[SOLVED] Can't access distrowatch.com

coralfang · 06-20-2017, 06:45 PM

I haven't been able to connect to distrowatch.com in well over 3 months now. Yet the site is not down, as i can use a proxy to access it, and any "is it down" website states the server is always up and online.

For some reason i cannot connect to it to view the website, i cannot even ping

Code:

$ ping distrowatch.com
PING distrowatch.com (82.103.136.226) 56(84) bytes of data.
^C
--- distrowatch.com ping statistics ---
167 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 170009ms

Does anyone know what the problem could be? My first impression is that the website has firewalled me somehow, but i cannot understand why that might be the case.

I am on VirginMedia ISP in the UK, do any other VirginMedia users have trouble accessing this website?

hydrurga · 06-20-2017, 06:52 PM

Are you able to access the site from any other device in your household?

coralfang · 06-20-2017, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrurga

Are you able to access the site from any other device in your household?

None at all, but they are obviously all connected to the same router / IP address.

Jjanel · 06-21-2017, 04:19 AM

Try traceroute, &compare to e.g.:
http://www.erik.co.uk/lg/lg.cgi?inpu...com&mode=trace

That e.g. is Cerberus Networks Ltd (AS51918), last from list at:
http://www.traceroute.org/#United%20Kingdom
(Strangely, NONE of the dozen sites listed before this last one, worked/as-easy=no-js)

Another fyi: https://hostingcompass.com/whois/82.103.136.226
(DW is in Denmark, as the site says) Also try: https://nettools.neolink.dk (default=you!)

malekmustaq · 06-21-2017, 07:23 AM

Quote:

I am on VirginMedia ISP in the UK, do any other VirginMedia users have trouble accessing this website?

Check your connection configuration. The problem lies on your system not properly configured to reach the service provider's "DNS Server". So call your provider and ask the correct IP numbers of dns servers. Then configure connection with proper IP addresses. In my system it is simple as editing /etc/rc.d/rc.inte1.conf or launch the WICD and enter the IP numbers into the config tabs. To check these dns and nameserver IP's I only

Code:

cat /etc/resolv.conf

then the IP's are there.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

m.m.

coralfang · 06-21-2017, 11:26 AM

Code:

$ traceroute distrowatch.com
traceroute to distrowatch.com (82.103.136.226), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  routerlogin.net (192.168.0.1)  13.523 ms  31.925 ms  33.209 ms
 2  * * *
 3  aztw-core-2b-xe-700-0.network.virginmedia.net (80.1.245.157)  67.614 ms  68.711 ms  68.725 ms
 4  * * *
 5  * * *
 6  * * *
 7  * * *
 8  brnt-ic-1-ae0-0.network.virginmedia.net (62.254.42.198)  42.394 ms  17.156 ms  19.277 ms
 9  m686-mp2.cvx1-b.lis.dial.ntli.net (62.254.42.174)  29.310 ms  22.236 ms  31.863 ms
10  213.46.174.118 (213.46.174.118)  31.880 ms  19.831 ms  24.818 ms
11  ldn-bb2-link.telia.net (62.115.134.138)  33.085 ms ldn-bb3-link.telia.net (62.115.136.42)  23.460 ms ldn-bb3-link.telia.net (62.115.134.134)  28.148 ms
12  hbg-bb1-link.telia.net (62.115.142.120)  55.248 ms hbg-bb4-link.telia.net (62.115.122.158)  42.645 ms hbg-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.247.42)  66.688 ms
13  kbn-bb4-link.telia.net (62.115.112.54)  47.839 ms kbn-bb3-link.telia.net (213.155.137.13)  46.287 ms kbn-bb4-link.telia.net (213.248.65.126)  43.426 ms
14  kbn-b3-link.telia.net (213.155.135.179)  49.460 ms kbn-b3-link.telia.net (62.115.114.69)  43.449 ms kbn-b3-link.telia.net (62.115.121.17)  45.824 ms
15  easyspeedy-ic-305269-kbn-b3.c.telia.net (62.115.40.174)  49.642 ms  171.513 ms  50.104 ms
16  82.103.189.5 (82.103.189.5)  46.463 ms  52.813 ms  48.156 ms
17  * * *
18  * * *
19  * * *
20  * * *
21  * * *
22  * * *
23  * * *
24  * * *
25  * * *
26  * * *
27  * * *
28  * * *
29  * * *
30  * * *

I also just switched to OpenDNS for this connection but i get the same result.

Code:

$ cat /etc/resolv.conf
# Generated by NetworkManager
nameserver 208.67.222.222
nameserver 208.67.220.220

It's just the distrowatch website i have noticed issues with (outside of government censorship blocks), all other sites seem to work.

hydrurga · 06-21-2017, 11:38 AM

That traceroute output would appear to show that the ping is getting beyond VirginMedia with no problem but is being rejected on the last hop.

A similar traceroute on my machine has the same last two hops as yours but also has a final hop:

Code:

13  easyspeedy-ic-305269-kbn-b3.c.telia.net (62.115.40.174)  44.704 ms  45.709 ms  46.150 ms
14  82.103.189.5 (82.103.189.5)  53.933 ms  51.280 ms  50.668 ms
15  e82-103-136-226s.easyspeedy.com (82.103.136.226)  50.886 ms  47.890 ms  48.144 ms

So, it looks like some filtering is going on at the DistroWatch side of things. Perhaps there has been a blacklisting due to some gaming of the distrowatch distros from the pool of IP's that your IP is in (unless you have a static IP, in which case it might be your specific IP that has been targeted).

hydrurga · 06-21-2017, 11:44 AM

Have you tried checking your IP for spam blacklisting (not necessarily related to distrowatch but would be of interest to see if there is a larger problem):

https://www.whatismyip.com/blacklist-check/

If not, I would recommend contacting distrowatch about the problem.

273 · 06-21-2017, 12:27 PM

I take it you have done the usual unplugging the router from the mains and leaving it off for at least 30 seconds then plugging it back in and powering on?

coralfang · 06-21-2017, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrurga

Have you tried checking your IP for spam blacklisting (not necessarily related to distrowatch but would be of interest to see if there is a larger problem):

https://www.whatismyip.com/blacklist-check/

If not, I would recommend contacting distrowatch about the problem.

Well it appears on these:

Quote:

Barracuda Reputation Block List b.barracudacentral.org
Barracuda Reputation Block List (for SpamAssassin) bb.barracudacentral.org
McAfee RBL cidr.bl.mcafee.com
nsZones.com Dyn dyn.nszones.com
nsZones.com SBL+Dyn bl.nszones.com
Spamhaus PBL Policy Block List pbl.spamhaus.org
Spamhaus ZEN Combined Block List zen.spamhaus.org

hydrurga · 06-21-2017, 02:05 PM

That *may* be the problem then.

Do you have a static IP address from VirginMedia, or is it dynamically allocated?

jefro · 06-21-2017, 02:47 PM

Go to google and search for distrowatch. Then use the cached feature to see if it works. Then try to access the site from google

Distrowatch also has an IPv6 address if your system is set up for that. Could be a problem.

coralfang · 06-21-2017, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrurga

That *may* be the problem then.

Do you have a static IP address from VirginMedia, or is it dynamically allocated?

Static i guess. It used to be dynamic possibly over 8 months ago, where each power cycle of the router (even 5 minutes down) would allocate a new IP address, but it seems to have changed to fixed. I imagine Distrowatch is using one of these blocklists?

Using googles cached pages doesn't help either, as most of the page content is not downloading (*connecting to distrowatch.com* etc)

jefro · 06-21-2017, 07:13 PM

Go to your neighbor and see if they can access it.

daemonpenguin · 06-21-2017, 09:30 PM

I recommend e-mailing DistroWatch with your IP address and maybe which browser you are using. Then they can check to see if you're being filtered for some reason. In case you can't find their e-mail (cause you cant' see the site) it's distro@distrowatch.com