Slow Forums: PF Under DDOS Attack

[Borek]

Every page opens in 10-30 seconds. I have 166 ms pings, so it is unlikely that the problem is on my side. Plus, at least once so far I have seen "MySQL server has gone away" error.

[turbo]

Yes, it is really bad tonight.

[JThompson]

Ditto for the slowness, but getting these errors:

Warning: array_slice() expects parameter 1 to be array, null given in [path]/includes/class_postbit.php(265) : eval()'d code on line 17

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in [path]/includes/class_postbit.php(265) : eval()'d code on line 18

Warning: array_slice() expects parameter 1 to be array, null given in [path]/includes/class_postbit.php(265) : eval()'d code on line 24

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in [path]/includes/class_postbit.php(265) : eval()'d code on line 25

[Pengwuino]

My computer is on fire.

[arildno]

The problem seems fixed now..

[Jonathan Scott]

Currently not only slow but keep getting messages about failing to connect to www.physicsforums.com at all. Also, PF chat has just dropped me and I can't get back in.

[Evo]

Greg is working on it.

[Greg Bernhardt]

we were attacked this morning/afternoon. the firewall is still catching up, so things might still be a little slow for a bit

[Pengwuino]

I miss chat.

[Pengwuino]

we were attacked this morning/afternoon. the firewall is still catching up, so things might still be a little slow for a bit

....... scientologists?

[Char. Limit]

....... scientologists?

Must be scientologists. Damn you L.Ron!!

[Studiot]

Solidarity!

[micromass]

....... scientologists?

Maybe young-earth creationists??

[Char. Limit]

Can we go back on the chat now?

[turbo]

Can we go back on the chat now?Nice to know....I don't want to stress Greg's servers, but chat would be nice.

[micromass]

Maybe char can set up a youtube social? We can chat there for a while until PF is fully recovered. And we get to listen to cool music (:

[Char. Limit]

Maybe char can set up a youtube social? We can chat there for a while until PF is fully recovered. And we get to listen to cool music (:

I suppose I could (http://tinyurl.com/4gr2yld) do that.

[Fredrik]

It takes several minutes to load a page now, if it works at all. I'm also seeing different fonts than usual, and no background color. (It's white instead of the usual blueish gray).

[Dickfore]

What's going on?! It began some time around Mar 5, 23:30 pm EST. I was online checking my replies and it became non-responsive.

[Greg Bernhardt]

What's going on?! It began some time around Mar 5, 23:30 pm EST. I was online checking my replies and it became non-responsive.

We've been hit all day in a DOS attack. Keep the updates coming. Things are running ok for me at the moment.

[lurky]

Not working well for me at all. Currently 9pm Eastern (March 6th).

[caffenta]

We've been hit all day in a DOS attack.
Maybe it's an angry kid who failed a high-school physics test and feels the need for misplaced revenge. :wink:

Speed varies a lot for me now. It's fast, then really slow, then moderately slow, then fast again.

[lisab]

we were attacked this morning/afternoon. the firewall is still catching up, so things might still be a little slow for a bit

'Nuf said. I'm activating the PF Sisterhood Militant Reserves.

Who was it, Greg? We'll kick their @ss!

[Greg Bernhardt]

the attack is still on going. i have contacted our data center to see if they can block the attack before it hits our server.

[Greg Bernhardt]

finally got the big boys to help out, let me know if there are changes in performance

[Grep]

Still slow as molasses in winter (in Canada) over here. Things load eventually, but it can take quite a few minutes to do so.

[lurky]

OK it's better now. I don't know if it's *fixed* but it's certainly better.

[pergradus]

the attack is still on going. i have contacted our data center to see if they can block the attack before it hits our server.

any idea who done it?

[fluidistic]

I'm having a hard time even posting here. Does not work well for me.

[ThomasT]

2:25 AM EST Southeast Florida. Still somewhat slow here. But functioning. I wonder if the 'big boys' have gotten to the point where they're charting the requests. If that's what's happening.

Ok, the last click to "Preview Post" was fairly quick.

Same with the next.

Now I'm submitting this reply.

[Andre]

Getting better now, but certainly not like it should. Pages load sometimes like normal, sometimes it looks like 10 seconds.

If you are under attack, then you have enemies, no?

[Jimmy Snyder]

It's ok now. I wasn't able to post at all last night. I wrote up what was easily the funniest post I ever made and submitted it, but nothing came of it and now I can't remember what I wrote.

[Pengwuino]

It's ok now. I wasn't able to post at all last night. I wrote up what was easily the funniest post I ever made and submitted it, but nothing came of it and now I can't remember what I wrote.

No one's buying it.

[caffenta]

No one's buying it.

Oh, I am. The exact thing that happened to Jimmy happened to me. What I wrote was win-the-war (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gpjk_MaCGM) type funny. And now it's gone.

Thanks for making us lose the war, hackers. I hope you're happy. :grumpy:

[jwxie]

its 6:15AM here in NY
the speed is getting better.

[rhody]

finally got the big boys to help out, let me know if there are changes in performance

Grrr.. I just lost this post after time out, hunt them Greg, show no mercy !!!

6:22 am EST.

Rhody... :grumpy:

[Andre]

Grrr.. I just lost this post after time out, hunt them Greg, show no mercy !!!

6:22 am EST.

Rhody... :grumpy:

It's a good habit to hit <ctrl A> and <crtl C> (windows) before clicking 'post reply'.

then when disaster strikes <ctrl V> does the trick, unstriking.

[lurky]

It's a good habit to hit <ctrl A> and <crtl C> (windows) before clicking 'post reply'.

then when disaster strikes <ctrl V> does the trick, unstriking.

Yeah I do that in a hurry if I notice site problems. I learned this the hard way from another forum, though.

Anyway, from my perspective, the site is not yet back to normal but it is functional.

[rhody]

Yeah I do that in a hurry if I notice site problems. I learned this the hard way from another forum, though.

Anyway, from my perspective, the site is not yet back to normal but it is functional.

When posting large posts, I go into gmail, and paste and save it as a draft. Have been burned many times before. I should have known better this am, but because response wasn't bad when getting in to post, I assumed, wrongly, that the problem was fixed.
Live and learn I guess.

Rhody...

[Abdul Quadeer]

PF has never been this much slow for me. Any page (of PF) rarely loads and it gets stuck on 'waiting for physicsforums.com'

[Andre]

A couple of hours ago it seemed much better, on and off that is. Apparantly the cyber attack has been resumed.

[Lancelot59]

I guess. It's horribly slow.

[G01]

Seriously though, what has this forum ever done to anybody?

[Greg Bernhardt]

Seriously though, what has this forum ever done to anybody?

if only it worked that way :) PF is big enough now that it's a target for any reason.

[caffenta]

Seriously though, what has this forum ever done to anybody?

Yeah, this is getting ridiculous. What kind of total loser would attack PF?

[caffenta]

if only it worked that way :) PF is big enough now that it's a target for any reason.

But what for? Why would a bunch of geeks attack a bunch of nerds? It’s like running a protection racket against bums. What are they gonna pay you with? Dirty socks? It makes no sense I tells ya. :tongue2:

[Greg Bernhardt]

This has escalated into a very serious attack. I appreciate everyone's patience!

[rhody]

This has escalated into a very serious attack. I appreciate everyone's patience!

Until the US gets SERIOUS about forming a task force (Homeland Secuirty, Dept of Commerce, etc...) to identify, and take out these miscreants, this will continue.

People will continue their bad behavior unabated, until a little emotion known as fear takes over. Fear from the example of the newly formed task forces ability to identify, arrest, detain, and deport said troublemakers. Once they (the bad guys) figure out the stakes just got exceedingly high, many, if not most will change their habits. What will remain are the insane, mentally ill and terrorist types. It is in every civilized country's interest to participate, and the US could lead the way. Enough ranting, there, I feel better, well, just a little.

Rhody...

[pergradus]

AHHHHHH this is crazy!!!!!!!!!

Are you sure its really a DOS and not some other server problem? How can you tell the difference?

[Greg Bernhardt]

Are you sure its really a DOS and not some other server problem? How can you tell the difference?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netstat

[ladykrimson]

Did you recently suspend or ban any users?

[Greg Bernhardt]

Did you recently suspend or ban any users?

we do every day

[ladykrimson]

we do every day

That might be a good place to begin looking for suspects.

[nismaratwork]

we were attacked this morning/afternoon. the firewall is still catching up, so things might still be a little slow for a bit

Was this an attack on PF itself, or its bandwidth provider? It seems... odd to attack a forum with a sledgehammer when a knife would do the job (nothing personal).

I'm familiar however, with being hosted by a company that makes the mistake of hosting some IRC channel or network, or a similar target; it gets DDOS'ed, and everyone hosted suffers.

@Ladykrimson: someone would need a botnet ready to do this, and be willing to use it up too. I've been pissed at PF before, but this is... stupid and bizarre.

edit: I'd add... it's not exactly effective, so maybe it's some exceptionally incompetant script kiddy? Who the hell can't DDOS a website anyway? I'm annoyed and disgusted.

[rhody]

For what it is worth:

Free DDoS Detection and Mitigation Tools for Linux Servers (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/free-ddos-detection-and-mitigation-tools-for-linux-servers.html)
By David Foreman
Published: 2/11/2011

From his supplied link:

David Foreman
University Of Pennsylvania graduate in 1985. Self employed real estate investor for 10 years. Now owner of Foreman and Pike Consulting, an Internet Marketing Firm.

Rhody...

P.S. Wouldn't it be cool if traceroute endroute of the responsible party(s) computer(s) were possible and to send them a little PF present of of our own.

[Greg Bernhardt]

Was this an attack on PF itself, or its bandwidth provider? It seems... odd to attack a forum with a sledgehammer when a knife would do the job (nothing personal).

I'm familiar however, with being hosted by a company that makes the mistake of hosting some IRC channel or network, or a similar target; it gets DDOS'ed, and everyone hosted suffers.


They are targeting PF's IP addy. We are on a dedicated server.

[Greg Bernhardt]

For what it is worth:

Free DDoS Detection and Mitigation Tools for Linux Servers (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/free-ddos-detection-and-mitigation-tools-for-linux-servers.html)


Thanks rhody. We are doing everything we can on the server and the firewall is blocking everything, but there will still be performance issues as the traffic although blocked, is still hitting the server. We need measures to be taken further up the network chain.

[nismaratwork]

They are targeting PF's IP addy. We are on a dedicated server.

Damn it... that's just stupid and cruel.

In my experience, there are limited ways to respond to a DOS attack:

1.) Report to authorities
2.) If you have a set number of attackers, block traffic from those subnets.
3.) Notify people and entities who's computers have been compromised
---- From here, this is speculation, hypothetical, and not an endorsement ----
4.) Compromise the botnet and sniff incoming packets directing the bots
-Backtrace... a putz like this isn't going to be on a decent networks of BNCs
-Leave a message, or disable controller
4.2) Compromise the botnet, use tools from packetstorm security, and turn it on the attacker
5.) Identify. Juno.
6.) If in a country outside of reasonable jurisdiction, identify critical resources affiliated with the botnet owner and attack them.
7.) Compromise the botnet, then shut it down without malicious means (change passwords, update, etc)
7.) Compromise with a worm.

[nismaratwork]

Oh, on the off chance :wink: that you don't take a militant route:

http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/93820

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/42289

The first I think especially useful for such a large community of cooperative people.

[mugaliens]

But what for? Why would a bunch of geeks attack a bunch of nerds? It’s like running a protection racket against bums. What are they gonna pay you with? Dirty socks? It makes no sense I tells ya. :tongue2:

Apparently, these particular geeks don't appreciate open platform discussions about some things.

Greg, have you contacted the FBI, or the RCMP? Don't know whether your server is in the U.S. or Canada. Regardless, any sustained attack like this violates some key U.S. laws of the kind the FBI takes interest. I'm also aware of certain edge (as in U.S. electronic border) tracking stations which record anything bound for any IP in the U.S. If it's routed, it can be tracked back to at least the station immediately prior. On the other hand, if it's a DDoS attack originating from virii/trojans/worms within the U.S., a call to Symantec and a couple other leading antivirus manufacturers might prove helpful. Might be helpful if it's a DDoS from the outside, as well.

[Greg Bernhardt]

Greg, have you contacted the FBI, or the RCMP?

I'm not sure they'd care. DoS attacks are quite common.

To make this day even worse, the FedEx man just put a package under my door handle effectively locking me in. I seriously can't get out of my apartment now. I may have to jump off my 2nd floor balcony.

[nismaratwork]

Apparently, these particular geeks don't appreciate open platform discussions about some things.

Greg, have you contacted the FBI, or the RCMP? Don't know whether your server is in the U.S. or Canada. Regardless, any sustained attack like this violates some key U.S. laws of the kind the FBI takes interest. I'm also aware of certain edge (as in U.S. electronic border) tracking stations which record anything bound for any IP in the U.S. If it's routed, it can be tracked back to at least the station immediately prior. On the other hand, if it's a DDoS attack originating from virii/trojans/worms within the U.S., a call to Symantec and a couple other leading antivirus manufacturers might prove helpful. Might be helpful if it's a DDoS from the outside, as well.

In my experience, if this is a sustained attack by a "pro", it's going to originate outside of the west, and beyond any kind of meaningful enforcement. Each bot might be anywhere, but not the controller of the network... still, contacting authorities is the right move... it just won't usually help.

I offer Dalnet as an example, and also as an indicator that this is just a script kiddy with only slightly more bots than brains.

[nismaratwork]

I'm not sure they'd care. DoS attacks are quite common.

To make this day even worse, the FedEx man just put a package under my door handle effectively locking me in. I seriously can't get out of my apartment now. I may have to jump off my 2nd floor balcony.

Jesus Greg... did you piss off a gypsy fortune teller or something?! :wink:

Um... and don't jump, just call a neighbor!

[vela]

Seriously though, what has this forum ever done to anybody?
Rumor has it it involves Julian Assange and Anonymous. :wink:

[mugaliens]

After using an exhaustive suite of computer forensics tools, I've discovered the cause of the slowdown...

It's all these posts in this thread!

[Evo]

I'm not sure they'd care. DoS attacks are quite common.

To make this day even worse, the FedEx man just put a package under my door handle effectively locking me in. I seriously can't get out of my apartment now. I may have to jump off my 2nd floor balcony.Call Fedex and have them send the guy back to untrap you.

[Studiot]

This has escalated into a very serious attack. I appreciate everyone's patience!

Patience and whatever support we can.

That probably means just sitting the misceants out - So be it.

In particular, Greg, don't take this personally, you are doing a great job with a great site.

[Grep]

It's a good habit to hit <ctrl A> and <crtl C> (windows) before clicking 'post reply'.

then when disaster strikes <ctrl V> does the trick, unstriking.
Or if you run Firefox, the "Lazarus" addon saves form information for you as you go so it can be recovered if something happens. I almost never need it, but when I do, it's nice to have. It's pretty annoying typing out a long post and losing it!

[lurky]

I'm being patient. At this point, though, I'm curious as all heck.

[nismaratwork]

Rumor has it it involves Julian Assange and Anonymous. :wink:

I wish... known targets make life so much easier, and hackers have rivels.

Whoever this is...well... I hope their personal information finds it way into the hands of unscrupulous Turkish or Romanian hackers.

[rhody]

I'm not sure they'd care. DoS attacks are quite common.

To make this day even worse, the FedEx man just put a package under my door handle effectively locking me in. I seriously can't get out of my apartment now. :cry: I may have to jump off my 2nd floor balcony.
Greg,

Sorry, but that is a funny, makes you wonder about the intellect of the FedEx Delivery person though. Good to see you are still keeping your wits and sense of humor, kick the damn door, (it will relieve stress from the DOS attack too, lol) the package may fly a bit, but so what, or call a neighbor close by.

Rhody...:redface:

[G01]

This is getting really annoying. However, as I am not trapped in my apartment, I guess things can get worse...(good luck with that Greg!)

[blakstealth]

Yeah, it's pretty bad. But I have faith that it'll get fixed.

[Greg Bernhardt]

Keep the updates coming. We are continually making adjustments.

[turbo]

I have been trying to swap PMs with another member. That is an exercise in futility. If you PM, save your message in NotePad or similar so you won't have to re-type it.

[turbo]

Plus getting tons of 101 errors when trying to view a thread, or view a new post, or search to see if new posts have been made in a thread.

[caffenta]

They are targeting PF's IP addy. We are on a dedicated server.

That's easy to fix:

1) Ask your ISP for a new static IP with no DNS listing
2) Send an e-mail to all unbanned members saying: "this is where the real party's at: (new IP address)
3) Leave a shell server on the normal PF address to make the hackers think that their hacking is actually working


Problem: solved :wink:
Apparently, these particular geeks don't appreciate open platform discussions about some things.
Interestingly (sort of), I did a little google search to see if there was some kind of loser movement going on to block PF and all I could find was about "censorship" on PF from some banned member *cough*crackpot*cough* but it was a few years old.

[nismaratwork]

The problem is that much like an assassin, you need to either buy off a DDOS'er, or better, neutralize them. One is just inviting blackmail, and the latter is illegal.

[caffenta]

The problem is that much like an assassin, you need to either buy off a DDOS'er, or better, neutralize them. One is just inviting blackmail, and the latter is illegal.

See my earlier post about the protection racket against bums. It makes no sense to target a place like this if the goal is blackmail. What are we going to pay them with? Gluons?

[turbo]

That's easy to fix:

1) Ask your ISP for a new static IP with no DNS listing
2) Send an e-mail to all unbanned members saying: "this is where the real party's at: (new IP address)
3) Leave a shell server on the normal PF address to make the hackers think that their hacking is actually working


Problem: solved :wink:

Interestingly (sort of), I did a little google search to see if there was some kind of loser movement going on to block PF and all I could find was about "censorship" on PF from some banned member *cough*crackpot*cough* but it was a few years old.Not "problem solved" but problem exacerbated. If Greg can't maintain a stable open site with which to interact with advertisers, there goes all the advertising income for views, click-throughs, etc.

[caffenta]

It wasn't a serious "solution". Just trying to keep people's spirits up in these difficult times, is all.

[nismaratwork]

See my earlier post about the protection racket against bums. It makes no sense to target a place like this if the goal is blackmail. What are we going to pay them with? Gluons?

Presumably privelages... that's the ususal goal beyond mere destruction of these kind of underdeveloped bridge troll-snot.

Your idea, while interesting, is so easily circumvented as to be impractical; the reality is that you have fragmentation of the community... again, see Dalnet.

Anyway, you could reverse what you said, or rather, invert it, and make a canary trap out of it, but that would take more work than just using a few illegal tools to remove the problem directly. A botnet is, by definition, not a secure entitiy; it can be subverted and turned.

[caffenta]

Anyway, you could reverse what you said, or rather, invert it, and make a canary trap out of it, but that would take more work than just using a few illegal tools to remove the problem directly. A botnet is, by definition, not a secure entitiy; it can be subverted and turned.

Trap, eh? It gives me an idea: the PF Sisterhood that lisab alluded to earlier in the thread.

It's very likely that the hacker is just some geek or a collection of geeks living in their parent's basement, yes? When confronted by girls, said geeks will either:

a) Run away in fear and leave us alone
b) Be attracted by the Sisterhood's beautiful Siren songs. Then we can trap them with some kind of confinement field. We know how to build a confinement field, right? We're physicists. Of course we know! And if the confinement field fails, the Sisterhood will just kick their sorry butts like lisab said. In fact, forget the confinement field altogether.

:smile:

[nismaratwork]

Trap, eh? It gives me an idea: the PF Sisterhood that lisab alluded to earlier in the thread.

It's very likely that the hacker is just some geek or a collection of geeks living in their parent's basement, yes? When confronted with girls, said geeks will either:

a) Run away in fear and leave us alone
b) Be attracted by the Sisterhood's beautiful siren songs. Then we can trap them with some kind of confinement field. We know how to build a confinement field, right? We're physicists. Of course we know! And if the confinement field fails, the Sisterhood will just kick their sorry butts like lisab said. In fact, forget the confinement field altogether.


:smile:

What if it IS a girl? :rofl:


Hmmm... actually... :bushing:

ANYWAY... Greg: You could just post all relevent IPs here... it's not traffic protected by your TOS, right? Share, and who knows, maybe some enterprising PF'ers read, and unconnected to that, things happen?

[Greg Bernhardt]

What if it IS a girl? :rofl:


Hmmm... actually... :bushing:

ANYWAY... Greg: You could just post all relevent IPs here... it's not traffic protected by your TOS, right? Share, and who knows, maybe some enterprising PF'ers read, and unconnected to that, things happen?

what if I slipped in your IP by mistake? :biggrin:

[turbo]

What if it IS a girl? :rofl:


Hmmm... actually... :bushing:

ANYWAY... Greg: You could just post all relevent IPs here... it's not traffic protected by your TOS, right? Share, and who knows, maybe some enterprising PF'ers read, and unconnected to that, things happen?My new neighbor is a networking geek with his own company. Maybe if some of us knew more about the DoS, we could help resolve it. I'd ask him - he and his new bride are smitten with this neighborhood and their new neighbors. Maybe I can get my wife to bribe him with some garlic/rosemary/sun-dried tomato infused artisan bread...

[nismaratwork]

what if I slipped in your IP by mistake? :biggrin:

Hmmmmm....

1.) Which one?
2.) I'd hate to lose a good BNC... routing traffic isn't as fun as it used to be.
3.) It would be worth the trade.

[caffenta]

What if it IS a girl? :rofl:
Have you ever met a girl that would waste her time on something as pointless as a DoS attack? I mean, honestly. Even the geekiest girl is nowhere near the geek level of a geeky guy. There's a geekness bandgap or something.

I stand by my hypothesis: the hacker is a guy in his parents' basement.

[nismaratwork]

Have you ever met a girl that would waste her time on something as pointless as a DoS attack? I mean, honestly. Even the geekiest girl is nowhere near the geek level of a geeky guy. There's a geekness bandgap or something.

I stand by my hypothesis: the hacker is a guy in his parents' basement.

Actually, yeah, I've met a few, but they are rare creatures, and very shy. You can coax them out with strawberries in a goblet with fresh whipped cream, but the slightest noise startles them.

:biggrin:

[caffenta]

Actually, yeah, I've met a few, but they are rare creatures, and very shy. You can coax them out with strawberries in a goblet with fresh whipped cream, but the slightest noise startles them.

:biggrin:
Well, if they are the culprit, there is an even easier solution: we just start typing in ALL CAPS. That'll freak them out. :tongue2:

[Pengwuino]

Is PF fixed?

FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT

[Greg Bernhardt]

we keep tweaking the firewall. keep giving me updates on site performance

[lisab]

we keep tweaking the firewall. keep giving me updates on site performance

Still slow loading pages. I get that "Oops, Chrome can't load the page" error about 10% of the time.

It seemed nearly normal about an hour ago, though.

[lisab]

we keep tweaking the firewall. keep giving me updates on site performance

Still slow loading pages. I get that "Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to www.physicsforums.com" error about 10% of the time.

It seemed nearly normal about an hour ago, though.

[Grep]

Still slow loading pages. I get that "Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to www.physicsforums.com" error about 10% of the time.

It seemed nearly normal about an hour ago, though.
Your double post says more about site performance than the contents of your post ever could. :wink:

[KrisOhn]

My new neighbor is a networking geek with his own company. Maybe if some of us knew more about the DoS, we could help resolve it.

A denial of service attack is a pretty low tier attack. It could by run by anyone, with a small amount of knowledge, and more easily run by a script kiddie (someone who runs scripts to hack). There are much more devastating hacks that can be done using subtler methods, but with that comes a large increase in the knowledge needed.

I think the best thing that we could probably do for now is honestly stay away from the forums for a bit, let them sort it out on their own without nonthreatening IP's requesting service also. (heh, this just happens to be the exact thing I'm not doing)

And Greg, just a couple minutes ago, when I came to this thread, the forums were working relatively smoothly, but now, they are back to loading slowly.

[nismaratwork]

Your double post says more about site performance than the contents of your post ever could. :wink:

:rofl:

This is true. It's slow, but you can tell this is not exactly a masterpiece DOS... I hate halfwits and hacks, but I'm glad in this case.

[lisab]

Your double post says more about site performance than the contents of your post ever could. :wink:

Yeah...sigh. Right after I posted...those...it got really bad, I had to bail out.

Hang in there, Greg...give em hell! The PF Sisterhood is itchin' for a fight now!

[OmCheeto]

Isn't there a law against this.... :grumpy:

[OmCheeto]

Where's Char....

He'd kick some Ninja butt......

3KVf49FkqHo

[caffenta]

Hang in there, Greg...give em hell! The PF Sisterhood is itchin' for a fight now!

Ooh, ooh! I want front-row seat tickets!

Let's get ready to ruuumble! :cool:

[Dickfore]

the my pf and get posts query is still excruciatingly slow for me.

[Greg Bernhardt]

How are things now?

[fluidistic]

How are things now?

Very bad for me. 8 times out of 10 I can't enter in PH and posting this message took me at least 15 minutes (I must press reload lots of times in a row just to enter the thread because I can't connect to PF).

[KrisOhn]

Edit: Weird double post... 0_o

And Greg, the forums are working ok now, definitely a lot slower than normal, but better than before.

[Dickfore]

still terrible.

[OmCheeto]

How are things now?

better.

What did you do?

Call Obama?

[OmCheeto]

Ahhh!

The connection has timed out
The server at www.physicsforums.com is taking too long to respond.

* The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few
moments.

* If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network
connection.

* If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure
that Firefox is permitted to access the Web.




Who the heck invented this darned Internet thingy...

Is this why they didn't let Gore be President?

[caffenta]

still terrible.

Ditto.

[KrisOhn]

working perfectly for me atm.

[lurky]

I get the occasional delay but it's (at the moment) MUCH better. I always got delays before anyway so it could be pretty much back to normal for me.

[Proton Soup]

things have gone from completely useless, to barely useful.

very slow but kind of working.

[lurky]

Nope, still happening, just maybe about half the time. I still get timeouts.

[hadsed]

Something funny happens for me. I can't go back to the forum I was in after reading a post, but if I click the physicsforums.com link, it takes me back pretty quick like normal. I'm not really sure what this means...

[Lancelot59]

Seems to be back up to speed now. Sorta.

[Andre]

Delays for me couple of seconds or better.

Edit: Currently normal speeds appears to be back. (8:09 UTC)

[caffenta]

Seems better now. Still acts funky on occasion.

EDIT: damn. looks like I broke the forums by saying that... :frown:

[Andre]

Meanwhile it looks from here that all is normal. Maybe the attackers are asleep?

[Q_Goest]

PF loads in about 1 to 3 minutes for me if it loads at all. Normally only takes a few seconds. Been this way now for the past 48 hours. :grumpy:

[Char. Limit]

Where's Char....

He'd kick some Ninja butt......

3KVf49FkqHo

Sorry about that. I've been too busy kicking IRL butt to kick online butt.

[nismaratwork]

This is a test, lets see how it goes

edit: Not greased lightning, but MUCH better, maybe even back to normal.

edit 2: MUCH faster, but I think you're still losing some packets.

[micromass]

It's a lot better for me! Although the forum doesn't load in about 5% of the times. But the speed is almost back to normal!

[nismaratwork]

It's a lot better for me! Although the forum doesn't load in about 5% of the times. But the speed is almost back to normal!

OK, definitely just packet-loss then.

[Andre]

Meanwhile, it slowed down considerably again at the moment

[micromass]

Yes, it's going in waves. 15 minutes ago it was very fast. Now it goes slow again...

[nismaratwork]

Meanwhile, it slowed down considerably again at the moment

It's fast, you just need to click a few times if it's slow the first couple of times. Packet loss = even if the overall speed is good, sometimes your "signals" are not getting through; they're being dropped.

[Greg Bernhardt]

the attack is still going strong. we have a couple more tricks up our sleeves, but the site won't be optimal until it stops completely.

[Mark44]

It's still very slow for me and pages sometimes fail to open - 7:30am PDT.

[nismaratwork]

the attack is still going strong. we have a couple more tricks up our sleeves, but the site won't be optimal until it stops completely.

If you've isolated even a few IPs that are part of a botnet... maybe you could post them here... not so that anyone would do anything active. Rather, we could configure our own firewalls to reject packets from that source, and then, if someone used that information unscrupulously... it's not on you.

"La shaiq' waqee mutlak bl kollin moumkin"(AC)

[Greg Bernhardt]

If you've isolated even a few IPs that are part of a botnet... maybe you could post them here... not so that anyone would do anything active. Rather, we could configure our own firewalls to reject packets from that source, and then, if someone used that information unscrupulously... it's not on you.

"La shaiq' waqee mutlak bl kollin moumkin"(AC)

They are spoofing thousands

[Greg Bernhardt]

We have just made another adjustment, please relay your experiences.

[turbo]

PF is very responsive right now.

[Evo]

I'm having no trouble right now.

[jtbell]

Definitely a lot better in the last few minutes. Feels like it's back to normal for me now.

[G01]

PF is very quick at the moment. Whatever you did, keep it up!

[dlgoff]

It's working very well now as opposed to about an hour ago.

[nismaratwork]

They are spoofing thousands

Of course they are, but in theory only one or two are needed for... um... "reasonable self defense".


Anyway, PF is now smooth as butter.

[Nabeshin]

Seems to be running normally for me for the first time since saturday!

[nismaratwork]

"Here we are again, happy as can be. All good friends in good company..." :wink:

[Evo]

Thank you Greg for all of your hard work!!

[Dembadon]

Good here, so far!

[G01]

Thank you Greg for all of your hard work!!

Yes indeed! Thanks Greg!

[nismaratwork]

If there's a more thankless job than spending your weekend, trapped by an idioit FedEx guy, fighting with (probably) one punk script-kiddy attacking a genuinely helpful site... I don't know what is.

Thanks Greg... have you gotten ANY sleep?

[Isaacsname]

DDOS on PF..? Who would do such an inane thing ?

OTOH, it's a relief to know that's what causing it, I thought it was something I said..

[DevilsAvocado]

Smooooth as a smoooothie!!! :!!)

Thanks Greg!!

================================================== ==========================================
C:\Windows\system32>tracert physicsforums.com

Tracing route to physicsforums.com [74.86.200.109]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 51 ms 47 ms 42 ms xxxxxxxxx.tbcn.telia.com [xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx]
3 30 ms 31 ms 31 ms s-b1-link.telia.net [80.91.246.230]
4 30 ms 30 ms 30 ms s-bb2-link.telia.net [80.91.254.110]
5 42 ms 41 ms 42 ms kbn-bb2-link.telia.net [213.248.65.166]
6 126 ms 127 ms 126 ms nyk-bb2-link.telia.net [80.91.254.91]
7 182 ms 182 ms 190 ms dls-bb1-link.telia.net [213.155.130.67]
8 179 ms 180 ms 181 ms te3-3.bbr02.eq01.dal01.networklayer.com [213.248.102.174]
9 * 178 ms 178 ms po6.dar02.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com [173.192.18.213]
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.

Trace complete.

C:\Windows\system32>time
The current time is: 16:22:45,29



================================================== ==========================================
C:\Windows\system32>tracert physicsforums.com

Tracing route to physicsforums.com [74.86.200.109]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 26 ms 26 ms 26 ms xxxxxxxxx.tbcn.telia.com [xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx]
3 30 ms 30 ms 31 ms s-b1-link.telia.net [80.91.246.230]
4 31 ms 31 ms 31 ms s-bb2-link.telia.net [80.91.246.150]
5 39 ms 39 ms 39 ms kbn-bb2-link.telia.net [80.91.246.109]
6 341 ms 176 ms 124 ms nyk-bb2-link.telia.net [80.91.247.119]
7 173 ms 173 ms 231 ms dls-bb1-link.telia.net [213.155.130.65]
8 170 ms 170 ms 170 ms te3-3.bbr02.eq01.dal01.networklayer.com [213.248.102.174]
9 172 ms 172 ms 172 ms po6.dar02.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com [173.192.18.213]
10 376 ms 200 ms 180 ms po2.fcr03.sr04.dal01.networklayer.com [66.228.118.190]
11 172 ms 179 ms 171 ms physicsforums.com [74.86.200.109]

Trace complete.

C:\Windows\system32>time
The current time is: 17:38:59,54



================================================== ==========================================
C:\Windows\system32>tracert physicsforums.com

Tracing route to physicsforums.com [74.86.200.109]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 2 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 26 ms 26 ms 26 ms xxxxxxxxx.tbcn.telia.com [xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx]
3 31 ms 31 ms 40 ms s-b1-link.telia.net [80.91.246.230]
4 31 ms 31 ms 31 ms s-bb2-link.telia.net [80.91.246.150]
5 46 ms 39 ms 39 ms kbn-bb2-link.telia.net [80.91.246.109]
6 124 ms 123 ms 123 ms nyk-bb2-link.telia.net [80.91.247.119]
7 168 ms 168 ms 168 ms dls-bb1-link.telia.net [213.155.130.67]
8 164 ms 164 ms 164 ms te3-3.bbr02.eq01.dal01.networklayer.com [213.248.102.174]
9 166 ms 166 ms 166 ms po6.dar02.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com [173.192.18.213]
10 171 ms 172 ms 171 ms po2.fcr03.sr04.dal01.networklayer.com [66.228.118.190]
11 178 ms 171 ms 172 ms physicsforums.com [74.86.200.109]

Trace complete.

C:\Windows\system32>time
The current time is: 17:57:13,80


================================================== ==========================================


It was tight at SoftLayer Technologies 66.228.118.190, right...?

[ladykrimson]

I am having no problems posting or accessing the boards.

Thank you for all of your hard work! I think I can safely speak for everyone when I say, "We appreciate it tremendously!"

[DevilsAvocado]

I think I can safely speak for everyone when I say, "We appreciate it tremendously!"

Yup, count me in!

... I’ve never been suicidal before ... but this was close ... PHEW!! :yuck: (:smile:)

[Lancelot59]

It's working now!

Who would wanna DDOS us? We're so nice!

[Q_Goest]

Looks good right now. Thanks Greg! :smile:

[lisab]

Group hug on Greg!

[DevilsAvocado]

... I thought it was something I said..

... how do you know it wasn’t?? :bugeye:


(:smile:)

[ThomasT]

1:23 PM EST Southeast Florida -- responding ok now. Thanks GB.

[ThomasT]

2:00 PM EST -- Been working normally fast for the past half hour.

[lurky]

Thank you for your efforts! It's working for me now too!

[nismaratwork]

"Mission Accomplished"

We have to reclaim that phrase! With "Winner" going down the toilet after all...

[Isaacsname]

... how do you know it wasn’t?? :bugeye:


(:smile:)

"...ulp "

[Dickfore]

It's working pretty good these past few hours.

[micromass]

All is going well for me. It seems we survived.

Thanks alot Greg for spending your entire weekends on this!!

[Char. Limit]

Can we start DDoSing the Creationist Scientologists now?

[micromass]

Can we start DDoSing the Creationist Scientologists now?

ROUND 2: PF fights back. :biggrin:

[nismaratwork]

Can we start DDoSing the Creationist Scientologists now?

If it were legal...

[Char. Limit]

If it were legal...

Was what they did legal? I say that two wrongs make a right (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_wrongs_make_a_right)!

:biggrin:

[nismaratwork]

Was what they did legal? I say that two wrongs make a right (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_wrongs_make_a_right)!

:biggrin:

Ahhh... sweet reciprocal justice... don't tempt me! :rofl:

[DevilsAvocado]

Can we start DDoSing the Creationist Scientologists now?

Yeah, we got to do(s) something. Now they’re saying DOS 6.2 is only a couple of days old, and blessed... I’m worried... they are quickly gathering more "evidence"...

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_V4NZsyhjeHs/TRu1d-uJreI/AAAAAAAAADU/0qNpUY1jYSw/s1600/5057_1070935702572_1501519283_185064_6805494_n.jpg

Good to see that Evo has taken the fight with these living dinosaurs!!
http://rationalwiki.org/w/images/d/db/Evowiki_logo.png (http://evolutionwiki.org/wiki/Main_Page)

:smile:

[DevilsAvocado]

"...ulp "

Cool. :cool: I just knew it; you are an expert on network layers, ULP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_layer_protocol)!

[Fredrik]

Any idea who was behind it?

[Char. Limit]

Any idea who was behind it?

Creationist Scientologists

Trust me. :biggrin:

[Greg Bernhardt]

Any idea who was behind it?

Why the past tense. It's still happening :) We'll never know.

[waht]

Geez, who the heck would DDOS forums about physics? The last couple of days was nightmare. But now PF loads fine, but with a slight lag.

[waht]

Maybe this is related or not but just yesterday the French finance ministry was hit:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-spectacular-cyber-french.html

The French finance ministry has shut down 10,000 computers after a "spectacular" cyber attack from hackers using Internet addresses in China, officials and reports said Monday.

[Mentallic]

Maybe this is related or not but just yesterday the French finance ministry was hit:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-spectacular-cyber-french.html

They must've been testing it on us first!

[nismaratwork]

Why the past tense. It's still happening :) We'll never know.

We could... you're just too darned moral to take those steps, or to take them by proxy. Respectable that, but.... frusterating.


@waht: "spectacular" usually means hundreds of thousands of bots in a network... if that had happened here, it wouldn't have been slow, it would have been inaccessible.

The thing that really pisses me off about DDOS, beyond the increase to the cost of throughput, is that it relies on exploiting random people to use as drones! What the hell is the point of compromising so many computers, then abuse their connection... which also drives prices up.

Botnets of all kinds are therefore hunted extensively, but are by nature elusive... they are a very corrosive force on the net. Sadly, the best ways to attack them, are also illegal and immoral.

[Char. Limit]

We could... you're just too darned moral to take those steps, or to take them by proxy. Respectable that, but.... frusterating.


@waht: "spectacular" usually means hundreds of thousands of bots in a network... if that had happened here, it wouldn't have been slow, it would have been inaccessible.

The thing that really pisses me off about DDOS, beyond the increase to the cost of throughput, is that it relies on exploiting random people to use as drones! What the hell is the point of compromising so many computers, then abuse their connection... which also drives prices up.

Botnets of all kinds are therefore hunted extensively, but are by nature elusive... they are a very corrosive force on the net. Sadly, the best ways to attack them, are also illegal and immoral.

Hey, botnets can be used for good. I offer up as an example the botnets that DDoS'd Ben Ali's websites in Tunisia, showing internet support for the revolutionaries. Tunisian revolutionaries actually credited Anonymous for helping them.

[nismaratwork]

Hey, botnets can be used for good. I offer up as an example the botnets that DDoS'd Ben Ali's websites in Tunisia, showing internet support for the revolutionaries. Tunisian revolutionaries actually credited Anonymous for helping them.

They can subverted for good purposes, but that's still an expoloitation of other computers, and most script kiddies leave computers highly vulnerable as a result of their "exploits".

Hacktivism is good, but not at the expense of bystanders.

[Proton Soup]

maybe that kid asking for poisons didn't like the DHMO answer

[nismaratwork]

maybe that kid asking for poisons didn't like the DHMO answer

Next time we'll tell him to mix the bleach with ammonia and take deep breaths... :grumpy:

[FtlIsAwesome]

PF was cyber attacked!?
I should pay more attention to FF&A.
I was up at around 1 AM when it started. I at first I assumed it was backup or maintenance.

But I've scared them away with my post in Lame Jokes (http://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=3175874&postcount=1090). :biggrin:

[Fredrik]

Why the past tense. It's still happening :) We'll never know.
Bobc2's philosophy of physics professor told him (link (http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=3175755)) that the room down the hall doesn't exist until he walks over there and opens the door, and since I trust everything that philosophers say, even when they contradict other philosophers, I say that this DDOS attack doesn't exist anymore.

[caffenta]

maybe that kid asking for poisons didn't like the DHMO answer
Maybe he was on a IUPAC standards committee and simply didn't like the incorrect nomenclature. Do any of the DoS packets come from iupac.org?

We will smite PF!

:tongue2:

[DevilsAvocado]

... What the hell is the point of compromising so many computers, then abuse their connection...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/Botnet.svg/500px-Botnet.svg.png

[DevilsAvocado]

But I've scared them away with my post in Lame Jokes (http://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=3175874&postcount=1090). :biggrin:

MY botnet is ready for launch! :grumpy:

[Char. Limit]

The obvious answer as to "why it was done": for the lulz.

[Insanity]

currently having issues reaching PF, only via phone ATM.

[FtlIsAwesome]

MY botnet is ready for launch! :grumpy:
http://www.newsupdatez.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Space-Shuttle-Launch.jpg

[nismaratwork]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/Botnet.svg/500px-Botnet.svg.png

Yeah, that and piracy, but it doesn't have to make me happy... :grumpy:

[fluidistic]

Not perfect but definitely much, much better than 2 days ago. Enough to post without difficulties.

[Jiggy-Ninja]

I'm still occasionally getting time outs in Chrome, but it fixes after a couple refreshes. Doesn't seem like other sites have the same problem. Is the attack still going on?

It could just be my internet connection. It can be dodgy at some pretty random times. (Stupid AT&T)

[Greg Bernhardt]

Is the attack still going on?


Yes the attack is still going on.

[Jiggy-Ninja]

Yes the attack is still going on.
DAMN, how long is that now? The OP is from the 6th, has it really been almost a week of continuous DoS? Or have there been breaks at all there?

[rhody]

Yes the attack is still going on.

Greg,

That may be true, but you have essentially rendered them sort of neutered. Too bad you could not retaliate, legally and technologically of course, my PM ears are open to any news.

Rhody... :grumpy: :mad: :wink:

P.S. Attacks like this remind me why I hate bullies, I had a few run ins with them as a kid and stood up to each one, once I did, and they suffered a bit of humiliation of their own, they stopped each and every time. Enough said.

[Greg Bernhardt]

Greg,

That may be true, but you have essentially rendered them sort of neutered. Too bad you could not retaliate, legally and technologically of course, my PM ears are open to any news.

Rhody... :grumpy: :mad: :wink:

I am sending in my army of laser equipped squirrels! :D

[rhody]

I am sending in my army of laser equipped squirrels! :D

Show them no mercy Greg !! Have the squirrels set them on fire !!!

Rhody... feels better now... NOT...

[Insanity]

assuming the ongoing attack is prohibiting me from reaching PF on my PC?

[nismaratwork]

DAMN, how long is that now? The OP is from the 6th, has it really been almost a week of continuous DoS? Or have there been breaks at all there?

Botnets like this tend to be set on one course, then abandoned. The attack attenuates as users of the 'zombie' computers realize that something is wrong, and eventually dies off.

If it's increasing, then there's someone who really wants to be caught, and their absolute lack of effectiveness genuinely offends me.

If you attack a site, especially a forum... DDOS?!?! :grumpy: Its so cheap... easy; I'm disgusted. This may be the reason that I so dearly want Greg to share info so that... stuff... and stuff.

Forget lasers, send in the PF stormtroopers... I have a favor from a canadian pal I'd be willing to cash in for this.

[Jiggy-Ninja]

I am sending in my army of laser equipped squirrels! :D
Squirrels suck. Use sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to the heads.

And if the sharks can't reach, send Miss Friday (http://www.onepiecewallpaper.net/wallpaper/Miss-Friday-Unluckies/) after them.

[Jiggy-Ninja]

Botnets like this tend to be set on one course, then abandoned. The attack attenuates as users of the 'zombie' computers realize that something is wrong, and eventually dies off.

If it's increasing, then there's someone who really wants to be caught, and their absolute lack of effectiveness genuinely offends me.

If you attack a site, especially a forum... DDOS?!?! :grumpy: Its so cheap... easy; I'm disgusted. This may be the reason that I so dearly want Greg to share info so that... stuff... and stuff.

Forget lasers, send in the PF stormtroopers... I have a favor from a canadian pal I'd be willing to cash in for this.
So it's the script kiddie equivalent of ringing the doorbell and running away? Except it's more like gluing the doorbell down so the owner has to live with the constant AAAAAAAAAAAAA buzzing in their heads until it gets fixed.

Haven't you watched Star Wars? Stormtroopers can't hit ANYTHING.

Edit: Oops, double post. I'm used to a different forum that auto-merges. Sorry

[nismaratwork]

So it's the script kiddie equivalent of ringing the doorbell and running away? Except it's more like gluing the doorbell down so the owner has to live with the constant AAAAAAAAAAAAA buzzing in their heads until it gets fixed.

Got it in one JN! Another example I remember was: Imagine that one clown tries to get into your house...not a problem, turn him away. Now imagine a thousand clowns are indipendantly trying to get into your houe, through the windows, doors, floorboards... it's not skill, it's not even effective... it's brute force.

Script Kiddies... the former bane of my existence...

Haven't you watched Star Wars? Stormtroopers can't hit ANYTHING.

Edit: Oops, double post. I'm used to a different forum that auto-merges. Sorry

Heh... good point about the Stormtroopers!

[Jiggy-Ninja]

Got it in one JN! Another example I remember was: Imagine that one clown tries to get into your house...not a problem, turn him away. Now imagine a thousand clowns are indipendantly trying to get into your houe, through the windows, doors, floorboards... it's not skill, it's not even effective... it's brute force.

Script Kiddies... the former bane of my existence...
I'm usually pretty good at that sort of thing. Analogy and visualization (and always keeping in mind the limits of those) have been my main modes of thinking for years.

Clown analogy doesn't seems right. A DoS attack isn't trying to gain entry, it's just trying to overload the listener. It'd be more like a celebrity getting mobbed by 10,000 people all asking for an autograph constantly. Wouldn't be able to get anything done in a state like that.

Now I'm curious. Why "former"? Did you get out of network administration, get promoted so you no longer have to deal with that stuff, or what?

Why do you say they aren't effective? It may not be the most efficient or elegant means of attack, but this thread alone should be proof that it's effective at something.

[nismaratwork]

I'm usually pretty good at that sort of thing. Analogy and visualization (and always keeping in mind the limits of those) have been my main modes of thinking for years.

Clown analogy doesn't seems right. A DoS attack isn't trying to gain entry, it's just trying to overload the listener. It'd be more like a celebrity getting mobbed by 10,000 people all asking for an autograph constantly. Wouldn't be able to get anything done in a state like that.

Now I'm curious. Why "former"? Did you get out of network administration, get promoted so you no longer have to deal with that stuff, or what?

The analogy works either way; the idea is to demonstrate the notion of overwhelming force; your's is better in explaining the extreme noise-signal effect caused by a DDOS. Still, don't underestimate them, just because Greg knows his stuff, doesn't mean some of those packets aren't malicious beyond "noise".

As for former, yet, I was in it and I left because of the rise of the script-kiddy. I saw the landscape change from a few people using what they could, exploiting large companies (not right, but I was young) and the like. That turned into getting a few computers to become scanners of multiple subnets to find new computers... rinse, repeat. Money started to come into the equation, and that was never something I wanted to be a part of.

Dalnet falling to some anonymous Turkish botnet was nearly the final straw, and once I'd reformed the people I cared about in a new network, I handed over the reigns to a friend and never looked back.

Why do you say they aren't effective? It may not be the most efficient or elegant means of attack, but this thread alone should be proof that it's effective at something.

Oh, they can be effective, but you need to match your attack to your target! A forum is a very soft target, with new ways to undermine them available to those who want them... this is crude. Moreover, the site remained in operation, even if slowed, and proper DDOS doesn't allow that.

This has all of the hallmarks of an angry child abusing random people and companies, driving up the cost of hosting and throughput, and not even achieving the desired goal.

Either: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Glider.svg/140px-Glider.svg.png

...Or buzz off and get a life. I may not like the former much of the time, but at least I understand and appreciate result. A script kiddy is like a rat, and only thrives because of numbers and the use of resources they are only able to gather because of the largesses of others.

[Jiggy-Ninja]

The analogy works either way; the idea is to demonstrate the notion of overwhelming force; your's is better in explaining the extreme noise-signal effect caused by a DDOS. Still, don't underestimate them, just because Greg knows his stuff, doesn't mean some of those packets aren't malicious beyond "noise".
Those malicious packets would technically be considered a separate kind of attack though, wouldn't they? The DDoS in that case would just be a diversion or something to make the system more vulnerable.
Oh, they can be effective, but you need to match your attack to your target! A forum is a very soft target, with new ways to undermine them available to those who want them... this is crude. Moreover, the site remained in operation, even if slowed, and proper DDOS doesn't allow that.
And now my devilish curiosity is curious about those "ways" of which you speak, though I'd better stop, lest I fall under suspicion for future attacks. :uhh:
This has all of the hallmarks of an angry child abusing random people and companies, driving up the cost of hosting and throughput, and not even achieving the desired goal.
Either that, or something who just doesn't give a damn and just likes to cause grief1.
Either: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Glider.svg/140px-Glider.svg.png

...Or buzz off and get a life. I may not like the former much of the time, but at least I understand and appreciate result. A script kiddy is like a rat, and only thrives because of numbers and the use of resources they are only able to gather because of the largesses of others.
That image is going to need a bit of explaining.

And yeah, script kiddies suck. Every game's got those idiots who think they're badass hackers just because they can use a Gameshark or something like that, when they don't even know the first bit about how those things even work.

1 Like that stupid "I before E / except after C / or when sounding like A / as in 'neighbor' and 'weigh'" rule which DOESN'T COVER "WEIRD"! I hate that word! Stupid English.

[nismaratwork]

Those malicious packets would technically be considered a separate kind of attack though, wouldn't they? The DDoS in that case would just be a diversion or something to make the system more vulnerable.

And now my devilish curiosity is curious about those "ways" of which you speak, though I'd better stop, lest I fall under suspicion for future attacks. :uhh:

Heh... quick thinker aren't you? Yes, it can be a seperate attack, often to initiate a stack overflow, and allow malicious code to run on. There are other ways, but you'll have to satisfy your devilish curiosity without me, when I left this behind, I really left it behind.


Either that, or something who just doesn't give a damn and just likes to cause grief1.

BINGO! That is the essence of the scrit kiddy... a lack of foresight and empathy, but quick on trigger as though this was nothing. It's absurd behaviour, but not uncommon.

That image is going to need a bit of explaining.

Look up, "Glider" and "Universal Hacker Logo" on google, and you'll learn all that you need, and some interesting bits besides that have nothin to do with hacking or griefing.

And yeah, script kiddies suck. Every game's got those idiots who think they're badass hackers just because they can use a Gameshark or something like that, when they don't even know the first bit about how those things even work.

Amen.

1 Like that stupid "I before E / except after C / or when sounding like A / as in 'neighbor' and 'weigh'" rule which DOESN'T COVER "WEIRD"! I hate that word! Stupid English.

Yep, English is an insane language... I love it at least in part for its absurdist turns. :biggrin:

[dlgoff]

assuming the ongoing attack is prohibiting me from reaching PF on my PC?
I wish I could help you with this. Hopefully the attack will end and you will be able to get back on with your PC.

[Evo]

I wish I could help you with this. Hopefully the attack will end and you will be able to get back on with your PC.Perhaps his PC is a zombie involved in the attack and he's being blocked.

[nismaratwork]

Perhaps his PC is a zombie involved in the attack and he's being blocked.

Hmmm... if Greg had to block subnets, it doesn't even have to his IP or computer, just a general region...

[Insanity]

i considered that, i could get here via a proxy, but couldn't log on.

i use two AV and spyware software, i will do a complete updated scan with them.

[dlgoff]

Perhaps his PC is a zombie involved in the attack and he's being blocked.
Wow. I know nothing about this kind of thing. I went with other members advice to use avast.

[jhae2.718]

Linux :wink:

I wonder how long the attacks will continue. I was rather surprised (and extremely annoyed!) when the attack started on Sunday.

I've always wanted a firewall that traces incoming attacks and launches retaliatory strikes (launch the alert Vipers!), but I guess that would not be a good thing (http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0212.html#1).

Regarding the image, for those not familiar with Conway's Game of Life: http://www.conwaylife.com/wiki/index.php?title=Glider

Be careful, there are people here at Physics Forums who know how to construct glider guns (http://www.conwaylife.com/wiki/index.php?title=Glider_gun)! (I spent far too much time using simulations of cellular automata in high school...)

[nismaratwork]

Linux :wink:

I wonder how long the attacks will continue. I was rather surprised (and extremely annoyed!) when the attack started on Sunday.

I've always wanted a firewall that traces incoming attacks and launches retaliatory strikes (launch the alert Vipers!), but I guess that would not be a good thing (http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0212.html#1).

Regarding the image, for those not familiar with Conway's Game of Life: http://www.conwaylife.com/wiki/index.php?title=Glider

Be careful, there are people here at Physics Forums who know how to construct glider guns (http://www.conwaylife.com/wiki/index.php?title=Glider_gun)! (I spent far too much time using simulations of cellular automata in high school...)

Don't shoot! I'm not armed with self-replicating gliders!

@dlgoff: Given what you just said, Avast! is a very good choice... are you using their firewall as well?

[dlgoff]

@dlgoff: Given what you just said, Avast! is a very good choice... are you using their firewall as well?
Yes.

They seem to be on top of things when it comes to getting current definitions updates. i.e. Sometimes several updates in one day.

[nismaratwork]

Yes.

They seem to be on top of things when it comes to getting current definitions updates. i.e. Sometimes several updates in one day.

Good, then you're in fine shape, and I'm glad to hear it. Remember, your AV program is only as good as its last update.

[Insanity]

any suggestions on seeing if you are hijacked? willing to see if thats the case, might sense to target frequent users. don't know, just saying.

[nismaratwork]

any suggestions on seeing if you are hijacked? willing to see if thats the case, might sense to target frequent users. don't know, just saying.

I'd recommend a firewall... Commodo might suit you well, but an AV scan should do it Insanity.

Most of these are not that cleverly hidden, they just dig out a bit of your HD, and run a process in the background. Without going into clinical detail, a firewall that monitors incoming AND outgoing activity is good, as well as a process monitor.

Still, if you've done a full boot scan, and HD/other scan... and it's clean, you're probably clean.

Most people notice that they connection becomes sluggish if they're sending DOS packets, unless the script kiddy had the wit to limit what each zombie sends at any given time.

[Insanity]

connection does not seem slow to anu other sites. still doing scans on both PCs. probably take the night.

[nismaratwork]

connection does not seem slow to anu other sites. still doing scans on both PCs. probably take the night.

It's my educated guess, wild though it may be, that your problems with PF are not the result of your computer being infected. Still, it never hurts to scan, and you may find some malware that in some odd way is giving you 'agita'.

Let us know what the results are, would you? I'd like to help you if at all possible, and if there is a need.

[Insanity]

Well, the scan on my laptop were clean, still doing virus scan on desktop, but probably unneeded as just now I am able to get to PF on my laptop, which is my primary PC.

I couldn't get here on either before. Not sure what the issue was, but subscribing to the belief it wasn't me.

Attacks still ongoing by chance?

[nismaratwork]

Well, the scan on my laptop were clean, still doing virus scan on desktop, but probably unneeded as just now I am able to get to PF on my laptop, which is my primary PC.

I couldn't get here on either before. Not sure what the issue was, but subscribing to the belief it wasn't me.

Attacks still ongoing by chance?

I'm glad your scan was clean, always a good thing. I'd assume the attack is ongoing, but still petering out as per my description earlier. Greg would know however, I'm just guessing... I doubt the attack has been renewed, and if it has then Greg should be laughing so hard at blocking it that he might not be able to type.

[Insanity]

I was doubtful I'd have anything, software is always doing real-time check against any downloads and sites, but never know. Anywho, glad I can get here now, easier to type on keyboard vs. tapping on phone.

[dlgoff]

I was doubtful I'd have anything, software is always doing real-time check against any downloads and sites, but never know. Anywho, glad I can get here now, easier to type on keyboard vs. tapping on phone.
Good news! Welcome back to using a real keyboard.

[nismaratwork]

Good news! Welcome back to using a real keyboard.

Oh man... I hear you... how the hell do people text so MUCH? I'm not particularly old, but give me a damned keyboard PLEASE...

[dlgoff]

Oh man... I hear you... how the hell do people text so MUCH? I'm not particularly old, but give me a damned keyboard PLEASE...
Also; give me a real mouse anytime over those laptop touch thingies.

[nismaratwork]

Also; give me a real mouse anytime over those laptop touch thingies.

YES!!! Oh.. I LOATE touchpad 'mouses'... bluetooth mice are the best thing to happen to laptops since batteries that last for more than picosecond.

[Insanity]

I agree, bluetooth mouse, real keyboard, I even have an USB numpad for when punching a bunch of numbers.

[nismaratwork]

I agree, bluetooth mouse, real keyboard, I even have an USB numpad for when punching a bunch of numbers.

Amen brother! :wink:

I still have a fold-out keyboard for my phone... and damn the stares. :biggrin:

[Insanity]

ever seen something like this?


http://www.virtual-laser-keyboard.com/
http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=6766


still relatively new I think, but innovative for sure.

[Lancelot59]

ever seen something like this?


http://www.virtual-laser-keyboard.com/
http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=6766


still relatively new I think, but innovative for sure.

I saw a laser keyboard for sale on thinkgeek. I'm not sure how effective it would be though.

[nismaratwork]

I saw a laser keyboard for sale on thinkgeek. I'm not sure how effective it would be though.

It hurts like a bastard when you forget that you're slapping fingers on a table...

[FtlIsAwesome]

Yep, I saw it on thinkgeek.

[Jiggy-Ninja]

Oh man... I hear you... how the hell do people text so MUCH? I'm not particularly old, but give me a damned keyboard PLEASE...
A lot of phones now do have keyboards. The stupid buttons are just a bit too small for my giant hands though.

[nismaratwork]

A lot of phones now do have keyboards. The stupid buttons are just a bit too small for my giant hands though.

I know... I'm not sure what elfin hand those things are made for, but not your's or mine it seems! My texts sound like I'm trying to type with 'my left foot'. :tongue:


Oh, except Daniel Day Lewis actually managed the trick of it, and it seems I never will. Voice input please...

[jhae2.718]

Is the DDOS still ongoing?

[Greg Bernhardt]

Is the DDOS still ongoing?

yes it is

[dlgoff]

yes it is
Things seem to be running okay here. I hope you will continue to stay on top of it.

Thanks Greg

[OmCheeto]

yes it is

:surprised

It's not me is it?

I thought macs where immune to such things.

hmm...

first day I brought my macbook out to play, a hacker friend grabbed it away from me and said; "Oh! a mac. Let me check something. 'clickity clickity clickity'. Ok Om, everything is fine, continue on with your life, as if nothing is being monitored...... "

:bugeye:

I'm not a zombie am I?

He does have several high powered servers running in the heart of Montana, from what he's claimed.

[nismaratwork]

:surprised

It's not me is it?

I thought macs where immune to such things.

hmm...

first day I brought my macbook out to play, a hacker friend grabbed it away from me and said; "Oh! a mac. Let me check something. 'clickity clickity clickity'. Ok Om, everything is fine, continue on with your life, as if nothing is being monitored...... "

:bugeye:

I'm not a zombie am I?

He does have several high powered servers running in the heart of Montana, from what he's claimed.

Do you crave brains? :wink:

@Greg: You've done this... you know you have... I've LITERALLY been this guy.

http://nctritech.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/tcpip_punch1.jpg

I think for DDOS that should be a kick in the grapes, but I'm a known 'harsh' element.

[jhae2.718]

http://nctritech.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/tcpip_punch1.jpg


I like that a lot.

[FtlIsAwesome]

The site was sluggish just a minute ago for me. Something to do with the DDoS attack?

[nismaratwork]

The site was sluggish just a minute ago for me. Something to do with the DDoS attack?

Sorry, that was me... I um... pooped on your modem.

[FtlIsAwesome]

What!?!?

[nismaratwork]

What!?!?

Sorry, did I type that out loud? :biggrin:

Just kidding man, I'm having no trouble, if the DDOS is ongoing, Greg is owning it.

[fluidistic]

Still slow for me for some pages.

[nismaratwork]

Still slow for me for some pages.

Really? Smooth as silk here...


I can't imagine that even a script kiddy would be so stupid to keep renewing a failed DDOS.

Then again, stupidity is a many splendored thing...

[Char. Limit]

Really? Smooth as silk here...


I can't imagine that even a script kiddy would be so stupid to keep renewing a failed DDOS.

Then again, stupidity is a many splendored thing...

Smooth here too. And I'm using a dorm connection, so smoothness is exceptional.

[nismaratwork]

Smooth here too. And I'm using a dorm connection, so smoothness is exceptional.

OK, we've exceeded our limit for "smooth" in two posts. :tongue:

Still, I remember dorm connections... always clogged when you'd expect them to be. :grumpy:

[dlgoff]

... I remember dorm connections... always clogged when you'd expect them to be. :grumpy:

At least you didn't have to punch cards to get a connection like I had to. :frown:

[FtlIsAwesome]

I can't imagine that even a script kiddy would be so stupid to keep renewing a failed DDOS.
I can.


Then again, stupidity is a many splendored thing...
That's a signature. :biggrin:

[nismaratwork]

At least you didn't have to punch cards to get a connection like I had to. :frown:

Heh, this is true, I had floppy floppy discs, and I remember no HD, but punch-cards are mercifully not in my retinue. My uncle however recounted a time when he dropped a stack... I gather it's not a desireable outcome.

@Fit: Yeah, I guess I can too... *sigh*

[AlephZero]

Heh, this is true, I had floppy floppy discs, and I remember no HD, but punch-cards are mercifully not in my retinue. My uncle however recounted a time when he dropped a stack... I gather it's not a desireable outcome.


Yeah, but it was a better excuse that "my dog ate my homework".

Believe it or not, we used to ship computer programs to customers around the world by courier as packs of punched cards back in the 1970s. It was much more reliable than messing about with 12 inch diameter reels of magnetic tape.

[Jonathan Scott]

Heh, this is true, I had floppy floppy discs, and I remember no HD, but punch-cards are mercifully not in my retinue. My uncle however recounted a time when he dropped a stack... I gather it's not a desireable outcome.


At least if you drop a stack you know you have a problem.

When I was writing a program directly on cards in about 1973 I didn't realize that the IBM card reader had a a clever trick by which it would occasionally switch two cards round in the output stack, so I'd correct some problem elsewhere and gain a new one, and I couldn't at first get anyone to believe me that my deck had come back out of sequence. By staring at it very hard we eventually worked out that if the card happened to be slightly curved backwards, then sometimes one would catch on the edge of a clip on the way out of the punch and bounce back in such a way that the next card would overtake it. (The out of sequence card also had a slightly flattened edge at the level of the clip which confirmed it). Easily fixed by moving the clip once we knew, just in time to prevent a nervous breakdown.

We used the trick of drawing sloping pencil lines on the side of the card deck to make it easy to spot cards out of sequence and even to help put them back in sequence after dropping them.

[nismaratwork]

At least if you drop a stack you know you have a problem.

When I was writing a program directly on cards in about 1973 I didn't realize that the IBM card reader had a a clever trick by which it would occasionally switch two cards round in the output stack, so I'd correct some problem elsewhere and gain a new one, and I couldn't at first get anyone to believe me that my deck had come back out of sequence. By staring at it very hard we eventually worked out that if the card happened to be slightly curved backwards, then sometimes one would catch on the edge of a clip on the way out of the punch and bounce back in such a way that the next card would overtake it. (The out of sequence card also had a slightly flattened edge at the level of the clip which confirmed it). Easily fixed by moving the clip once we knew, just in time to prevent a nervous breakdown.

We used the trick of drawing sloping pencil lines on the side of the card deck to make it easy to spot cards out of sequence and even to help put them back in sequence after dropping them.

Wow, now THAT is true hacking. What a miserable experience it sounds like, but thanks for helping to get us *waves hands around PF* here.

[Borek]

We used the trick of drawing sloping pencil lines on the side of the card deck to make it easy to spot cards out of sequence and even to help put them back in sequence after dropping them.

Couldn't you tell me that 30 years ago :grumpy:

[turbo]

We used the trick of drawing sloping pencil lines on the side of the card deck to make it easy to spot cards out of sequence and even to help put them back in sequence after dropping them.That's the only reliable way of protecting your hours and hours of coding and punching. It was important to get it right the first time, because the university's computer was VERY busy night and day, and homework assignments did not get priority. Re-do's could be hectic, especially if the instructors put you on short deadlines.

[dlgoff]

We used the trick of drawing sloping pencil lines on the side of the card deck to make it easy to spot cards out of sequence and even to help put them back in sequence after dropping them.

Back in those early days, I had an EE course where the instructor passed out of box of IBM punch cards (100s of cards/box) to each student. Each box contained a working program, without deck markings, that had been purposely randomized. The whole class was based on getting them back in order so the program would run without errors. :mad:

[AlephZero]

Back in those early days, I had an EE course where the instructor passed out of box of IBM punch cards (100s of cards/box) to each student. Each box contained a working program, without deck markings, that had been purposely randomized. The whole class was based on getting them back in order so the program would run without errors. :mad:

Did you get extra credit for making them into a program that did something more interesting than the instructor's?

We all used the "diagonal lines in felt tip pen" trick, but we also took the boring step of getting the computer to punch a new deck of cards with sequence numbers on them. That took all the fun out of accidentally knocking a tray of 2000 cards off somebody's desk onto the floor.

"Real programmers don't need abstract concepts to get their jobs done: they are perfectly happy with a keypunch, a FORTRAN IV compiler, and a beer."
http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~elf/hack/realmen.html

[jhae2.718]

"Real programmers don't need abstract concepts to get their jobs done: they are perfectly happy with a keypunch, a FORTRAN IV compiler, and a beer."
http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~elf/hack/realmen.html

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/mel.html

[DaveC426913]

We used the trick of drawing sloping pencil lines on the side of the card deck to make it easy to spot cards out of sequence and even to help put them back in sequence after dropping them.
Ah, that takes me back.

So does slipping a 3 card loop randomly into the class stack:


while (true) do
print "Jim is a dork!"
enddo


Good times. Good times.

[jtbell]

We used the trick of drawing sloping pencil lines on the side of the card deck to make it easy to spot cards out of sequence and even to help put them back in sequence after dropping them.

Didn't anyone put sequence numbers in the last eight columns of the cards? That's why Fortran compilers only used columns 1-72, after all. The computer lab where I learned to program had a card-sorting machine which you could use to re-sort a deck that had gotten out of order, provided of course that the cards had those sequence numbers on them.

[nismaratwork]

Didn't anyone put sequence numbers in the last eight columns of the cards? That's why Fortran compilers only used columns 1-72, after all. The computer lab where I learned to program had a card-sorting machine which you could use to re-sort a deck that had gotten out of order, provided of course that the cards had those sequence numbers on them.

Ooooooh... someone had it good. :wink:

[jtbell]

Good times. Good times.

Snoopy calendars and Playboy Playmates in ASCII art on the line printers. Those were the days. :!!)

[nismaratwork]

Snoopy calendars and Playboy Playmates in ASCII art on the line printers. Those were the days. :!!)

………………..,-~*’`¯lllllll`*~,
…………..,-~*`lllllllllllllllllllllllllll¯`*-,
………,-~*llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll*-,
……,-*lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll lllll.\
….;*`lllllllllllllllllllllllllll,-~*~-,llllllllllllllllllll\
…..\lllllllllllllllllllllllllll/………\;;;;llllllllllll,-`~-,
…...\lllllllllllllllllllll,-*………..`~-~-,…(.(¯`*,`,
…….\llllllllllll,-~*…………………)_-\..*`*;..)
……..\,-*`¯,*`)…………,-~*`~.………….../
……...|/.../…/~,…...-~*,-~*`;……………./.\
……../.../…/…/..,-,..*~,.`*~*…………….*...\
…….|.../…/…/.*`...\...……………………)….)¯`~,
…….|./…/…./…….)……,.)`*~-,……….../….|..)…`~-,
……/./.../…,*`-,…..`-,…*`….,---…...\…./…../..|……...¯```*~-
…...(……….)`*~-,….`*`.,-~*.,-*……|…/.…/…/…………\
…….*-,…….`*-,...`~,..``.,,,-*……….|.,*...,*…|…...\
……….*,………`-,…)-,…………..,-*`...,-*….(`-,…

:wink:

God I miss ASCII art...

[turbo]

Snoopy calendars and Playboy Playmates in ASCII art on the line printers. Those were the days. :!!)The Comp-Sci jerks gave us Engineering types all kinds of crap about how much access we could have to "their" mainframe, but they all seemed to have tons of ASCII "art" and other frivolous stuff in their dorm rooms. When I could buy my own computer (decades later) I jumped at it!

[Lancelot59]

………………..,-~*’`¯lllllll`*~,
…………..,-~*`lllllllllllllllllllllllllll¯`*-,
………,-~*llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll*-,
……,-*lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll lllll.\
….;*`lllllllllllllllllllllllllll,-~*~-,llllllllllllllllllll\
…..\lllllllllllllllllllllllllll/………\;;;;llllllllllll,-`~-,
…...\lllllllllllllllllllll,-*………..`~-~-,…(.(¯`*,`,
…….\llllllllllll,-~*…………………)_-\..*`*;..)
……..\,-*`¯,*`)…………,-~*`~.………….../
……...|/.../…/~,…...-~*,-~*`;……………./.\
……../.../…/…/..,-,..*~,.`*~*…………….*...\
…….|.../…/…/.*`...\...……………………)….)¯`~,
…….|./…/…./…….)……,.)`*~-,……….../….|..)…`~-,
……/./.../…,*`-,…..`-,…*`….,---…...\…./…../..|……...¯```*~-
…...(……….)`*~-,….`*`.,-~*.,-*……|…/.…/…/…………\
…….*-,…….`*-,...`~,..``.,,,-*……….|.,*...,*…|…...\
……….*,………`-,…)-,…………..,-*`...,-*….(`-,…

:wink:

God i miss ascii art...

I have a pretty good ASCII Half-Life 2 lambda.

?MMMI
MMMMMMMNNNNNNNN
OMMMMNNN. . ONNNNNNN
MMMMN. .DDDD+
NMMNN DDD8
NMNN DDDDDD D888
MNNN 8888. ,OOO
.NNN 8OOO OZOO
NNNO OOZZ. $ZZ
NNN ZZZ$$$ 777
.NDD Z$$$7777 :II=
DDD $$77 III? ,??~
DD8 $77I. ??++ =++
D888 77II. ===. ~~~
=88O 7II? ~~~~~:: ::::
8OOZ 7I??. ::::,.. ,,,,
OZ$$ ,,,,
$$7I? ....
:I?++= ......
+==~~::,, ........
::,,............
........

[nismaratwork]

Lancelot, that's fantstic!!!

[DaveC426913]

Snoopy calendars and Playboy Playmates in ASCII art on the line printers. Those were the days. :!!)

………………..,-~*’`¯lllllll`*~,
…………..,-~*`lllllllllllllllllllllllllll¯`*-,
………,-~*llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll*-,
……,-*lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll lllll.\
….;*`lllllllllllllllllllllllllll,-~*~-,llllllllllllllllllll\
…..\lllllllllllllllllllllllllll/………\;;;;llllllllllll,-`~-,
…...\lllllllllllllllllllll,-*………..`~-~-,…(.(¯`*,`,
…….\llllllllllll,-~*…………………)_-\..*`*;..)
……..\,-*`¯,*`)…………,-~*`~.………….../
……...|/.../…/~,…...-~*,-~*`;……………./.\
……../.../…/…/..,-,..*~,.`*~*…………….*...\
…….|.../…/…/.*`...\...……………………)….)¯`~,
…….|./…/…./…….)……,.)`*~-,……….../….|..)…`~-,
……/./.../…,*`-,…..`-,…*`….,---…...\…./…../..|……...¯```*~-
…...(……….)`*~-,….`*`.,-~*.,-*……|…/.…/…/…………\
…….*-,…….`*-,...`~,..``.,,,-*……….|.,*...,*…|…...\
……….*,………`-,…)-,…………..,-*`...,-*….(`-,…

:wink:

God I miss ASCII art...

Uummmm...

In my day, Playboy Playmates were much prettier than that. Much less ... Cthulhu-esque.

Heck, Snoopy was prettier than that...

[nismaratwork]

Uummmm...

In my day, Playboy Playmates were much prettier than that. Much less ... Cthulhu-esque.

Heck, Snoopy was prettier than that...

Hey, you don't have to tell me G-rated twice! :rofl:

Still, an ASCII facepalm is generally more useful than low-res breasts.

Snoopy, I just don't have in my collection... good pup though. :wink:

[dlgoff]

Didn't anyone put sequence numbers in the last eight columns of the cards? That's why Fortran compilers only used columns 1-72, after all.

When you (student) have been up all night punching cards and waiting for your output to debug, those last columns don't seem too important. :redface:

[DaveC426913]

... an ASCII facepalm ...

omg, the moment you said that I looked back and now it jumped out at me.

I swear, all I could see in it was a nasty squid-skull thing crawling across the screen on stumpy little tentacles.

[Lancelot59]

omg, the moment you said that i looked back and now it jumped out at me.

I swear, all i could see in it was a nasty squid-skull thing crawling across the screen on stumpy little tentacles.

Here's Captain Picard:
............................................______ __........................
....................................,.-‘”...................``~.,..................
.............................,.-”...................................“-.,............
.........................,/...............................................”:, ........
.....................,?........................... ...........................\,.....
.................../.................................................. .........,}....
................./.................................................. ....,:`^`..}....
.............../.................................................. .,:”........./.....
..............?.....__............................ .............:`.........../.....
............./__.(.....“~-,_..............................,:`........../........
.........../(_....”~,_........“~,_....................,:`..... ..._/...........
..........{.._$;_......”=,_.......“-,_.......,.-~-,},.~”;/....}...........
...........((.....*~_.......”=-._......“;,,./`..../”............../............
...,,,___.\`~,......“~.,....................`..... }............../.............
............(....`=-,,.......`........................(......;_,,-”...............
............/.`~,......`-...............................\....../\...................
.............\`~.*-,.....................................|,./.....\,__...........
,,_..........}.>-._\...................................|........... ...`=~-,....
.....`=~-,_\_......`\,.................................\... .....................
...................`=~-,,.\,...............................\............. ..........
................................`:,,.............. .............`\..............__..
.....................................`=-,...................,%`>--==``.......
........................................_\........ ..._,-%.......`\...............
...................................,<`.._|_,-&``................`\..............

[DaveC426913]

Captain Picard seems to be having a skull malfunction...

[Lancelot59]

Captain Picard seems to be having a skull malfunction...

Nobody said ASCII was perfect.

[DaveC426913]

Nobody said ASCII was perfect.

Actually, I'm pretty sure it's a proportional font thing.
I've been trying to take the image, drop it in CODE tags, and remove the dots to see if that fixes it, but no joy yet.

[Lancelot59]

Actually, I'm pretty sure it's a proportional font thing.
I've been trying to take the image, drop it in CODE tags, and remove the dots to see if that fixes it, but no joy yet.

Are you using a replace function to replace all the periods with spaces?

[nismaratwork]

omg, the moment you said that I looked back and now it jumped out at me.

I swear, all I could see in it was a nasty squid-skull thing crawling across the screen on stumpy little tentacles.

You referenced Lovecraft, all is well. :biggrin:

[DaveC426913]

Are you using a replace function to replace all the periods with spaces?
That was the idea, yes.

[AlephZero]

When you (student) have been up all night punching cards and waiting for your output to debug, those last columns don't seem too important. :redface:

Try editing input data on paper tape, and then watch a high speed tape reader "stress-test" your splices.

Punched cards were for wimps.

[AlephZero]

Snoopy calendars and Playboy Playmates in ASCII art on the line printers. Those were the days. :!!)

And writing programs to make the line printer play the William Tell overture. (Or the "Dick Barton Special Agent" signature tune, in the UK).

Dada dum dada dum dada dum dum dum [repeat 3 times] dada DRRRRRRRRdadada dum dum dum....

[dlgoff]

Try editing input data on paper tape, and then watch a high speed tape reader "stress-test" your splices.

Punched cards were for wimps.
:rofl: Never spliced paper punch tape before. Dang, I must be a wimp.

[fluidistic]

Some pages won't open, others will do within 5 minutes for me. Strangely I can reach PF much faster than days ago.

[Borek]

Several minutes ago I got 502 Bad Gateway error - I believe that's the same one I have seen when DOS attack started. Luckily seems like it was temporary, it stopped right after I contacted Greg to tell him something is wrong, but I guess it may be worth checking.

I was able to access other sites, so it wasn't on my side (or at least it wasn't close to me).

[Greg Bernhardt]

Keep the updates coming. Thanks

[DevilsAvocado]

Several minutes ago I got 502 Bad Gateway error ...

We are on the same side of the lake, and it looks pretty OK for me, almost as fast as google.com in SF... :smile:

C:\Windows\system32>tracert physicsforums.com

Tracing route to physicsforums.com [74.86.200.109]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 26 ms 26 ms 26 ms *********.****.telia.com [***.***.***.***]
3 31 ms 68 ms 31 ms s-b1-link.telia.net [80.91.246.230]
4 31 ms 31 ms 31 ms s-bb1-link.telia.net [80.91.249.70]
5 39 ms 39 ms 39 ms kbn-bb1-link.telia.net [80.91.247.161]
6 128 ms 127 ms 128 ms nyk-bb1-link.telia.net [80.91.247.115]
7 163 ms 162 ms 162 ms dls-bb1-link.telia.net [213.155.130.65]
8 164 ms 163 ms 164 ms te3-3.bbr02.eq01.dal01.networklayer.com [213.248.102.174]
9 165 ms 165 ms 165 ms po6.dar02.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com [173.192.18.213]
10 163 ms 163 ms 164 ms po2.fcr03.sr04.dal01.networklayer.com [66.228.118.190]
11 171 ms 170 ms 172 ms physicsforums.com [74.86.200.109]

Trace complete.

C:\Windows\system32>tracert google.com

Tracing route to google.com [74.125.77.104]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 26 ms 26 ms 25 ms *********.****.telia.com [***.***.***.***]
3 31 ms 31 ms 30 ms s-b1-link.telia.net [80.91.248.195]
4 31 ms 31 ms 30 ms s-bb1-link.telia.net [80.91.249.70]
5 46 ms 46 ms 45 ms hbg-bb1-link.telia.net [213.155.130.159]
6 51 ms 51 ms 51 ms adm-bb1-link.telia.net [80.91.252.16]
7 50 ms 49 ms 73 ms adm-b4-link.telia.net [80.91.247.67]
8 55 ms 55 ms 55 ms google-ic-126116-adm-b4.c.telia.net [80.239.193.182]
9 51 ms 51 ms 52 ms 209.85.251.14
10 55 ms 55 ms 55 ms 216.239.49.38
11 70 ms 71 ms 71 ms 209.85.255.106
12 55 ms 58 ms 56 ms ew-in-f104.1e100.net [74.125.77.104]

Trace complete.

C:\Windows\system32>time
The current time is: 14:43:05,38

[fluidistic]

Still very slow for me for many (all?) pages. Just like when I posted on March 26 in this thread.
To reply to this thread the "Reply" button hadn't even loaded after 30 s. But there was a "reply" letters so I'm replying this way right now.

[DevilsAvocado]

Running fine

C:\Windows\system32>ping -t physicsforums.com

Pinging physicsforums.com [74.86.200.109] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=179ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=171ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=171ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=179ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=175ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=175ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=171ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=179ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=172ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=176ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=171ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=171ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=171ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=172ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=175ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=172ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=172ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=171ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=171ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=175ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=178ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=178ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=175ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=175ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=179ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=175ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=170ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=171ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=178ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=178ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=170ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=170ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=178ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=178ms TTL=50
Reply from 74.86.200.109: bytes=32 time=175ms TTL=50

Ping statistics for 74.86.200.109:
Packets: Sent = 35, Received = 35, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 170ms, Maximum = 179ms, Average = 174ms
Control-C
^C

[dlgoff]

I've been trying to get here for quite a while now. I've never seen it this slow before. I thought it was my dial-up, but other sites load just fine.

[Andre]

Yes intermittent here too. Sometimes prompt and sometimes nothing

[DevilsAvocado]

... ehh something 'funny' must be going on ...

Ping statistics for 74.86.200.109:
Packets: Sent = 200, Received = 200, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 170ms, Maximum = 179ms, Average = 174ms

C:\Windows\system32>time
The current time is: 22:29:13,96

= no problems

[Evo]

For at least 10 minutes I was getting 100% packet loss on pings to the server.

[DevilsAvocado]

For at least 10 minutes I was getting 100% packet loss on pings to the server.

What!? :bugeye:

Do you have dial-up?

[Evo]

What!? :bugeye:

Do you have dial-up?I use tracert.org. I didn't save the pings, but here's a traceroute.

1 75.125.232.57 (75.125.232.57) 0.493 ms 0.380 ms 0.367 ms
2 te1-4.dsr01.hstntx1.networklayer.com (207.218.223.5) 0.637 ms 0.392 ms 0.390 ms
3 e4-2.ibr02.hstntx1.networklayer.com (207.218.245.29) 0.369 ms e4-1.ibr02.hstntx1.networklayer.com (207.218.245.25) 0.330 ms 0.255 ms
4 e3-4.ibr04.dllstx3.networklayer.com (70.87.253.53) 5.230 ms 5.369 ms 5.307 ms
5 ae0.bbr01.eq01.dal03.networklayer.com (70.87.255.170) 5.366 ms 5.270 ms 5.329 ms
6 po6.dar01.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com (173.192.18.211) 5.577 ms 5.491 ms 5.407 ms
7 po1.fcr03.sr04.dal01.networklayer.com (66.228.118.186) 5.425 ms 5.495 ms 5.311 ms
8 * * *
9 * * *
10 * * *
11 * * *
12 * * *
13 * * *
14 * * *
15 * * *
16 * * *
17 * * *
18 * * *
19 * * *
20 * * *
21 * * *
22 * * *
23 * * *
24 * * *
25 * * *
26 * * *
27 * * *
28 * * *
29 * * *
30 * * *

[Evo]

I take that back, here's a ping.

PING 74.86.200.109 (74.86.200.109) 56(84) bytes of data.

--- 74.86.200.109 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 3000ms

[DevilsAvocado]

I use tracert.org. I didn't save the pings, but here's a traceroute.

That is really weird! I just made 1000 ping with only 2 lost and Average = 174ms ...

Then I tried tracert.org and got exactly the same result as you!? :bugeye:

PING physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109) 56(84) bytes of data.

--- physicsforums.com ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 9001ms


1 75.125.232.57 (75.125.232.57) 0.629 ms 16.701 ms *
2 te1-4.dsr01.hstntx1.networklayer.com (207.218.223.5) 0.536 ms 0.294 ms 0.487 ms
3 e4-1.ibr02.hstntx1.networklayer.com (207.218.245.25) 0.458 ms 0.358 ms 0.477 ms
4 e3-4.ibr04.dllstx3.networklayer.com (70.87.253.53) 5.253 ms 5.416 ms 5.432 ms
5 ae0.bbr01.eq01.dal03.networklayer.com (70.87.255.170) 5.224 ms 5.354 ms 5.450 ms
6 po6.dar01.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com (173.192.18.211) 5.447 ms 5.610 ms 5.423 ms
7 po1.fcr03.sr04.dal01.networklayer.com (66.228.118.186) 8.194 ms 5.623 ms 5.464 ms
8 * * *
9 * * *
10 * * *
11 * * *
12 * * *
13 * * *
14 * * *
15 * * *
16 * * *
17 * * *
18 * * *
19 * * *
20 * * *
21 * * *
22 * * *
23 * * *
24 * * *
25 * * *
26 * * *
27 * * *
28 * * *
29 * * *
30 * * *

Is this a "U.S. thing" only??

If you run Windows it’s real easy to run ping and trace route yourself, directly from your computer:

Go to the Start Menu
Click "Run..."
Type "command.com" and hit [Enter]
At the prompt in the command window, type "ping physicsforums.com" and hit [Enter]
Or for trace route, type "tracert physicsforums.com" and hit [Enter]


(Don’t paste your real IP here... :wink:)

[turbo]

I got 309 errors earlier this afternoon. I'm not sure what that means, but I'm assuming that I couldn't contact PF's server.

[Borek]

Same typo of problems here - for about an hour I was not able to refresh/read/post/moderate.

borek@invincible ~ $ ping physicsforums.com
PING physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=1 ttl=48 time=206 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=2 ttl=48 time=207 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=3 ttl=48 time=207 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=4 ttl=48 time=206 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=5 ttl=48 time=207 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=6 ttl=48 time=206 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=7 ttl=48 time=206 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=8 ttl=48 time=224 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=9 ttl=48 time=208 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=10 ttl=48 time=206 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=11 ttl=48 time=205 ms

--- physicsforums.com ping statistics ---
11 packets transmitted, 11 received, 0% packet loss, time 10008ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 205.722/208.482/224.417/5.115 ms
borek@invincible /usr/sbin $ ./traceroute physicsforums.com
traceroute to physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 192.168.0.7 (192.168.0.7) 0.681 ms 0.650 ms 0.562 ms
2 10.0.0.138 (10.0.0.138) 1.135 ms 0.984 ms 0.957 ms
3 * * *
4 xxx.tpnet.pl (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) 23.999 ms 24.799 ms 24.802 ms
5 hbg-b2-link.telia.net (213.248.89.93) 42.943 ms 42.499 ms 42.097 ms
6 hbg-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.251.77) 42.213 ms 42.022 ms 41.837 ms
7 nyk-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.247.127) 126.531 ms 126.287 ms nyk-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.247.129) 125.758 ms
8 dls-bb1-link.telia.net (213.155.130.65) 163.580 ms 164.175 ms 220.436 ms
9 * * *
10 po6.dar02.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com (173.192.18.213) 162.800 ms 163.445 ms 161.869 ms
11 po2.fcr03.sr04.dal01.networklayer.com (66.228.118.190) 201.070 ms 202.120 ms 201.762 ms
12 * * *
13 * * *
14 * * *
15 * * *
16 * * *
17 * * *
18 * * *
19 * * *
20 * * *
21 * * *
22 * * *
23 * * *
24 * * *
25 * * *
26 * * *
27 * * *
28 * * *
29 * * *
30 * * *

[DevilsAvocado]

Same typo of problems here - for about an hour I was not able to refresh/read/post/moderate.

But your ping seems okay? I don’t understand... I haven’t been logged on that much today, but so far everything has worked "like a dream"... maybe it’s only temporary 'spikes'... but that doesn’t make sense to the "tracert.org experience"...

I’m lost here.

[DevilsAvocado]

... looks like "temporary spikes" because now tracert.org is also working fine ...

PING physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=0 ttl=57 time=5.24 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=1 ttl=57 time=5.36 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=2 ttl=57 time=5.26 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=3 ttl=57 time=5.41 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=4 ttl=57 time=5.47 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=5 ttl=57 time=5.69 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=6 ttl=57 time=5.41 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=7 ttl=57 time=5.39 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=8 ttl=57 time=5.36 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=9 ttl=57 time=5.34 ms

--- physicsforums.com ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 received, 0% packet loss, time 9014ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 5.244/5.397/5.697/0.148 ms, pipe 2


EDIT:
Grrrr, now tracert.org is NOT working and the EXTREMELY weird thing is that I start 10 ping in my command window (locally from Sweden) and 10 ping at tracert.org at EXACTLY the same time and it ALWAYS work locally but FAILS on tracert.org!?!?

WT* :grumpy:


I have to leave now, hope it all works out for you guys... or you have to move to Sweden... (don’t forget to bring a big and warm fur) :smile:

[Jiggy-Ninja]

Same typo of problems here - for about an hour I was not able to refresh/read/post/moderate.
That's an interesting "typo" of typo. :tongue:

[Borek]

That's an interesting "typo" of typo. :tongue:

Yep, I wanted to correct it, but it was already quoted.

[Borek]

Same problem again - when I tried to log to PF this morning I got the 502 Bad Gateway for about half an hour or more:

502 Bad Gateway
nginx

So I pinged & tracerouted:

borek@invincible /usr/sbin $ ping -c 10 physicsforums.com
PING physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109) 56(84) bytes of data.

--- physicsforums.com ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 8998ms

borek@invincible /usr/sbin $ ./traceroute physicsforums.com
traceroute to physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 192.168.0.7 (192.168.0.7) 0.622 ms 0.580 ms 0.560 ms
2 10.0.0.138 (10.0.0.138) 1.003 ms 0.971 ms 0.951 ms
3 * * *
4 xxxx.tpnet.pl (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) 172.260 ms 26.873 ms 24.362 ms
5 hbg-b2-link.telia.net (213.248.89.93) 39.412 ms 40.807 ms 39.857 ms
6 hbg-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.246.6) 40.333 ms 39.601 ms 40.851 ms
7 nyk-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.247.129) 124.608 ms 125.043 ms nyk-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.247.127) 127.625 ms
8 dls-bb1-link.telia.net (213.155.130.65) 163.777 ms 166.940 ms 163.813 ms
9 * * *
10 po6.dar02.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com (173.192.18.213) 165.091 ms 167.359 ms 164.045 ms
11 po2.fcr03.sr04.dal01.networklayer.com (66.228.118.190) 164.228 ms 163.965 ms 164.488 ms
12 * * *
13 * * *
14 * * *
15 * * *
16 * * *
17 * * *
18 * * *
19 * * *
20 * * *
21 * * *
22 * * *
23 * * *
24 * * *
25 * * *
26 * * *
27 * * *
28 * * *
29 * * *
30 * * *
borek@invincible /usr/sbin $ date
Fri Apr 8 08:50:09 CEST 2011
borek@invincible /usr/sbin $

I even finally registered at FaceBook to be able to report problems to Greg, but they disappeared before I did. O tempora, o mores.

It worked for some time, then stopped, just when I was trying to post this message. I had to go away, now I am back - it works again.

Doesn't look good if you ask me.

[OmCheeto]

I'll betcha it's the Koch brothers. They're behind everything nowadays. :uhh:

[dlgoff]

Yesterday I got a AVAST WARNING that it blocked some sort of online threat here on PF. I was logged in and don't remember what forum page it happened on. And before I could investigate what the threat was, the AVAST warning message pop-up giving a link for information ended.

If it happens again, I'll will try to find out what it is and post here.

[Lancelot59]

Yesterday I got a AVAST WARNING that it blocked some sort of online threat here on PF. I was logged in and don't remember what forum page it happened on. And before I could investigate what the threat was, the AVAST warning message pop-up giving a link for information ended.

If it happens again, I'll will try to find out what it is and post here.
I haven't had that issue come up yet. Haven't visited the site using windows for a while.

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/linux_user_at_best_buy.png

[lisab]

I just got several "Page Not Found" errors. Seems like an intermittent issue, though.

Edit - More specifically:

This webpage is not available
The webpage at http://www.physicsforums.com/ might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.
Error 324 (net::ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE): Unknown error.

Btw, I use Chrome.

[Char. Limit]

I just got several "Page Not Found" errors. Seems like an intermittent issue, though.

Edit - More specifically:

This webpage is not available
The webpage at http://www.physicsforums.com/ might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.
Error 324 (net::ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE): Unknown error.

Btw, I use Chrome.

You should try the Firefox 5 Beta!

[JaredJames]

You should try the Firefox 5 Beta!

Firefox 4 isn't running properly for me at the moment, would hate to think what that's like.

[Char. Limit]

Firefox 4 isn't running properly for me at the moment, would hate to think what that's like.

I haven't had a crash yet.

[JaredJames]

I haven't had a crash yet.

Feel free to have one of mine.

Flash happens to be the worst offender.

[dlgoff]

Firefox 4 isn't running properly for me at the moment, would hate to think what that's like.

Oh man. I'm using version 3.6.16 and know they will not continue to support it forever. I've got the Firefox 4 install page bookmarked for when the time comes. But now you've got me worried.

[JaredJames]

Oh man. I'm using version 3.6.16 and know they will not continue to support it forever. I've got the Firefox 4 install page bookmarked for when the time comes. But now you've got me worried.

I'm running Ubuntu (Linux) 64-bit and it's not an easy install job - or at least it wasn't when I did it on the day it came out.

Windows should be fine.

Additional: Over the last hour or so, whenever I click buttons such as Quote or Reply (or any link on the forum) it tries to get me to download the page I'm supposed to go to.

[DaveC426913]

Additional: Over the last hour or so, whenever I click buttons such as Quote or Reply (or any link on the forum) it tries to get me to download the page I'm supposed to go to.

[ tone = frosty/b*tchy ]
You have no one to blame but yourself for installing software that's buggy. Suck it up buttercup.
[ /tone ]
:biggrin::biggrin:

[JaredJames]

[ tone = frosty/b*tchy ]
You have no one to blame but yourself for installing software that's buggy. Suck it up buttercup.
[ /tone ]
:biggrin::biggrin:

Think I just got owned.

(Although I do agree with you, I just installed Firefox 4 and it's playing up rather badly. My own fault.)

[turbo]

Periodic problems this afternoon:

No data received
Unable to load the webpage because the server sent no data.
Here are some suggestions:
Reload this web page later.
Error 324 (net::ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE): The server closed the connection without sending any data.

[Evo]

I've been getting sporadic "page not found" since 4pm.

[Greg Bernhardt]

I have been getting those errors lately too. Investigating.

[JaredJames]

I've been getting sporadic "page not found" since 4pm.

Ditto, started happening now.

And it's now constantly asking me to download pages instead of opening them.

[jhae2.718]

I just got one of the download page requests.

Using Firefox 4 on OpenSUSE 11.4 x86_64 (Linux).

[Borek]

502 Bad Gateway again, 13 minutes ago.

[dlgoff]

I don't know how these things work, but I got another AVAST threat blocked message while visiting the Scepticism & Debunking forum around 3:30pm CDT. The pop-up mentioned a DCOM exploit with a link for more information. But that link only had information about AVAST, not the threat.

[lisab]

I don't know how these things work, but I got another AVAST threat blocked message while visiting the Scepticism & Debunking forum around 3:30pm CDT. The pop-up mentioned a DCOM exploit with a link for more information. But that link only had information about AVAST, not the threat.

Yeah, there's been a poltergeist hanging around in that forum for a while now.

[Borek]

I don't know how these things work, but I got another AVAST threat blocked message while visiting the Scepticism & Debunking forum around 3:30pm CDT. The pop-up mentioned a DCOM exploit with a link for more information. But that link only had information about AVAST, not the threat.

From what I understand it is probably a coincidence - that is, attack didn't came from PF, but from completely different place, it just happened at the moment you were visiting S&D.

Was there any information about IP from which the attack came? If there is such information, compare it the to physicsforums.com IP which is 74.86.200.109.

[dlgoff]

From what I understand it is probably a coincidence - that is, attack didn't came from PF, but from completely different place, it just happened at the moment you were visiting S&D.

Was there any information about IP from which the attack came? If there is such information, compare it the to physicsforums.com IP which is 74.86.200.109.

Thanks Borek. I will set my pop-up AVAST messages to stay longer so next time I can get the IP if it's available.

[Borek]

502 again, second time today, just a minute ago.

First time it was much earlier, about 8:40 am my time (now is 11:16 am).

[Studiot]

Borek, as a matter of interest do you use the free or pro version of Avast and do you use the sandbox?
You seem to get more trouble than most with Avast.

[Borek]

Borek, as a matter of interest do you use the free or pro version of Avast and do you use the sandbox?
You seem to get more trouble than most with Avast.

Do I? I don't recall stating I have serious problems with Avast. For most of the time it works OK, it failed once, and from what I was able to google it didn't failed just me, more people reported exactly the same problem with exactly the same virus. Free version on Marzena's computer, no idea what she did.

[Borek]

502 again, second time today, just a minute ago.

First time it was much earlier, about 8:40 am my time (now is 11:16 am).

Minute after I posted forum died for me, I was not able to edit the post (and I already forgot why I wanted).

[Redbelly98]

For what it's worth, I have not noticed any problems with PF for several weeks now.

[OmCheeto]

For what it's worth, I have not noticed any problems with PF for several weeks now.

Me too.

[dlgoff]

Was there any information about IP from which the attack came? If there is such information, compare it the to physicsforums.com IP which is 74.86.200.109.

Thanks Borek. I will set my pop-up AVAST messages to stay longer so next time I can get the IP if it's available.

It happened again and I got the IP. It wasn't Physicsforums.coms IP but I only get this alert while lurking here. Anyway, I attacked the pop-up info.

[fluidistic]

Wow. PF hasn't been so fast since the attacks for me. Incredibly "fluid" now. A very good news for me. I was getting really annoyed to wait minutes and opening more than 10 pages for at least 1 to load.
Now all seems perfect! Good job guys.

[Studiot]

RE: Dlgoff/Avast picture

Yes I had a bunch of these yesterday.

A word of warning, the calling code remains in your internet cache until you clear this so this will keep popping up as you change web pages - it will also affect other sites and may (probably) not have come from PF. Mine started on Ebay.

So if you see this clear your internet cache.

[dlgoff]

RE: Dlgoff/Avast picture

Yes I had a bunch of these yesterday.

A word of warning, the calling code remains in your internet cache until you clear this so this will keep popping up as you change web pages - it will also affect other sites and may (probably) not have come from PF. Mine started on Ebay.

So if you see this clear your internet cache.

I use Firefox and clear the cache manually before entering PF. The browser is also set to clear everything on exit. So that's not the problem here.

[Borek]

Sadly I am sure now my problems are not related directly to PF server, but to something on the route between server and me. At the moment I am using a proxy, as otherwise I am not able to neither read nor post.

borek@invincible ~ $ ./checkPF
PING physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109) 56(84) bytes of data.

--- physicsforums.com ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 8998ms

traceroute to physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109), 15 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 192.168.0.7 (192.168.0.7) 0.589 ms 0.588 ms 0.550 ms
2 10.0.0.138 (10.0.0.138) 0.994 ms 1.008 ms 0.959 ms
3 * * *
4 xxxxxx.tpnet.pl (80.xxx.xxx.xxx) 24.153 ms 165.036 ms 24.492 ms
5 hbg-b2-link.telia.net (213.248.89.93) 40.131 ms 40.774 ms 42.829 ms
6 hbg-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.251.77) 39.855 ms 40.643 ms 40.277 ms
7 nyk-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.247.129) 123.609 ms 125.113 ms nyk-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.247.127) 124.372 ms
8 dls-bb1-link.telia.net (213.155.130.207) 165.240 ms 165.234 ms 164.837 ms
9 te3-3.bbr02.eq01.dal01.networklayer.com (213.248.102.174) 164.725 ms 195.295 ms 165.761 ms
10 po6.dar02.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com (173.192.18.213) 165.601 ms 166.956 ms 166.006 ms
11 po2.fcr03.sr04.dal01.networklayer.com (66.228.118.190) 165.963 ms 166.384 ms 166.775 ms
12 * * *
13 * * *
14 * * *
15 * * *

[Borek]

Seems like it is not the first time when there is a (routing?) problem at 66.228.118.190.

Sometimes pings to PF get through, sometimes they don't, but I can't reach PF by traceroute and I can't post/read without a proxy.

[jhae2.718]

I had similar problems with 66.228.118.186 last Saturday.

[FtlIsAwesome]

I have Avast and I have not seen any popups when visiting PF.

[lisab]

The forum is a bit slow this afternoon.

Or perhaps my brain is extra fast :biggrin:!

Hmm...no, it's the forum. Dang.

[turbo]

Sunday afternoon/evening, PF died for me. I don't know if this was a widespread issue or if there were issues on the path between here and there.

[micromass]

Sunday afternoon/evening, PF died for me. I don't know if this was a widespread issue or if there were issues on the path between here and there.

See http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=495194
It were no hackers, luckily...

[FtlIsAwesome]

See http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=495194
It were no hackers, luckily...
How do you know? It could be the hackers breaking into the power supply manually! :biggrin::wink::tongue2:

[Borek]

Is it just me, or is the forum slow today? For most of the time it goes OK, but then for a minute or two it freezes.

[I like Serena]

Is it just me, or is the forum slow today? For most of the time it goes OK, but then for a minute or two it freezes.

Right now the forum is responsive.
But earlier today I got a couple of gateway timeouts that other people apparently didn't have.
When I watched what my browser was doing before a timeout, I saw that it happened when it was accessing mathjax.org...
I'm not sure yet however, that mathjax.org is the reason...

[lisab]

Right now the forum is responsive.
But earlier today I got a couple of gateway timeouts that other people apparently didn't have.
When I watched what my browser was doing before a timeout, I saw that it happened when it was accessing mathjax.org...
I'm not sure yet however, that mathjax.org is the reason...

Yep, I got that too, a few times now. I'm using Chrome, and I get a message I've never seen before that mentioned mathjax. Nothing is responsive, not even the cursor. Lasts about 10 seconds.

[Greg Bernhardt]

Yep, I got that too, a few times now. I'm using Chrome, and I get a message I've never seen before that mentioned mathjax. Nothing is responsive, not even the cursor. Lasts about 10 seconds.

please record the message next time it appears, thanks!

[lisab]

please record the message next time it appears, thanks!

It was only a couple seconds this time:

Loading [MathJax]/jax/output/HTML-CSS/jax.js

Happens when I open Random Thoughts.

[dlgoff]

It was only a couple seconds this time:

Loading [MathJax]/jax/output/HTML-CSS/jax.js

Happens when I open Random Thoughts.

This may be one of those case when you're getting the fonts from MathJax and they are a bit slow. I loaded the STIX fonts into my Win 7 Fonts folder and Firefox is lightning fast. Might be worth a try; if it can be done in Chrome.

[DaveC426913]

I now get some sort of mathjax.js echo on a blank screen before the forum comes up.

[mishrashubham]

Now I am getting 504 errors. Although I think that is not some problem with PF.

[Borek]

Now I am getting 504 errors. Although I think that is not some problem with PF.

This is PF problem, from what I remember nginex was added to help deal with DDOS attack, since then it sometimes gives 502 and 504 errors, at least for me. I have never seen these errors before DDOS attack.

IMHO MathJax problems are unrelated and appear when MathJax servers are not fast enough. Unfortunately Opera seems to deal incorrectly with such situations :grumpy:

[Greg Bernhardt]

I now get some sort of mathjax.js echo on a blank screen before the forum comes up.

can you elaborate? what are you doing when this happens? does it happen all the time?

[Evo]

It happens anytime you enter a thread, sometimes it goes so quickly that you really have to be looking for it to see it. This is the message.

www.physicsforums.com/clientscript/mjsettings.js

I started noticing it last week. I saw that you were discusing the issue Greg, or at least I thought that was what you were discussing. I'll pm you.

[Greg Bernhardt]

MathJax is dependent on the Amazon CloudFront so there is little they can do in terms configuring that. One developer asked if anyone here would be willing to install a plugin that would collect data that would be useful in troubleshooting the loading problems. PM me if interested.

[Borek]

borek@invincible ~ $ ./checkPF
PING physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109) 56(84) bytes of data.

--- physicsforums.com ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 8998ms

traceroute to physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109), 15 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 192.168.0.7 (192.168.0.7) 0.606 ms 0.568 ms 0.524 ms
2 10.0.0.138 (10.0.0.138) 1.064 ms 0.990 ms 0.950 ms
3 * * *
4 xxxxx.tpnet.pl (xx.xx.xx.xx) 23.406 ms 23.614 ms 25.603 ms
5 hbg-b2-link.telia.net (213.248.89.93) 40.144 ms 40.535 ms 40.570 ms
6 hbg-bb2-link.telia.net (80.91.251.81) 46.344 ms 40.094 ms 39.173 ms
7 nyk-bb2-link.telia.net (80.91.247.123) 125.381 ms nyk-bb2-link.telia.net (80.91.247.125) 123.475 ms 124.499 ms
8 dls-bb1-link.telia.net (213.155.130.67) 165.859 ms dls-bb1-link.telia.net (213.155.130.209) 164.422 ms 165.928 ms
9 te3-3.bbr02.eq01.dal01.networklayer.com (213.248.102.174) 169.799 ms 170.488 ms 170.192 ms
10 po6.dar02.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com (173.192.18.213) 170.019 ms 170.199 ms 170.734 ms
11 po2.fcr03.sr04.dal01.networklayer.com (66.228.118.190) 171.852 ms * 170.112 ms
12 * * *
13 * * *
14 * * *
15 * * *


For over two hours I was cut off (starting around 21:32 my time). And it had nothing to do with yesterdays situation :wink:

[Borek]

Again, my IP seems to be blocked, I can use some random free proxy to connect to PF, but for some reason server doesn't like my current address. Previous post was from the IP assigned by my ISP, the one that is blocked. Pings don't pass through. Seems like nobody else has problems.

I wonder if I am not blocked because some of IPs in my range are blacklisted? They are assigned dynamically once per 24h, so blocking them doesn't make much sense.

I will try to reset modem, perhaps I will get a new IP this way.

[Borek]

Resetting modem helped, so there is no doubt it is IP related.

[I like Serena]

Resetting modem helped, so there is no doubt it is IP related.

Did you get a different IP?
Because usually you get a "lease", meaning you'll get the same IP until the lease expires.

[Borek]

Did you get a different IP?
Because usually you get a "lease", meaning you'll get the same IP until the lease expires.

Completely different, 79.185.*.* vs 83.6.*.*.

[Evo]

Resetting modem helped, so there is no doubt it is IP related.
Throws net over Borek.

Sit, stay!!

Oh wait, this isn't chat.

[Evo]

Did you get a different IP?
Because usually you get a "lease", meaning you'll get the same IP until the lease expires.

Completely different, 79.185.*.* vs 83.6.*.*.If you have a dynamic IP address, you'll only keep that address until you disconnect from your ISP, the next time you log on, you will be given another IP address from you ISP. ILS, is that what you mean by a *lease*?

[I like Serena]

Throws net over Borek.

Sit, stay!!

Oh wait, this isn't chat.

:)

If you have a dynamic IP address, you'll only keep that address until you disconnect from your ISP, the next time you log on, you will be given another IP address from you ISP. ILS, is that what you mean by a *lease*?

I was just verifying that there was indeed an actual change in IP before assuming that the old IP was blocked.
It seemed unlikely that Borek wouldn't have checked, but sure is sure. :)

If you're interested, the concept of a lease in this context is for instance explained here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol

[Evo]

:)



I was just verifying that there was indeed an actual change in IP before assuming that the old IP was blocked.
It seemed unlikely that Borek wouldn't have checked, but sure is sure. :)

If you're interested, the concept of a lease in this context is for instance explained here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol
Ah, well I worked for AT&T that developed the internet for the US government. I worked on data networks from the early 70's. Never heard that term, we never used it. Someone posting on wikipedia wouldn't know that. <insert Aflac duck here> nah, nah. :tongue2:

This must be a term that cropped up after the 70's. (Shows how old I am). :(

[jhae2.718]

If, for some horrible, unfathomable reason, you are on Windows, maybe try:

ipconfig \release
ipconfig \renew

?

[StevieTNZ]

Ah, well I worked for AT&T that developed the internet for the US government.(

You must be smart!

[Borek]

If, for some horrible, unfathomable reason, you are on Windows, maybe try:

ipconfig \release
ipconfig \renew

?

My computer is not directly connected to the net, there is a router and a modem (it could be a single device, but for historical reasons there two separate ones). See traceroute output posted earlier.

So I can get a new IP from the router, but for PF I will be still using the same IP.

[I like Serena]

My computer is not directly connected to the net, there is a router and a modem (it could be a single device, but for historical reasons there two separate ones). See traceroute output posted earlier.

So I can get a new IP from the router, but for PF I will be still using the same IP.

Quite right!

But I believe that pathping and traceroute will not show the external IP address of your modem.
To see that you need an external server. Typically by browsing for instance to "http://www.whatismyip.com". That will tell you what your actual IP address is.
You may want to check if that changes after a reset of your modem.

Oh, and you can probably also see it on the admin web page of your modem.
Use http://<internal ip address of your modem> to see that.
Most modern modems contain a webserver to configure it.

I expect the external IP address to be dynamically assigned by the ISP. And I expect it might not change after a reset of your modem (not until the lease expires). But that really depends on how the DHCP of your ISP is set up.

(Sorry if I'm saying things here that you're already aware of.)

[Borek]

Quite right!

But I believe that pathping and traceroute will not show the external IP address of your modem.
To see that you need an external server. Typically by browsing for instance to "http://www.whatismyip.com". That will tell you what your actual IP address is.
You may want to check if that changes after a reset of your modem.

Actually I used my PF superpowers to check IP from which I posted - same effect. Ping and traceroute I used to check where the problem starts, and seems like I can blame PF server, not something in my path to the server.

Never seen whatismyip before, thanks for that. Now that I think about it, it is obvious someone did it, just like all those HTTP header checkers I used in the past. I guess I could setup such a site in a blink. Well, say 15 minutes, I hate browsing php manual.

I expect the external IP address to be dynamically assigned by the ISP. And I expect it might not change after a reset of your modem (not until the lease expires). But that really depends on how the DHCP of your ISP is set up.

It is dynamically assigned, and - as far as I know - it is automatically changed once a day. And as the test showed, it it assigned with each connection.

They assign IPs from two completely separate ranges, I have a feeling 79.blah.blah.blah works much better than the other one, but - as we know - the plural of anecdote is not data (thanks for LisaB for posting that).

[Borek]

Argh, still the same IP, again the same situation - my pings are not coming through, 100% packet lost. I am posting now using proxy.

borek@invincible ~ $ ./checkPF
PING physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109) 56(84) bytes of data.

--- physicsforums.com ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 8999ms

traceroute to physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109), 15 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 192.168.0.7 (192.168.0.7) 0.631 ms 0.578 ms 0.540 ms
2 10.0.0.138 (10.0.0.138) 1.008 ms 1.017 ms 0.973 ms
3 * * *
4 xxx.tpnet.pl (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) 55.796 ms 24.359 ms 30.486 ms
5 hbg-b2-link.telia.net (213.248.89.93) 56.974 ms 41.270 ms 42.138 ms
6 hbg-bb2-link.telia.net (80.91.246.8) 41.579 ms 45.743 ms 40.837 ms
7 nyk-bb2-link.telia.net (80.91.247.125) 123.141 ms nyk-bb2-link.telia.net (80.91.247.123) 128.526 ms 127.521 ms
8 dls-bb1-link.telia.net (213.155.130.209) 162.234 ms dls-bb1-link.telia.net (213.155.130.67) 224.847 ms 162.587 ms
9 te3-3.bbr02.eq01.dal01.networklayer.com (213.248.102.174) 167.530 ms 170.632 ms 200.703 ms
10 po6.dar02.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com (173.192.18.213) 186.588 ms 165.011 ms 175.117 ms
11 po2.fcr03.sr04.dal01.networklayer.com (66.228.118.190) 169.002 ms 171.485 ms 180.097 ms
12 * * *
13 * * *
14 * * *
15 * * *[

[Borek]

Again - seems like modem reset and IP change helped.

This is problem only with PF, all other sites I am using work OK.

[Studiot]

Borek, I presume you are located somewhere in Europe, like me, so I may have been seeing similar problems during the last few days.

I have reported progress (they are all fixed now for me) in Greg's other thread.

http://www.physicsforums.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=3351219

go well

[I like Serena]

Argh, still the same IP, again the same situation - my pings are not coming through, 100% packet lost. I am posting now using proxy.

For your reference, here's my traceroute appended (from the Netherlands).
The last part is identical (as expected).

Furthermore my traceroute does not reach physicsforums.com either.
I think that means that it has been blocked by a firewall or something.
That should not be a problem though.

ping did come through the first time, but a second time it didn't.
And EEEWWWWW! :frown:
Since then I have lost the connection physicsforums.com entirely (at about 2011-06-11T18:30:00Z).
This never happened before!
I only got 502/504 gateway timeouts, and never for more than a couple of minutes.

I suspect the very test I did here triggered a DoS defense mechanism on PF!


I reset my modem, indeed getting a new external IP address in the same subnet, but the problem persists.


I tried from elsewhere with "telnet physicsforums.com 80" and that worked, but on my own computer this doesn't since I'm unable to connect.


Right now (2011-06-11T19:20:00Z) I'm still blocked entirely - posting through a proxy now.

Edit: Right now (2011-06-11T19:30:00Z) I can connect again.
Does the DoS perchance have a timeout of 1 hour?



For reference here are my trace results (before the disconnection):

traceroute to physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 10.246.124.1 (10.246.124.1) 2.371 ms 2.516 ms 3.157 ms
2 SpeedTouch.lan (10.0.0.138) 9.318 ms 9.720 ms 10.119 ms
3 <deleted>
4 <deleted>
5 <deleted>
6 asd2-rou-1002.NL.eurorings.net (134.222.97.17) 46.770 ms 21.122 ms 54.049 ms
7 asd2-rou-1022.NL.eurorings.net (134.222.230.34) 25.445 ms 33.176 ms 34.337 ms
8 asd2-rou-1001.NL.eurorings.net (134.222.225.194) 34.847 ms asd2-rou-1001.NL.eurorings.net (134.222.229.101) 35.765 ms asd2-rou-1001.NL.eurorings.net (134.222.229.105) 36.241 ms
9 adm-b5-link.telia.net (213.248.102.161) 36.820 ms 42.628 ms 42.782 ms
10 adm-bb2-link.telia.net (80.91.253.170) 43.610 ms adm-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.246.220) 66.704 ms adm-bb2-link.telia.net (213.155.130.44) 44.507 ms
11 ldn-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.245.106) 82.521 ms 82.648 ms ldn-bb2-link.telia.net (80.91.253.209) 56.086 ms
12 ash-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.251.209) 108.333 ms ash-bb1-link.telia.net (213.248.65.210) 109.889 ms ash-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.246.68) 109.196 ms
13 dls-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.252.122) 143.052 ms dls-bb1-link.telia.net (213.155.130.69) 147.107 ms dls-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.252.122) 147.089 ms
14 te3-3.bbr02.eq01.dal01.networklayer.com (213.248.102.174) 147.436 ms 150.523 ms 150.806 ms
15 po6.dar02.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com (173.192.18.213) 239.810 ms 239.577 ms 155.216 ms
16 po2.fcr03.sr04.dal01.networklayer.com (66.228.118.190) 139.120 ms 145.286 ms 145.737 ms
17 * * *
18 * * *
19 * * *

PING physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=1 ttl=47 time=137 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=2 ttl=47 time=136 ms
64 bytes from physicsforums.com (74.86.200.109): icmp_seq=3 ttl=47 time=139 ms

[Borek]

There are strange things happening, I believe they started to appear after nginx has been installed, but I can be easily wrong.

[I like Serena]

There are strange things happening, I believe they started to appear after nginx has been installed, but I can be easily wrong.

I suspect these are 2 separate things.

I think the very test with traceroute/ping triggered a hardware DoS on PF with presumably a timeout of 1 hour.
This means that you get the message: "unable to connect".

The gateway timeout suggests that the hardware is still functioning properly (PF is still reachable on HTTP), but that nginx (I presume it's configured as a proxy or as a load balancer?) can't reach the actual PF web server, generating a HTML gateway timeout message.

[Insanity]

i am getting a 400 Bad Request on my laptop.

[Evo]

No problem here.

[lisab]

No problem here.

I have a slight problem: I have a bit of sunburn on my back :tongue2:

No connection problems from beautiful Tacoma.

[dlgoff]

Some threads try to load i52.tinypic.com that never happens; I've noticed this for a few days. I using Firefox 5.

[Ivan92]

I get the occasional can't connect; something nginx 504 or something, but PF is running fine.

[Lancelot59]

Seems to be running fine to me.

[danR]

Has been going very slow (pages take a long time to display) for the past couple of days on Mac Safari/Opera/FF. I've checked other vBulletin run sites (medical, Engineering), no problems, lightning-fast.

Then, it has its moments where everything is back to normal.

I've tried clearing cookies, cache, browsing (not signed in). No difference.

Addendum: I'm also in a university area, with exceptionally good internet service, on a very reliable ISP. I have never had an internet issue in 2 years. I had a Safari upgrade a week or so ago, but that doesn't explain Opera/FF anyway.

[Ivan92]

Has been going very slow (pages take a long time to display) for the past couple of days on Mac Safari/Opera/FF. I've checked other vBulletin run sites (medical, Engineering), no problems, lightning-fast.

Then, it has its moments where everything is back to normal.

I've tried clearing cookies, cache, browsing (not signed in). No difference.
I have been running on Mac Safari and no pages have been loading slowly these last couple of days.

[Studiot]

Was very slow about 10 days ago but been fine more recently.

South West UK.

Perhaps it's like a tide or other periodic phenomenon moving around the globe?

[Nik_2213]

Tonight's running slower than usual, IMHO.
(NW UK)

[Lancelot59]

I got 504'd while going to the reply input today.

[FeDeX_LaTeX]

No problems here.

Thanks for this, this was a good read.

[Ben Niehoff]

The last few days, pages have been loading incredibly slow. They hang on loading the ads. So either some advertiser out there has coded their Flash in some stupid way that causes it to hang, or the ad server itself is having problems. My guess would be with the former.

But in either case, this is not a DDoS attack. It's some stupid ad programmer who doesn't care whether the page his ad is displayed on is actually able to load.

[Greg Bernhardt]

The last few days, pages have been loading incredibly slow. They hang on loading the ads. So either some advertiser out there has coded their Flash in some stupid way that causes it to hang, or the ad server itself is having problems. My guess would be with the former.

http://www.physicsforums.com/payments.php :biggrin:

[DaveC426913]

http://www.physicsforums.com/payments.php :biggrin:
ba-zing!

[Jack21222]

The last few days, pages have been loading incredibly slow. They hang on loading the ads. So either some advertiser out there has coded their Flash in some stupid way that causes it to hang, or the ad server itself is having problems. My guess would be with the former.

But in either case, this is not a DDoS attack. It's some stupid ad programmer who doesn't care whether the page his ad is displayed on is actually able to load.

Ads? What ads?

http://adblockplus.org/en/

[dlgoff]

Ads? What ads?

http://adblockplus.org/en/

I don't see ads either. :grumpy:

[Borek]

502 Bad Gateway again :grumpy:

[Char. Limit]

502 Bad Gateway again :grumpy:

I got one too. Seems like I've been getting them for a while, actually.

[Hootenanny]

I got one too. Seems like I've been getting them for a while, actually.
Same here :frown:

[rhody]

No bad Gateway here, just slow to load, can't do any advanced searches and hitting main pages was very slow, between 6:00 - 6:30 am EDT.

Rhody...

[Borek]

And again. Note there is a half an hour gap in posts at PF between 12:30 and 13:00 PM my time (that is, last half an hour). Earlier there were posts every few minutes, which suggests it was a problem with PF, not with my link.

[Doc Al]

502 Bad Gateway again :grumpy:
I had it also.

[Andre]

Same problem here but the speed looks normal again

[rhody]

Drive-by intermittent hacker attacks perhaps, if so, how fiendishly clever on their part, lets hope that this scenario is NOT the case. Any comments ? Greg ? Admins ?

Rhody... :bugeye:

[lisab]

There was a long delay to sign in, a message at the bottom of the page said "waiting for xxxx.mathjax.org". If I get it again, I'll note what the "xxxx" is.

[Greg Bernhardt]

Drive-by intermittent hacker attacks perhaps, if so, how fiendishly clever on their part, lets hope that this scenario is NOT the case. Any comments ? Greg ? Admins ?

Rhody... :bugeye:

nginx simply crashed. no attack

There was a long delay to sign in, a message at the bottom of the page said "waiting for xxxx.mathjax.org". If I get it again, I'll note what the "xxxx" is.

cdn. not related

[dlgoff]

nginx simply crashed. no attack



cdn. not related
Things have been working very well on this end. But thanks for this info as we are all a little.....a lot addicted to PF. :approve:

[Borek]

There was a long delay to sign in, a message at the bottom of the page said "waiting for xxxx.mathjax.org". If I get it again, I'll note what the "xxxx" is.

This is our new LaTeX engine, sometimes it has its own quirks.

I see this message several times a day on average. In my case it is most likely Opera related :grumpy:

[lisab]

This is our new LaTeX engine, sometimes it has its own quirks.

I see this message several times a day on average. In my case it is most likely Opera related :grumpy:

I'm using Chrome.

[dlgoff]

I'm using Chrome.
I'm using the Windows 7 operating system and added the STIX Fonts (http://www.stixfonts.org/) which may speed up some equations. Here's the MathJax Font Help (http://www.mathjax.org/help/fonts/) installation instructions.

[Borek]

I'm using Chrome.

MathJax is on different servers that PF is, so it may happen you can connect to PF without problems, while MathJax can't be reached. This part is not browser dependent, so it won't be surprising to see it on any computer.

Problem with Opera seems to be that for some reason it tries to contact MathJax servers each time PF pages are loading, instead of using cached version of the files. That means much more traffic and higher probability of problems. As far as I can tell Chrome uses cached version much more efficiently on my machine, but I didn't test it well enough to be sure - could be I was just lucky. For sure when Opera fails to load PF pages, I can switch to Chrome and browse the site without problems.

[rhody]

Bad Gateway after submitting a post, lost it, about 6:30 AM EDT.

Rhody...

[Borek]

I have the problem about once a day each day, around 11 GMT. It never lasts long and - as far I can tell - it can't be assigned to a specific time, more like +/- 1 hour of some point.

As it happens also in the morning - when AFAIK maintenance scripts are working, I wonder if it is not some other maintenance script?

[Andre]

Yes for me, every morning at 8:30 am exactly, PF is down for a few minutes. Maybe one year, I'll learn not to try to open PF exactly at that time.