It's a weird wired world

[Tannin]

Clearly there are some broken systems out there on the web right now. OK, you get outages now and then, and sometimes (not very often) you get a whole big area down - typically, the United States is out, presumably because of a problem with the trans-pacific links. But this present one is a doozie.

Down, out for the count, cannot find server:

*.gov.au
att.net
magpies.net
theregister.co.uk
all the other wikimedia sites except wikipedia
birdforum.ner and associated sites
Roughly 2/3rds or maybe 3/4s of all my other bookmarked sites - some hundreds I guess, too many to list here

Working just fine:
theinquirer.net
wikipedia
my own sites (hosted in California)
storageforum.net
About 1/4 of the other sites I have bookmarked

Now for the really weird ones:

labs.adobe.com
forum.dpreview.com

These are out - but other parts of the same domains - e.g., www.adobe.com - are working just fine.

It's a doozie!

Not that this is from a couple of different computers and various different browsers. It's clearly a massive DNS problem, but completely unpredictable which sites it will nail and which are OK. I'm too lazy to drive back to the office and see if I'm getting it there as well.

 

[Mercutio]

Try a different DNS server. 4.2.2.2 is a pretty easy one to remember.

Another likely possibility is that two top-tier telcos have stopped talking to one another for whatever reason. It's happened before, and can result in a similar set of conditions.

 

[.Nut]

Mercutio beat me to the posting button.

Yes, this is indicative of a DNS problem on your end. The DNS server you normally use has a problem. In addition to problems that Merc mentions, it could be as bad as your DNS server is/was in the midst of downloading a whole new copy of the DNS database.

*IF* you knew the IP addresses of these websites, you could've used the IP address instead of the name, for example: (http : //123.234.123.231/photo/). Using IP addresses instead of names is bad because IP addresses for websites can and do change without users knowing. Domains and server names change much less often. The Fathers of The Internet (FoTI) recognised this potential problem early on and created DNS.

 

[Tannin]

Thanks guys, I didn't have the IP addresses handy. But after a while it occurred to me to reset my hub, reboot the smoothie, and wander into the kitchen for a slice of toast. Oh, and reset the cable modem too. When I got back, everything was normal again. I'm guessing the Smoothie lost the plot, but maybe there was nothing wrong at my end and the recovery was coincidental. I imagine that I'll never know for sure.

 

[Buck]

Thanks guys, I didn't have the IP addresses handy. But after a while it occurred to me to reset my hub, reboot the smoothie, and wander into the kitchen for a slice of toast. Oh, and reset the cable modem too. When I got back, everything was normal again. I'm guessing the Smoothie lost the plot, but maybe there was nothing wrong at my end and the recovery was coincidental. I imagine that I'll never know for sure.

(Toast and no tea?)

 

[Corvair]

(Toast and no tea?)

Toast and no tea?

Toast and no Tea?


A world of difference exists between these two sentences.

 

[mubs]

I probably should install some kind of DNS caching program and / or use IP addresses in bookmarks. My slow connection gets slower with repeated lookups to my favorite sites. Plus I pay for bandwidth usage, and it makes no sense to do the same lookups multiple times a day. Any suggestions? TIA.

 

[time]

Use Opera.

 

[mubs]

Thanks, but I'll defer that for now. Over time I've found that my likes/dislikes are quite similar to Merc's, and I know how he feels about Opera

At this time, time, I just don't have the energy to give up Firefox and try another browser.

 

[CityK]

My ISP's DNS has been intermitently fluctuating between normal and crawl mode the last couple of days (started to notice a slow down on Sunday morning). Tonight it just got to the point where it was "Sufferin’ succotash" this is ridiculous !

Switched over to openDNS (4.2.2.2) and all's back to normal.

How long would, as Gary suggested one possiblity above, downloading a new DNS database take? Heading on five days seems a little excessive.

 

[GIANT]

How long would, as Gary suggested one possiblity above, downloading a new DNS database take?

Unless you have a nice fat pipe to a backbone, it would be a hell of a long time over a skinny lil' DSL line in this day and age of billions of DNS entries.

As for your predicament: I highly suspect that your ISP had a DNS server failure or server upgrade and is now trying to get the replacement DNS server up-to-date. Your ISP may not have had a secondary DNS server standing by in case of a primary DNS server failure. Your ISP's DNS server(s) might have been hacked and he ended up wiping them and starting from scratch. Your ISP's link to an "outside" DNS server has become flaky. There are many scenarios.

 

[mangyDOG]

If your ISP is ncable, their DNS servers are quite unreliable. I have several clients with similar problems every few weeks, to the point now I have the mobile number of one their techs in my speed dial so I can get them to reboot the dns server here in Ballarat ;-).

Cheers,
mangyDOG

 

[CityK]

Unless you have a nice fat pipe to a backbone, it would be a hell of a long time over a skinny lil' DSL line in this day and age of billions of DNS entries.

Not me you fool ;-) -- Them. Recall you wrote:

it could be as bad as your DNS server is/was in the midst of downloading a whole new copy of the DNS database.

As for your predicament: ... There are many scenarios.

It seems okay now thankfully! -- I just don't know if I could have stood another day without receiving my daily dose of "[Bulk] Re: VlhAGRA" or "[BULK] Re: Hot stock tip!" or "[Bulk] Re: Don't be the little guy at club" or "[Bulk] Re: can you imagine being healthy" or "[Bulk] Re: We save you on meds!" or "[Bulk] Re: All ur fav OEM software" or ........

 

[GIANT]

Not me you fool ;-) -- Them. Recall you wrote:

As Mister T likes to say, "Pity the fool!" Or is it, "Pity the foo !"

 

[CityK]

As Mister T likes to say, "Pity the fool!" Or is it, "Pity the foo !"

Speaking of Mr.T, flipping through channels the other night, I spotted him on some show.

Initially I thought it was about him being a motivational speaker for a bunch of used car salesmen....but after a minute of watching I decided that it was probably more likely a case that the premise was Mr.T got in trouble with the IRS and will now dance for dollars or for any other menial task...he looked terrrible...kind of like he has had some skin grafting on his face (think burn victim).