook]

I cautiously used my terminal on my two macs and followed the instructions kindly given by Erik and the gang. I hesitate to play around with the innards of my systems files but the fix was straightforward and for the first time since Friday, I am back online. It's like finding my way back home on a dark and dreary night.

[Akira]

I'm still on the initial solution which failed once but works now again.  I will stay with the first solution and see what happens.  What's ideal is, of course, the default setting.

Appreciate the efforts of moderators anyway!

[armando_m]

Thanks for the email about adding the ip address to the hosts file

It can easily be undone when needed

[charlie]

The initial DNS fix did not work for me, modifying the host file on my Macbook did work. Haven't tried it on the Win10 machine yet.

Thanks for the email.