What is up with orion.powweb.com?

[CodeJunkee]

I recently signed up with powweb, and have had problems from the start. I'm still in the process of having the DNS information changed from my registrar so i'm using the temporary web address supplied by powweb (<domain>.powweb.com) - this is where the problem lies...

on some days i can access the website, on others i cannot. and yes, i have put index.html under the htdocs dir (like i said, it works on some days and others it does not) - i also have the same issues with using the address orion.powweb.com to login for FTP. On some days it works on some days it does not.. although i have read on some other thread, that i should use 64.63.125.42 instead of orion.powweb.com (and that always works but besides the point!) - so what's going on powweb ? i realize 99.7% uptime means the servers are proned to go down once in awhile but i have never seen where i cannot access my website for hours at a time!!? (like now! 6:50pm PST 2/2/02)

anyway, i really like this package i signed up for, price is great and the perks (php, mysql, etc) are plentiful, but how can i take advantage of any of this (or why should I?) when i can't even view my website!!?

CJ.

[Starr]

There are no current issues with orion (nor has there been).

What is your domain name?

[fcsnc]

Starr - FYI

There may be no issues with orion from your point of view, but there are issues with some of your clients.

Yesterday at 10:00 a.m. EST, ALL cacheing name servers east of the Mississippi were resolving the hostname "orion.powweb.com" to the IP address 64.63.125.221.

As I write this, a Visualroute trace from Melbourne, AU does the same thing: Witness the following "snap":


================================================== ===========
=== VisualRoute (tm) 6.0b report on 02-Feb-02 10:25:04 PM ===
================================================== ===========

Real-time report for orion.powweb.com [64.63.125.221] (90% done)

Analysis: IP packets are being lost past network "MobileNetics Corporation" at hop 19. There is insufficient
cached information to determine the next network at hop 20.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Hop | %Loss | IP Address | Node Name | Location | Tzone | ms | Graph | Network |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | | 203.94.129.69 | webms1.brd.net.au | - | | | | United Energy Communications |
| 1 | | 203.43.193.220 | gw-router.brd.net.au | - | | 0 | x | Telstra Internet |
| 2 | | 203.94.129.25 | - | ?(Australia) | +10:00 | 0 | x | United Energy Communications |
| 3 | | 203.94.128.10 | gi-2-2.stk601-cb1.vic.uecomm.net.au | - | | 0 | x | Uecomm Australia |
| 4 | | 203.94.128.5 | gi-4-2.cit190-cb1.vic.uecomm.net.au | - | | 0 | x | |
| 5 | | 203.94.128.25 | at-2-6-35.spe330-cs1.core.uecomm.net.au | - | | 0 | x | |
| 6 | | 203.94.132.74 | atm2-0-3.que31-cs1.core.uecomm.net.au | - | | 0 | x | United Energy Communications |
| 7 | | 203.166.43.141 | 303.ATM2-0-0.GW2.MEL1.ALTER.NET | Melbourne, VIC, Australia | +10:00 | 0 | x | UUNET AU Non-Portable Customer Assignment |
| 8 | | 210.80.32.29 | 322.AT-3-0-0.XR2.MEL1.ALTER.NET | Melbourne, VIC, Australia | +10:00 | 0 | x | UUNET Technologies, Inc. |
| 9 | | 210.80.33.17 | so-0-0-1.XR1.SYD4.ALTER.NET | Sydney, NSW, Australia | +10:00 | 14 | x | UUNET Technologies, Inc. |
| 10 | | 210.80.51.73 | 0.SO-3-0-0.TR2.SYD4.ALTER.NET | Sydney, NSW, Australia | +10:00 | 9 | x | IDX.COM.AU |
| 11 | | 210.80.49.158 | 0.so-3-0-0.IR2.LAX12.Alter.Net | Los Angeles, CA, USA | -08:00 | 281 | x | IDX.COM.AU |
| 12 | | 137.39.31.238 | POS2-0.IR2.LAX9.ALTER.NET | Los Angeles, CA, USA | -08:00 | 281 | x | UUNET Technologies, Inc. |
| 13 | | 152.63.11.14 | 122.at-6-1-0.TR2.LAX9.ALTER.NET | Los Angeles, CA, USA | -08:00 | 281 | x | UUNET Technologies, Inc. |
| 14 | | 152.63.112.185 | 196.ATM6-0.XR2.LAX4.ALTER.NET | Los Angeles, CA, USA | -08:00 | 281 | x | UUNET Technologies, Inc. |
| 15 | | 152.63.115.77 | 192.ATM5-0.GW9.LAX4.ALTER.NET | Los Angeles, CA, USA | -08:00 | 281 | x | UUNET Technologies, Inc. |
| 16 | 20 | 157.130.69.154 | internap-gw.customer.ALTER.NET | - | | 391 | --x-- | UUNET Technologies, Inc. |
| 17 | 40 | 216.52.255.84 | border16.ge3-0-bbnet2.lax.pnap.net | Los Angeles, CA, USA | -08:00 | 387 | -x-- | InterNAP Network Services, PNAP-LAX |
| 18 | 10 | 63.251.209.202 | myrient-6.border16.f5-2.lax.pnap.net | Los Angeles, CA, USA | -08:00 | 296 | x | InterNAP Network Services |
| 19 | 10 | 64.63.129.195 | - | ?Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688 | | 330 | x- | MobileNetics Corporation |
| ... | | | | | | | | |
| ? | | 64.63.125.221 | orion.powweb.com | ?Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688 | | | | MobileNetics Corporation |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[CodeJunkee]

ok, here's the temp url powweb set up after i signed up: netiphoustonorg.powweb.com - i cannot access this url from time to time (like right now: 10pm PST 2/3/02), and i have no idea why. the same issues when trying to upload thru the FTP (orion.powweb.com - it'll go up/down too although right now i'm able to login) - i know you're going to tell you can see the site just fine (that's no surprise...) but why can't I??? And it cant be my ISP cause everything else i try to surf comes up just fine. if i try to ping netiphoustonorg.powweb.com - it times out! so what's up with orion i ask again?? very frustrating!!!!!!

CJ.

[fcsnc]

If you have a cable modem it can very well be your ISP. Cable providers often cache DNS information--and look for no new DNS information--for at least 7 days at a time.

In my view, the above problems were real, despite the views of some, but your current problem is definitely with your ISP. Report back in a few days. Meanwhile, you can reach orion.powweb.com by its IP address, which is 64.63.125.42.

[CodeJunkee]

Hey fcsnc,

Thanks for the info. and the IP address to orion, but would you happen to know how i can access my account thru orion's IP? Meaning where in orion is my account stored so that i can access it thru the web? (i.e. http://64.63.125.42/www/n/netiphouston/) - of course this doesnt work cause the path may be wrong but if my ISP has incorrect DNS information then i should theoretically be able to access the website directly from the IP right ? I would just need the correct path then, no? thanks for any help.

CJ.

[Starr]

http://netiphoustonorg.powweb.com/ works fine for me and I am coming from off site.

There is no other way to access your files other that you’re temporary URL (only lasts 30 days) or your FQDN (i.e.: netiphouston.org).

[CodeJunkee]

And i'm trying to view it from work now! i tried to ping netiphoustonorg.powweb.com - and this is what i got:

Pinging netiphoustonorg.powweb.com [64.63.125.221] with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 64.63.125.221:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

can you please check if the IP address is correct ? otherwise does this mean the DNS information for our ISP is wrong? sorry for being such a headache, btw!

-CJ.

[fcsnc]

Is your domain name really NETIPHOUSTON.ORG? If so, you should get with your Registrar and get your authoritative DNS switched to Powweb's DNS servers. After that gets in gear you face another 7 days of confusion.

If you are using Windows and know how to create a HOSTS file, you can put an entry in it similar to:

64.63.125.42 orion.powweb.com netiphouston.org www.netiphouston.org

Then you can test things in your browser. Just remember that this will only "fix" things for your computer, not for anyone else in your world.

[CodeJunkee]

ok, i can finally see the website... except now when i ping it i get the following:

Pinging netiphoustonorg.powweb.com [64.63.125.42] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 64.63.125.42: bytes=32 time=156ms TTL=42
Reply from 64.63.125.42: bytes=32 time=156ms TTL=42
Reply from 64.63.125.42: bytes=32 time=157ms TTL=42
Reply from 64.63.125.42: bytes=32 time=157ms TTL=42

Ping statistics for 64.63.125.42:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 156ms, Maximum = 157ms, Average = 156ms

** notice the IP change. i guess this means my ISP had not updated its DNS table ? so that begs the question, how often does powweb change their IP's for sub-domains? and why do they change so often?

anyway, thanks to all that tried to give a little insight..

CJ.

[CodeJunkee]

<sigh>

can't access the website again (6:30pm PST, 2/4/02) - the IP address (when i tried to ping netiphoustonorg.powweb.com) reverted back to 64.63.125.221 which is wrong. However, if I ping orion.powweb.com i get the correct IP address (64.63.125.42) So who's at fault here and why isn't netiphoustonorg.powweb.com mapping to the correct IP? Moreover, why is it certain times during the day it maps correctly and other times not? This is sooooo bizarre! Argh!!!! Who do I contact about this? Obviously, somebody's DNS tables are screwed up, no? i dont know anymore...

CJ.

[esccanada]

Well I see no problem from here.

It works (although there are a few missing pages).

netiphoustonorg.powweb.com translates to the correct IP (64.63.125.42 = orion.powweb.com)

netiphouston.org shows the redirect page which then sends the viewer to the "coming soon" page (thus answering why there are still missing pages ;) )

netiphouston.org is still pointing to 64.35.110.235 at 9NetAve using the Qualihost nameservers so obviously Dotster hasn't changed that yet (or it hasn't propogated through the system).

Looks good so far and when the domain is transferred it should work immediately.

Cheers.