the case of the disappearing website....

brownboy66

this is for reference in case anyone else has the same problem...

I use MTNL broadband here in Delhi - and I have to say I've had very few problems. So went online this morning to find my connection would happily download some sites, but not others. Hmmm.....the connection is obviously working since I can browse the internet - but why can't I access some websites. Ok - maybe something is blocking it.
Check for malware - nothing.
Check for spyware - nothing.
Check for a virus - nothing.
Make sure zonealarm, spybot, virus protection, script blocker, internet settings are not blocking the site, java apps, etc - nothing. Hmmm.....2 hours now gone.

Unload zone alarm - nothing (put back)
Unload spybot - nothing (put back)
Have coffee - stomp around house consider adopting a new technology free lifestyle!

Edit host file, add IP addresses for affected sites - nothing.
Check DNS setting on PC (windows xp) - ok
Change DNS settings on PC to local free DNS (bypass my ISPs DNS) - nothing
Check router DNS settings (set to relay)
Change to selected ISP DNS - nothing.
Change router - nothing.

Attempt a connection to blocked sites via anonymous proxy - success! Hmmm - so connecting via europe or the US is ok - but not directly from India to the affected sites. Check DNS records of affected sites to see if there is a particulare ISP who doesn't like India? - nothing.

Enter in destination IP of affected ISP instead of URL and - viola - now all sites are working. As much as I hate it when things stop working - I hate it when they start working again and I don't know why!

Aishah

bb - if you can explain what an 'anonymous proxy'is then I will save this info for reference should it happen to me! Sounds very frustrating stuff, although I hardly understand it!

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shashank.aggarwal

This is indeed surprising...however some ISP's do this due to competition is not due to government..

Is it possible for you to tell what sites we are talking about...I would like to test them on my Sify and Airtel Connection !!

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maltabella

HI BROWN,
I understood half of what you said but it seems to be extremelyu interesting and usefull.
Could ytou please explain how to connect via an anonimous proxy, (I am asking you because I think it is the only way people from urma can connect and update their blog in these days)
thank you max

brownboy66

an anonymous proxy is a website that you connect to that then allows you to surf other sites through them (so any site you go to will see the proxy address, not yours). Basically it hides your identity. Can be handy for some sites that accidentally, or stupidly ban an entire range of IP addresses (like all of india for example). Also allows you to connect to sites from another region (so if you use a proxy in the US to get to Australia - then Australia will see it as a US address). This helps with narrowing down where a particular connection problem might be.

Hi shashank. The site was correspondence.co.nz (I use it for my daughters correspondence education). I'm almost certain the problem as some sort of name resolution/ routing problem with MTNL DNS. The fact that the connection went through once I used the IP address of the site (instead of the URL) - means MTNL DSN was not able to resolve the URL. By using the IP addresses directly - no resolution required and the connection went straight through. Now it can resolve the URL - meaning the DNS now knows which IP address is associated with the URL I was using.

Hi Max. Put anonymous proxy into google and you'll get all sorts of explanations as to how they work. To try one out - type in www.anonymouse.org - and then follow the instructions.

Prashant.M

Too late BB66. Its obvious that you love technology and tinkering around with it.
How does one do this?

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Aishah

Thanks bb - I am starting to see some light. I gather you type in the IP address where you normally would put URL? where it says address at the top of your window? Actually, i hope I never have your problem...!!! But this is a good post, just the same.

brownboy66

Actually I can take it or leave it - it's more the problem solving I enjoy!.....

One of the great things about the internet. Everything you need is there - you just need to know where to find it. Take the name of the website (indiamike.com for example), and go to a site called dnsreport.com. Its part of a larger site called dnsstuff.com. Enter the name of the website into the dialogue box called dns report - and viola - you'll get a report giving you the ip address for the site, the name of the isp hosting the site, the identity of their name servers, etc. Used to be that if you wanted to do this in the past you had to have the software and find a friendly name server somewhere to direct the enquiry at. Now its a web site

brownboy66

correct - so instead of typing in http://www.indiamike.com in the address bar you would put in http://75.126.163.232 (which is the actual IP address for indiamike).

Prashant.M

Cool . Thanks brownboy. Can't wait to try this one out.

Aishah

bb - many thanks for clear explanation, i am getting it!! I will remember the title of this thread because i am a keen Agatha Christie fan.
Coincidentally the word stuff as in dnsstuff.com reminds me that just today, two visitors from Christchurch came to see me and told me about stuff.co.nz - u probably already know, but it is great for NZ news, and newspapers - just an OT thought nothing to do with sport!

brownboy66

And here's one back at ya! Google run a news service that allows you to specify which country you want to look at - but unlike the print media it will also include items from radio, tv, etc, and from news sources all over the world (reuters, bloomberg, CNN, etc0 - so its a pretty comprehensive news feed. The one for NZ is:

http://news.google.co.nz/nwshp?oe=UT...ned=nz&topic=n

Also - another news site is www.newswire.co.nz .This one scans all the media in NZ and provides a little summary of each story (and you can have it emailed to you - all for free).

cheers

bb

Aishah

Thanks for that - will check out in afternoon when I have more time! Living here for such a while, first without internet even,
and absolutely no news fromm Oz or NZ apart from friends' letters, the world is suddenly opening up to me! Wasn't until I got my (terrible!) GPRS that I have been able to see these possibilities, so am a very late starter, but still have that initial enthusiasm when everything is new and exciting.