Website Back Online - Hopefully.

[commander]

Apologies all for the down time. This was a tough one. After working with our web host, they were able to track down the issue. Apparently they had to "flush the firewall". Does anyone know what this mean?

I hope this means uninterrupted chatter going forward and we'll no longer receive time out issues or overload issues. Fingers crossed and may the force be with you.

[rRr]

Loading takes long time and many items are missing, but at least its working. :)

[RebelYell]

Maybe the result of a SYN-Flood on the server(s). That usually not blocks the firewall but the TCP-Stack. Such a SYN-Flood is known from DOS/DDOS attacks. May not be targeted on your site but on any other site on the same server. (if virtual servers are used)
May even affect the whole provider.

Anyway, difficult to say from outside.

[RebelYell]

Here some basic info about it:
http://baheyeldin.com/technology/linux/ ... linux.html
(Google brought me that result)

Enabling syn cookies like told in the link above can help. But maybe these are already enabled (some servers/stacks also enable the cookies on high loads only).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SYN_flood

[pdqsport]

I think I echo the thoughts of many of us here when I say that we are just glad the site is back. :)

[rRr]

pdqsport - Yup and it is also back at its previous speed which is GREAT! ;)

[DeathStriker]

I too am glad to see this Forum back up and running again. Hopefully we won't have any issues for quite some time going forward.

[commander]

I tried from another machine earlier today and it was still timing out. According to the server guys, they had to manually whitelist the IP which sounds strange. If you or know anyone experiencing issues, please let me know (with exact time of issue) so I can bring it to the server guys. Thanks!

[DeathStriker]

Commander - In case you are unfamiliar with the "term" of "Whitelist" here is a definition (from Wikipedia).

A whitelist is a list or register of entities that are being provided a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. Entities on the list will be accepted, approved and/or recognized.

Whitelisting is the reverse of blacklisting, the practice of identifying entities that are denied, unrecognised, or ostracised.

Hope that helps you understand better.