VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION Forum Questions Chat Slowdown?

As usual, trying not to post too much info on here that could be used againist us....

Yesterday we had two very serious hackers who tried thousands of times to break into our site. One from China and one from Germany.

Not to belittle our past efforts, but the stronger that we have made our site, the more that they want to try to break in. As they find out that they are restricted from accessing us (or even banned) then they go to different methods to try to get in.

I'm thinking of posting a HUGE sign at the top that says
"This site does not contain any money or military secrets!!"

Chat is slowing down more often for me down here as well. I am not as computer literate as Bill but I have found other sites are working at normal speed while chat is slow.
I would appreciate a "simple" guide to get a trace like Russel has posted which may help though the unfriendly attempts may well be the cause.
Tony

I think that Billy Boy Barker posted a guide to a trace on this forum a couple of weeks ago. You might want to go back and check previous postings on this forum to find it.

The Chatt site has been slow for a couple of days this week for me. I was thinking maybe Bill could post the guide or a link that you could just click on and it would record the information he needs. Bill could put the link in the right hand side under VCCA Info Links and we would not have to search for it. I do not know if this will work. Just a thought.

Thanks... I will do that. I've been kind of busy with ongoing hackers and then a home "crisis" that I'm working on. I need to be outside for the next two or three days for extended periods, but I'll try to get some instructions together as soon as I can.

As a quick recap -- over the past 2 or 3 months we have pretty well determined that it's not the network that is preventing folks from getting to Chat. The TRACERT postings have shown that.

It appears that we are under almost 24 hour-a-day attacks from some hackers who are trying to crack the code on the membership (and Chat) database. They send as many as 100-200 requests a minute (!!!!) and that locks the rest of us out for a while. This is also a variation of a "denial of service" attack.

Still working with the HOST to try to exclude them. We are down to only a few hackers now since I've banned entire countries over the past couple of weeks.

Sunday 6:30AM CDT. Chat was slow to load so I did a trace route suspecting the good old Sunday morning shenanigans. While the trace route was running Chat loaded so I don't know how much good it will do but here it is:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Tiny>tracert vcca.org

Tracing route to vcca.org [64.6.242.76]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 2 ms 2 ms 2 ms RT-G32 [192.168.1.1]
2 5 ms 4 ms 4 ms sc-wireless-67-211-176-1.sumnercomm.net [67.211.
176.1]
3 6 ms 5 ms 5 ms 10.4.8.177
4 12 ms 9 ms 7 ms 10.4.8.73
5 13 ms 8 ms 7 ms 10.4.6.113
6 21 ms 10 ms 13 ms 10.4.6.17
7 12 ms 14 ms 20 ms 10.4.6.1
8 14 ms 12 ms 13 ms sc-main-wgtn-core.sumnercomm.net [69.24.208.1]
9 * 14 ms 14 ms wsip-70-166-246-105.ks.ks.cox.net [70.166.246.10
5]
10 22 ms 30 ms 41 ms ip70-183-65-101.ks.ks.cox.net [70.183.65.101]
11 21 ms 23 ms 21 ms 70.183.71.62
12 21 ms 20 ms 24 ms 70.183.71.60
13 37 ms 34 ms 34 ms 68.1.5.140
14 36 ms 46 ms 32 ms ethernet15-2.ar6.dal2.gblx.net [64.215.187.1]
15 83 ms 73 ms 71 ms te2-1-10g.ar5.chi2.gblx.net [67.16.130.2]
16 71 ms 72 ms 70 ms continental-broadband.te6-2.ar5.chi1.gblx.net [2
07.138.128.70]
17 84 ms 84 ms 80 ms te1-4.4038.cr2.701hn.iplsin.e-xpedient.com [209.
166.144.213]
18 91 ms 106 ms 161 ms te1-2.4042.cr1.701hn.iplsin.e-xpedient.com [216.
130.11.141]
19 81 ms 89 ms 89 ms te2-7-4.4043.upa-core.expedient.com [66.11.0.29]

20 83 ms 92 ms 82 ms myhostcenter-gw-primary.cust.e-xpedient.com [66.
11.1.179]
21 83 ms 83 ms 84 ms s34.n230.n6.n64.static.myhostcenter.com [64.6.23
0.34]
22 84 ms 82 ms 100 ms s76.n242.n6.n64.static.myhostcenter.com [64.6.24
2.76]

Trace complete.

C:\Users\Tiny>

Bill, backup and read my post 8/1/13. Exact same thing at exact same time (my lunch) today 8/5 at 11:10 to 11:30 EDT. Trace showed no problems. VCCA not found on screen.

I also had an issue at 9:19 AM PDT this morning.

From 1:45 PM PDT until about 2:30 PM PDT I was unable to get the site to load.

Mid afternoon CDT Chat wouldn't load. Trace route below.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Tiny>tracert vcca.org

Tracing route to vcca.org [64.6.242.76]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 3 ms 3 ms 3 ms 192.168.1.1
2 6 ms 11 ms 5 ms sc-wireless-67-211-176-1.sumnercomm.net [67.211.
176.1]
3 7 ms 6 ms 6 ms 10.4.8.177
4 * * 1046 ms 10.4.8.73
5 10 ms 9 ms 11 ms 10.4.6.113
6 13 ms 14 ms 16 ms 10.4.6.17
7 14 ms 13 ms 13 ms 10.4.6.1
8 16 ms 14 ms 13 ms sc-main-wgtn-core.sumnercomm.net [69.24.208.1]
9 14 ms 14 ms 14 ms wsip-70-166-246-105.ks.ks.cox.net [70.166.246.10
5]
10 26 ms 29 ms 30 ms ip70-183-65-101.ks.ks.cox.net [70.183.65.101]
11 27 ms 24 ms 25 ms 70.183.71.62
12 27 ms 23 ms 24 ms 70.183.71.60
13 37 ms 35 ms 35 ms 68.1.2.109
14 40 ms 36 ms 36 ms ethernet15-2.ar6.dal2.gblx.net [64.215.187.1]
15 68 ms 69 ms 66 ms te1-1-10g.ar5.chi2.gblx.net [67.16.139.54]
16 127 ms 137 ms 108 ms continental-broadband.te6-2.ar5.chi1.gblx.net [2
07.138.128.70]
17 79 ms 78 ms 93 ms te1-4.4038.cr2.701hn.iplsin.e-xpedient.com [209.
166.144.213]
18 83 ms 83 ms 81 ms te1-2.4042.cr1.701hn.iplsin.e-xpedient.com [216.
130.11.141]
19 81 ms 89 ms 82 ms te2-7-4.4043.upa-core.expedient.com [66.11.0.29]

20 81 ms 117 ms 82 ms myhostcenter-gw-primary.cust.e-xpedient.com [66.
11.1.179]
21 80 ms * 81 ms s34.n230.n6.n64.static.myhostcenter.com [64.6.23
0.34]
22 77 ms 78 ms 80 ms s76.n242.n6.n64.static.myhostcenter.com [64.6.24
2.76]

Trace complete.

C:\Users\Tiny>

I clicked on a post to read it tonight and the site would not load. After about 10 minutes I received the "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage" error message once again. Several minutes later, at 6:04 PM PDT I clicked on "refresh" and it took from 6:04 PM until 7:10 PM PDT of continuous loading for the site to completely load. This is the third time this has happened to me today.

These issues have been going on for several months now. I'm curious as to how much longer we have to deal with these problems before either the host or the server will correct the ongoing issues.

I have also had a similar experience tonite with Chat. I am sure that we have lost some people due to these problems. I get frustrated but will stick in there. Suspect some will never come back.

Yep, no doubt that is happening. Of all the sites that I go to constantly, Chevy Chatter is the only one that seems to have these "slow down" issues. I will hang in there as well but this is getting extremely frustrating, especially when you consider the amount of down time we have been experiencing in the past few months on this very popular site.

I found out about the first slowdown at 8 am this morning - 8 minutes after the notice was sent to me.

I immediately queried the server and saw a Chinese IP address that had tied up 83 connections with our server. Submitted that info in a trouble ticket to the Host.

They fixed our problem within about 10 minutes.

Tonight I submitted a new request to them. Once they reply I'll let you know whether they can follow through.

For the record, I'm as annoyed as everyone else is. I lost another two hours of my life today on this issue. Obviously our internet address is on their "must hack" list.

Heck Billy Boy Barker, you should be more annoyed than the rest of us because you are the one that has to deal with these morons on a constant basis.

You don't know the half of it. Ha!!!

See my posting tonight in the MEMBERS forums . We might have a new weapon in place as of tonight! Dang... I sure hope so.

Hang in there Bill. I was also unable to get to the VCCA at all last night after several tries(Monday at 10:45 ADT)but was ready for bed so not a big inconvenience. as a novice resatorer, I rely heavily on you, Dawg, Chipper, Chip, AM, Jack, Joe, Harry, etc for endless advice, and sometimes need it sooner rather than later. I guess we are all getting spoiled by the speed of things in today's age.

12:36 PM PDT: Having the same slowdown problem again.

1:19 PM PDT: Clicked on a post to read it and the site did not load until 1:33 PM.

After last nights major change (which I still haven't described), I've been watching as much as possible.

You don't need to run TRACERT any more. We have proven that the problem is NOT with the network.

You might want to copy this down. If you experience a CHAT slowdown again, run a command from this site and see whether the site is offering a "response" back to you.

PING TO SEE IF CHAT IS AVAILABLE

Go to:
http://www.subnetonline.com/pages/network-tools/online-ping-ipv4.php
Enter Host: vcca.org
Leave the Count, TTL and SIze alone.
Click on PING.

ANSWER: Good results are on the order of: icmp_seq=4 ttl=49 time=109 ms

(Go ahead and test it now if you want.)

----more later.

Bill
I just tried the new ping while all was working nicely. the result was 0% in 3012ms though it possibley not of much use as yet but does give a base to compare against.
Tony

Bill, would a ping from the command line give you the info you need?

Bill, You are doing a great job sorting through all the problems causing site slow-downs. I can't imagine why anyone would even think about dropping out of Chevy Chatter because of a slow-down as was hinted at earlier in this thread. S**t happens and it will be cleaned up. I can't imagine not being able to get on this site for all the help it has given me. Keep up the good work - for what it's worth, I, for one greatly appreciate it. Beamer

Tiny,
Yes a PING from the Command window will show you whether the network is giving you a good connection to the server. If you connect <300ms, and still can't see the HOMEPAGE (vcca.org) nor the CHAT page (vccachat.org), then we know that the problem is "inside" our server.

Beamer,
Thanks. Your support is much appreciated. A year ago we had many, many problems with Spammers. Now we're pretty much down to this one guy. But in order for him to come in each time, he has to a) create a new email account, b) Login from a different internet location (eg. IP address) and then c) manually create a new Chat account. I guarantee that it takes him longer to do that than it does for me to delete ALL of his postings!

In case anyone is interested, I have a fairly easy way to stop him too... but I don't want to implement it, except as a last resort. Or if I do, it will be temporary and then I'll remove it after a couple of weeks. But for now, I'm okay with wiping out his posts once a week or so.

Now... back to the BIG TOPIC. Did anybody see any more slowdowns?


We added a brand new feature two days ago and I'm looking to see how well it's working.

Yep, I had a slowdown today from 4:22 PM until 4:35 PM. When the forum finally loaded it was all goofy with codes, a white back ground with red and blue print and and etc.

About the same time as JYD noticed the slowdown I saw a small glitch, took a couple more seconds to load compared to other sites it isn't so noticeable with my slow broadband DSL Flashpoint Broadband (1.5Mb download/384K upload) connection.
Mozilla Firefox seems to be somewhat faster loading and changing screens than Internet Exployer for me.