Help with Batch Upload & 1and1 Hosting

[PTownBandit]

OK, I am hoping to get some help here.  I have searched through the forums for a similar issue but didn't see any.

I have 1and1 web hosting and I am using Coppermine Gallery, have been for several years without issues.

I run probably around 20 - 25 websites through this hosting account and run a couple galleries, each with there own MySQL DB.

I am not saying this is a Coppermine issue but I am hoping that someone here has the knowledge to help me pinpoint what the issue may be.

Monday I uploaded 150 or so photos via FTP (<100KB each) to do a batch upload with, this is how I always upload photos.  Created a new Album, went into Batch upload, chose the folder, chose the Album, all the pics came into preview and were checked, i click insert into gallery and then it just sits there......  then it times out and I get an error.  And now every single one of my websites will not load in any browsers.  I can;t connect to my FTP site.  Nothing works at all.  I have cleared caches, cookies, temp files, restarted, everything and anything.  Nothing helps.

I go into work on a different computer and different ISP (Bundled T1).  Everything works.  If I attempt the upload there, ditto, everything ceases to work.  Every computer  (over 12 different machines) in the whole office will not load any of my websites.

Right now if I attempt to bring up any of my sites I get a Page Load Error, Connection Interrupted.  The problem goes away after about 24 hours and everything works again until I attempt the upload.  The same thing happened a month or so ago but after it came back up the upload worked, just a little slow.  This time it has failed 3 consecutive days.   I am no where near the quote for the MySQL DB.

The site in question is MaximumDirt.com, there is a link to Photos or Videos that will take you into the gallery.  I just updated to the most recent version this morning and tried it for the 3rd time and I am once again locked out of everything.

Any suggestions on what this could be, I have an email into 1and1 support to see what they say, I can only expect no help from them though. 

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Joachim Müller]

The site in question is MaximumDirt.com

Actually, it's http://www.maximumdirt.com/

there is a link to Photos or Videos that will take you into the gallery

Deep link to gallery is http://www.maximumdirt.com/gallery/

Right now if I attempt to bring up any of my sites I get a Page Load Error, Connection Interrupted.

Site works for me as expected.

The problem goes away after about 24 hours and everything works again until I attempt the upload.

You'll have to discuss that with your webhost. Sounds like the server crashed and is being restarted by a schedule run by your webhost or manually by the tech staff there. Should only happen on improper webserver setups, which should not be the case on 1&1 - the usually are very reliable.

If you have actual upload issues, do exactly as suggested in the docs, section "asking for support on upload issues".

[PTownBandit]

Sounds like the server crashed and is being restarted by a schedule run by your webhost or manually by the tech staff there. Should only happen on improper webserver setups, which should not be the case on 1&1 - the usually are very reliable.

If you have actual upload issues, do exactly as suggested in the docs, section "asking for support on upload issues".

If the server crashed you wouldn't be able to see it though correct?

I knew most likely it is an issue with 1and1, like I said I was just hoping to get some knowledge from anyone here who may have experienced similar issues, I don't understand how I can lose complete access to my sites and FTP but go to another ISP and have it and everyone else can see the sites.  It is almost like something is blocking me after the error occurs while attempting the upload.

[Joachim Müller]

Is the site currently blocked for you? Because it isn't for me. If this is the case for you (i.e. if the server is actually down for you), then the problem doesn't exist on server-side, but client-side.
It's not necessarily a webserver issue - we can't determine what went wrong. I'm sure that you will not get a usefull reply if you contact your webhost with an email similar to your posting here - instead, they'll tell you that coppermine is a third-party application from their perspective and that it will go unsupported. You have to prove that the server actually crashes if an error in the app happens. As a first step I suggest doing as I posted and start reading the "asking for support on upload issues" section of the docs. You need to rule out a mistake on your end before contacting support and getting smacked by them because of some potentially misleading words in your support call.

[PTownBandit]

Yes, the site is currently not working for me.  Something has to be going on at the web host level but it only affects me or the network/internet i am currently on.  For example, try http://www.jeepwheelin.com that's another site I host and it has a gallery but not Coppermine.  I am sure it is working for you but I can't access it.

I have used Coppermine for years now and i go about every upload just like I do all the time, I do uploads every week.

I'll read through the document you suggest though.

[PTownBandit]

Well for some reason this topic lost several posts.

But as expected everything works fine this morning.  I haven't attempted to do the batch upload.

[Joe Carver]

Everyone but you seems to be able to connect. So here is a summary of what I posted yesterday.

Use these third party sites to confirm your site is visible/functional

www.network-tools.com    - trace/ping
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/     - page load speed/errors

Use a different browser

http://www.google.com/chrome          - new style
http://www.seamonkey-project.org/    - "old style"

Be sure your hosts file(s) are not corrupted.

Log off before trying to reconnect. Double/double check your cookie settings.

Good Luck!

[phill104]

Well for some reason this topic lost several posts.

But as expected everything works fine this morning.  I haven't attempted to do the batch upload.

This will explain what happened.

http://forum.coppermine-gallery.net/index.php/topic,60323.0.html

However, my previous suggestion still stands. Bul upload and if you are still blocked out and unable to see your site briefly turn off your firewall and see if that helps.

It could also be a script on your server. I have seen server side scripts that block an IP address for a time limited period to prevent DOS attacks or flood spam attacks. Some of these scripts are badly coded and pick up false positives.

[PTownBandit]

It could also be a script on your server. I have seen server side scripts that block an IP address for a time limited period to prevent DOS attacks or flood spam attacks. Some of these scripts are badly coded and pick up false positives.

This makes the most sense right there.  I have tried disabling firewall, anti virus, etc, etc. 

Would a script be the doing of the actual web host? Or part of Coppermine??

[phill104]

It is something the webhost does but I must admit I have never seen it with 1&1, who are usually quite good.

I do not think this is something we can help you with. 1&1 should be able to look at the logs and see what is going wrong. It will help if you give them the time of day you are doing the batch add and the time it goes wrong for you. It could be your end, or it could be your servers end.

Good luck. Please report back once it is fixed and tell us what the outcome was. I doubt it will help ithers but I am interested to find out.

[Joe Carver]

You also have a script or plugin running on your pages, some version of open the "Powered by Coppermine" link in a new window. (best guess)
Try turning that off in case it might not be running properly.

So this must be @ home.......

This makes the most sense right there.  I have tried disabling firewall, anti virus, etc, etc. 

And you have also said...

I go into work on a different computer and different ISP (Bundled T1).  Everything works.  If I attempt the upload there, ditto, everything ceases to work.  Every computer  (over 12 different machines) in the whole office will not load any of my websites.

Which should have been two different ip addresses. (best guess)

So then assuming you have tried a couple of the previously suggested variables....the question is: What are you using for ftp? Is it set to keep connections alive forever?

And yes, there is a current apache "mitigation" that your host might have implemented in the last week or so.

[PTownBandit]

I use CUTE FTP

What do you mean by turn off the Powered by Coppermine script?  I don't follow you there.  Remove the link?

[Joe Carver]

http://www.maximumdirt.com/gallery/

Code Select Expand

<script type="text/javascript" src="external.js"></script>

Filezilla works very well.

See: http://forum.coppermine-gallery.net/index.php/topic,31423.msg145470.html#msg145470

[PTownBandit]

I haven't run the batch upload at home so I keep access to everything so I removed the code from the template file along with the other script right above it last night and checked, the gallery remained up no errors.  So I waited until this morning at work to test so I wouldn't lock myself out if it didn't work. 

Anyways, brought it up this morning and went to add the files to the gallery, they have been uploaded for several days now.  Same thing, it sat for awhile and the threw an error.  No I can't access any of my sites, ftp, etc.  I have been emailing 1and1, they asked me this morning what my IP was so they can see if it is blocked (so they do block somehow) so that's good at least since I am blocked again here on a dedicated IP.  I gave them the address so we'll see what they say.

[PTownBandit]

Well, here is the answer...

from 1and1 Support:

We have checked the IP address X.X.X.X and it has been blocked from
accessing the server. This happens if you send syn requests multiple
times to the server, the IPS are blocked because it has the potential to
harm the system. Your IP will be unblocked after 24 hours.

So is this "syn request"  something Coppermine sends?  I emailed them back and said it doesn't make sense because I upload photos every week and never have any problems, I didn't do anything different this week and this suddenly happens.  I asked if this was something new, we'll see what they say.

[Joe Carver]

Syn requests are part of tcp protocol. Too many can degrade/crash/corrupt an unprotected server.

If you are on Windows - go to command and type     netstat -a
and you will see some of what is going on.

Assuming that you have eliminated some of the software/browsers/ftp programs as advised earlier and have eliminated any type of malware that might be common to all of the computers you are using, then you might also want to monitor your router traffic. Also be sure that your host files are OK (again)

Do a trace from your ip to their's looking for misdirected hops.

You could also ask them for copies of the logs to see what triggered the problem.

[edit]

along with the other script right above it

That other script is part of Coppermines's core - put it back or you will have more trouble!
[/edit]

[Joe Carver]

Your site seems to set 4 cookies on load. I am not sure if that is standard and I am going to get in way too deep here if I keep going....

However, this is what your server replies with.

Code Select Expand

Initiating server query ...
Looking up IP address for domain: www.maximumdirt.com
The IP address for the domain is: 74.208.89.77
Connecting to the server on standard HTTP port: 80
[Connected]  Requesting the server's default page.
The server returned the following response headers:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:22:50 GMT
Server: Apache
Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0
Expires: Thu, 19 Nov 1981 08:52:00 GMT
Pragma: no-cache
X-Powered-By: PHP/4.4.9
Set-Cookie: phpbb3_mtob7_u=1; expires=Sat, 26-Jun-2010 14:22:50 GMT; path=/; domain=maximumdirt.com; HttpOnly
Set-Cookie: phpbb3_mtob7_k=; expires=Sat, 26-Jun-2010 14:22:50 GMT; path=/; domain=maximumdirt.com; HttpOnly
Set-Cookie: phpbb3_mtob7_sid=06ab06669c310b6c540fff4055af0fb3; expires=Sat, 26-Jun-2010 14:22:50 GMT; path=/; domain=maximumdirt.com; HttpOnly
Set-Cookie: PHPSESSID=f69e1e99653608c587b3faa84322488f; path=/
Connection: close
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Query complete.

You might want to look into the cookies and also what php info shows you too.

[Nibbler]

Cookies are normal. The batch add process in 1.4 effectively is a DOS attack, so your options are limited. I would suggest trying another browser or finding out how to limit the number of concurrent connections in your current browser.

[PTownBandit]

Another email from 1and1

We have initiated a fix on the server, after 24 hours once the IP is
unblocked please try to re-upload the images again. If you still
encounter the same issue please inform us right away so we can further
check on it.


I asked if this would fix it at home for me also being that is a different IP address.

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions guys, I appreciate it.  Hopefully 1and1 can correct this as I really dont want to go out looking for another gallery script, Coppermine works perfectly for what I need and I have it implemented on several sites.

[phill104]

Many other gallery scripts use a similar method so you might run into the same problems if you switched. You may find you end up having to switch host which would be a shame.

One thing you could try once you are able to logon again is upload with Jupload rather than the batch add tool. It might be different enough for the script to not think you are a spammer.