“Service Unavailable” when trying to accesss the forum

[Member PPC]

This last few days I’ve been getting this message a lot, when trying to access the forum:

Service Unavailable

The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

Additionally, a 503 Service Unavailable error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

P.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Even Dolphin Oracle (who happens to be a Forum Admin) has been getting what he refers to as “Captcha” issues – that is, the software examines the IP address, decides, based on it’s own collection of IP ranges that produce a certain threshold of problems, and then restricts, blocks, or delays access to the network. I also have a feeling that at times we are getting so bombarded with actual spam that our server is having difficulty managing the regular traffic; this comes and goes at certain times; other times everything is “fine”.

There’s no easy solution, other than paying for higher performance equipment and even more sophisticated network management programs, and without a sizable donation that’s not going to happen. The people who donate their time and equipment, as it is, are already giving us a lot of resources at their own time and expense.

I’m thankful for everyone who helps out in so many different ways and locations throughout the world.

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Brian Masinick

[Member PPC]

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Thanks, for the info, Mr. Maisnick, I suspected as much… I don’t really mind the CAPTCHA that much, if it’s sucefull at what it does. My fear is that I stopped getting the captcha and started getting those messages, that are worse…

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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@PPC: Again, I’m not 100% positive of every detail; I’m basing my guesses on what I’m viewing when I look at the Clean Talk log, the number of attacks we’re getting, and the possibility that those “network storms”, which in other reading have sometimes been called “brute force attacks”, “targeted attacks”, etc. The Clean Talk information, particularly over the past 2-3 days does indeed suggest that we have literally been under attack; though our systems have not “gone down” in the sense that the hardware/software stack literally crashes (though that’s possible, given the volume at times), it’s not really a “defect” per se; the “bad guys” are going after our site. Of course, we’re not alone in these things, by any means. It could be that we’re an easier target, because large enterprises have put all kinds of network services in place, even around the outer and inner borders of their networks. We have protection too, but it’s nowhere near as sophisticated as theirs so I’m guessing that makes us an easier target to disrupt and some of these network hackers take pleasure in any kind of disruption; everyone is doing their best, given the resources we have.

This conjecture is just my guess; it’s not an official position, and it may be entirely incorrect, but it’s one possible reason to explain what’s going on…

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Brian Masinick

[Member Wallon]

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Dear Brian,

Can’t we attack those who attack the forum?
We’d be fine afterwards.

Best regards,
Wallon

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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If any of the attacks are sent through a reputable Internet Service Provider, it may be possible to contact that ISP;
who knows, perhaps the “so-called” person or account performing the attack may actually be a victim of having their account taken or stolen, so it’s really hard to determine without the assistance of a variety of authorities. Given that we have people using this software from sites around the world, is is a much more difficult and complicated matter than simply attacking; to me, that is not a choice I choose to make. Instead, I help moderate here, assist in the management of the anti spam stuff.

We don’t try to eliminate or wreck access, but sometimes even the captcha stuff gets good, helpful stuff. My theory on this (not properly substantiated with proper evidence) is that we tend to have Internet and IP problems during periods of heavy Internet site attacks. I’ve seen “hints” that this theory *could* have some substance. For a few hours yesterday we were NOT getting many attacks; the forum was working well during that time. The other day though there were heavy attacks; I noticed some slow site response and a few times we “seemed” to be offline.

Again, it’ll take better analytics to be positive of these things, but I’m trying to see if I can find reproducible patterns of forum behavior that match frequent site attacks and there does appear to be at least some correlation.

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Brian Masinick

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