Server down or possibly under attack?

[CipherMeister]

Hi;

My site was inaccessable most of yesterday and some of today (stats prove it, went from 16,000 average to 2000 hits).
http://www.TheCipher.com
Mail was also not working. Two poeple had to hunt down my private mail to contact me about my site problems.

In the last week my guestbook had been getting hammered some, around 75 in succession from the same spamer. I filtered his IP via the guestbook controls, but then the next day (was yesterday) my entire site started becoming unavailable, inaccessable.

Any idea what's up with the server up or how to check?

Thanks

[Melissa]

Hi,

From a whois lookup, it appears the domain has expired:
Expires on Wed, Apr 6, 2005

The domain registrar appears to be Register.com:
http://www.register.com

In re-registering the domain name, be sure that the FutureQuest name servers are still set to:
ns1.FutureQuest.net
ns2.FutureQuest.net
ns3.FutureQuest.net

Once the domain is re-registered there will be a period of propagation, lasting from 24 to 96 hours on average, before the domain will once again work properly.

Hope this helps,
Melissa

[CipherMeister]

Hi Melissa;

I paid them 3 weeks ago.
How come I can still get in most of the time, i.e. today and via the front door?

Thanks

Originally Posted by Melissa

Hi,

From a whois lookup, it appears the domain has expired:
Expires on Wed, Apr 6, 2005

The domain registrar appears to be Register.com:
http://www.register.com

In re-registering the domain name, be sure that the FutureQuest name servers are still set to:
ns1.FutureQuest.net
ns2.FutureQuest.net
ns3.FutureQuest.net

Once the domain is re-registered there will be a period of propagation, lasting from 24 to 96 hours on average, before the domain will once again work properly.

Hope this helps,
Melissa

[Melissa]

Hi again,

I can visit your site by your FutureQuest IP, of course, but your domain name is not resolving for me. If you are using the domain name, it appears you may be cached.

As Register.com is showing the expiration date as April 6, 2005 I would suggest contacting them for assistance as it appears that something did not get updated correctly on their end.

Hope this helps further,
Melissa

[Terra]

Ok - couple things

1) your guestbook was probably getting spammed by way of accessing your site via IP address rather than by domain name

2) your problem right now is that your domain has been dropped by the root name servers... You will need to work out the payment issue with Register.com for them to reinstate your domain back into the roots

3) the DNS server you use may be caching the old IP address improperly... This is now becoming a serious problem with many ISPs nowadays...
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...&tid=128&tid=4

--
Terra
--yet another DNS Conspiracy brought to you by your friends at Ver*s*gn--
FutureQuest

[CipherMeister]

Hi again;

I just got off the phone with Register.com support and they have indeed screwed up somewhere in their processing dept and my domain in on hold.

grrrr

alrighty, I have to call them back in the morning.

Thanks

Originally Posted by Melissa

Hi again,

I can visit your site by your FutureQuest IP, of course, but your domain name is not resolving for me. If you are using the domain name, it appears you may be cached.

As Register.com is showing the expiration date as April 6, 2005 I would suggest contacting them for assistance as it appears that something did not get updated correctly on their end.

Hope this helps further,
Melissa

[CipherMeister]

alrighty, thank you.

After I get things straightened out with Retgister.com I'll look into the guestbook problem and the other issue you mentioned.

Thanks Terra
Roger

Originally Posted by Terra

Ok - couple things

1) your guestbook was probably getting spammed by way of accessing your site via IP address rather than by domain name

2) your problem right now is that your domain has been dropped by the root name servers... You will need to work out the payment issue with Register.com for them to reinstate your domain back into the roots

3) the DNS server you use may be caching the old IP address improperly... This is now becoming a serious problem with many ISPs nowadays...
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?s...&tid=128&tid=4

--
Terra
--yet another DNS Conspiracy brought to you by your friends at Ver*s*gn--
FutureQuest

[Melissa]

Thanks for the update, Roger. We'll keep our fingers crossed that Register.com is able to fix it promptly for you.

Best regards,
Melissa