Hosting service blues (Bluehost...FYI)

jiml8 · 11-09-2009, 01:18 PM

I have hosted several sites at Bluehost.com for several years. Support has been up and down; they had problems with their support network, then they fixed 'em, and for the last couple of years I have been pretty happy with them.

Recently the shopping cart on my site stopped working. It communicates with Linkpoint as the credit card processor using https and outgoing port 1129 (a linkpoint requirement).

Seems that Bluehost has blocked the outgoing port, and tells me I have to change my hosting service and get a dedicated IP in order to use port 1129. The dedicated IP, of course, costs extra per month; my site traffic is not sufficient to justify that.

Here is the exchange of emails between me and support, presented totally without comment:

From me, original message:

Quote:

getting error message: Could not execute curl

coming out of https session.

Script affected is cart/lpphp.php which is invoked as an include in cart/order_transfer.php.

This is showing up as a consequence of a no response from a curl_exec command in lpphp.php which is invoked on line 175 in that script.

You must have changed something.

Their response:

Quote:

Dear customer,
thank you for contacting us.

We have not made any changes to curl and it is working fine on our servers. I went to both of the pages you referred to and could not see that error anywhere. Could you please tell us how we can reproduce this error so we can take a look at it? Before we can make any changes to your account we will need to verify the last 4 digits of your credit card number or the last 4 characters of your password.

Thank you,

Then me:

Quote:

In fact, when you executed the script I got an email telling me "could not
execute curl" which only happens when the response from curl is less than two
characters long.

The curl invocation is on line 175 of lpphp.php and the error message is
produced on line 190 of that script, in this section of code:

if (strlen($result) < 2) # no response
{
$retarr["r_approved"]="ERROR";
$retarr["r_error"]="Could not execute curl";
return $retarr;
}

The script in lpphp.php is invoked from order_transfer.php on line 158. The
email that I receive which tells me about the failure is constructed starting
on line 161 of the same script.

To invoke the thing properly, you have to go through the front door into the
shopping cart. softwareforlandlords.com then choose any of the "purchase now"
buttons, which can be found, for instance, on the "products" page.

In the shopping cart, select a "Buy" button, then go through the checkout.
Choose a credit card, fill in the info (all info must be filled in but undergoes
only rudimentary validation to ensure it is correct) then submit to credit
card processor. At this point, you will get an error message that says "Could
not execute curl", which shows up as indicated in the scripts.

and them:

Quote:

To make outbound requests from the server on all but a small handful of ports, a Dedicated IP is required for your account.
Dedicated IP's are sold for $2.50 a month. As they are purchased to match the length of your hosting contract, you are charged $2.50 * the number of months remaining in your hosting account.

Example: $2.50 a month x 21 months remaining on account = USD $52.50 total due at purchase.

Your site may appear down for 1 to 4 hours while your new IP resolves internally. After that, standard DNS propagation rules still apply and your site may not be visible for 24-48 hours on some ISPs until they catch up.

If you would like to purchase the dedicated IP, please log into the cPanel and click the Dedicated IP tab on the top.

Once this has been purchased, contact us again and we can whitelist the port your script is trying to use (tcp port 1129).

Please let us know if you have any further questions.
Thank you,

Me:

Quote:

So, therefore, you have changed the hosting agreement without telling me??? I
have hosted with you for several years and my script has been working fine for
all that time.

Now it stops working and you tell me that there is a price attached to get it
working again?

Them:

Quote:

Hello,

If you use Linkpoint as your merchant/gateway, then they will use port 1129 to secure.linkpt.net. Authorize.net uses https:// (port 443) to connect. If you'd like us to open up port 1129, please let us know when you have purchased a dedicated IP address and we will open that for you.

Thank you,

Me:

Quote:

Until very recently, port 1129 has worked just fine with the hosting plan I
currently have.

What you are telling me is that you are removing a capability I have had ever
since I have been hosting here, and will charge me to restore that capability.

No.

If that is the way it is, I'll be re-hosting elsewhere, and taking along the
other sites I have brought to you, and I won't be recommending you anymore.

Them (note the tone...)

Quote:

Hello,

What you are trying to do is take your own perception of this and put words in everyone else's mouths. We are not telling you that we are, as you say, "removing a capability I have had ever since I have been hosting here, and will charge me to restore that capability." We are telling you that port 1129 was NEVER opened. If this port needs to be opened, then you will need to purchase a dedicated IP. I have worked here for over 3 years, jim, and it has ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THIS and never any different. We are not taking away any privilege, simply stating things how they really are and have really been. I'm sorry you feel that you're being treated any differently. I understand that your misperception is your reality...but it is still one based on falsehoods. I am setting the record straight. We would love to still have you as a client. Ultimately, though, it is your decision for what you want to do. We will not change our policy for opening ports. You have always needed a dedicated IP address and will always need one. That's just how it is.

Thank you,

Me:

Quote:

Then by some miracle, my site has worked and has successfully talked to the
bank's API for literally years with port 1129 closed.

Go figure. It has been working and it recently stopped working. And you are
telling me that it stopped working because you have port 1129 closed.

You cannot have it both ways. If that port had been closed, that would have
prevented my site from working when I first moved it to Bluehost, and I would
have therefore been gone from Bluehost within a week.

It did work, it HAS BEEN working. Now it no longer is working, and you are
telling me that it is because 1129 is blocked.

Them:

Quote:

Dear Customer

We do apologize about the inconvenience of the api not functioning any more. Has this always used port 1129 as most merchant solutions will run on port 443 but linkpoint. if this has been the case and they just changed there information recently that would explain it. However if they have always used port 1129 this should not have worked it was probably a bug in the system that was fixed. If you would like to open this port then you would need a dedicated ip to do this.
Thank you,

And, finally, me:

Quote:

It has ALWAYS worked. It no longer does.

The bug, from my perspective, is that it no longer works because of something
you did.

The problem, from my perspective, is that you are now telling me I have to pay
more money to get back the capability I always had.

The solution appears to be hostgator. They get good reviews and have told me
that an outbound port 1129 is no problem at all.

If you can't reopen the port, I'll start rehosting within the next 24 hours.
My site first, then the others I support one by one. And I'll make a point to
tell everyone I have contact with, both on and off the internet, why I did it.

I can no longer host with Bluehost.

I'm just passing this on...people make their own choices based upon their own requirements and perceptions.

Personally I think that their behavior in this case is very raw. Regardless of why they did it, they have in fact taken away a critical capability from me, and now they expect me to pay to get it back.
I think not.

Edit: Upon review, I see that I was insufficiently specific in my last email to support. The question to me was "has the API always used port 1129" and I did not clearly answer that question. The answer is "Yes, the port has always used port 1129. I have made no changes to the code that handles the linkpoint interface since installing it originally. I will correct my last communication to linkpoint.

janoszen · 11-09-2009, 03:38 PM

I can understand why a hosting company would want to limit the ports someone can use. Maybe they could implement a socks proxy for you to use and log connections for them.

goodbreeze · 10-06-2010, 04:00 PM

I have been trying to activate a Firstdata (previously lynksis) module on an opensource php shop (Prestashop). Firstdata requires port 1129 to be open in order for it to be used. Godaddy refuses to do this without a dedicated or virtual server. This proves to be extremely expensive. The only solution seems to be to switch providers. BlueHost seems to be the only hosting company that I can find that allows full use of this port without a dedicated server. They do require a dedicated IP address which isnt that bad costwise. Hostgators allows outbound use of port 1129 but the people from Firstdata say it should be open both ways. Anyone know of any better hosting companies that will allow full use of port 1129 for a reasonable cost? I really hate to switch over all my domains and hosting accounts but it looks like its inevitable.

crazypenguin · 12-16-2010, 10:20 AM

I have had many problems with Bluehost and don't recommend them.

You might want to go to webhostingtalk.com and see what they have to say about any perspective web hosts.

And for whatever it is worth I have had the best luck with medium sized companies on such issues. They have a tendency to accommodate the client better than the "top ten list" type hosting companies.