www.newlisp.org site server problems

Notices and updates
Locked
Lutz
Posts: 5289
Joined: Thu Sep 26, 2002 4:45 pm
Location: Pasadena, California
Contact:

www.newlisp.org site server problems

Post by Lutz »

Since two to three days used bandwidth on www.newlisp.org (newlisp.nfshost.com) has grown 10 times, this allthough page hits, downloads and other statistics in the logs seem to be the same. I am already using the following .htaccess on Apache for a few months:

Code: Select all

RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} MJ12bot
order allow,deny
deny from 220.181.157.164
deny from 220.181.157.165
deny from 220.181.157.166
deny from 220.181.157.196
deny from 220.181.157.197
deny from 220.181.55.55
deny from 218.30.117.160 
allow from all
.. as I have multiple downloads requests daily for all of the IPs above everyday for all downloads on the site. This has brought downloads and pages statistics down, but in the last 3 days bandwidth suddenly is 10 fold and I don’t know why. Download and page hit numbers stay low, but bandwidth is going through the roof as if .htaccess is not working correctly anymore? Does anybody have suggestions? Is there a more efficient way to suppress access from certain IPs ?

TedWalther
Posts: 608
Joined: Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:04 am
Location: Abbotsford, BC
Contact:

Re: www.newlisp.org site server problems

Post by TedWalther »

Lutz, are you operating a virtual server? Perhaps the bandwidth usage isn't coming in over the web, but is a ping flood, or traffic going to some other internet port on your server? I'm willing to log in and look around, contact me in private with details.

How are you measuring the bandwidth? Google analytics? Webalyzer?
Cavemen in bearskins invaded the ivory towers of Artificial Intelligence. Nine months later, they left with a baby named newLISP. The women of the ivory towers wept and wailed. "Abomination!" they cried.

ralph.ronnquist
Posts: 228
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2014 1:40 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: www.newlisp.org site server problems

Post by ralph.ronnquist »

how about iptables rules at the OS level? Well, assuming linux or mac, and that you "own" the host.

Lutz
Posts: 5289
Joined: Thu Sep 26, 2002 4:45 pm
Location: Pasadena, California
Contact:

Re: www.newlisp.org site server problems

Post by Lutz »

This is not my own host but a site at the hosting company https://www.nearlyfreespeech.net . I like them because they charge purely by bandwidth usage. Before opening a paid support ticket with them, I am asking for help here at the forum, as there are so many system admin people among newLISP users.

It's a FreeBSD 9.2-RELEASE-p3 site running virtual servers and Apache - don't know which version. Tools installed are limited for users of virtual servers. I don't think, I have permissions to filter at the OS level. The .htaccess files where working fine, but suddenly bandwidth usage is 10-12 times what it was before with similar content of log files, generated with software by http://www.awstats.org, configuration of which cannot be done by me.

TedWalther
Posts: 608
Joined: Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:04 am
Location: Abbotsford, BC
Contact:

Re: www.newlisp.org site server problems

Post by TedWalther »

Thank you. Does awstats have an option so you can see which IP and which file is using the most bandwidth? Google analytics does.

If it is $30 or less, I'd open a support ticket.

I remember I colocated a server years ago with a large colo company. I was watching my logs, at the web server level, and also at the packet level. Suddenly the colo said bandwidth usage jumped, but my own logs said it didn't. I protested, and they held my server hostage. Ever since, I try to host my own servers.
Cavemen in bearskins invaded the ivory towers of Artificial Intelligence. Nine months later, they left with a baby named newLISP. The women of the ivory towers wept and wailed. "Abomination!" they cried.

rickyboy
Posts: 607
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2005 7:13 pm
Location: Front Royal, Virginia

Re: www.newlisp.org site server problems

Post by rickyboy »

Lutz wrote:Before opening a paid support ticket with them, I am asking for help here at the forum, ...
Please check all the "Support Options" (https://members.nearlyfreespeech.net/support/request), before you pay the $30 -- unless you are in a hurry. One of the options is to post on the NFSN Member Forum. Good luck!
(λx. x x) (λx. x x)

rickyboy
Posts: 607
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2005 7:13 pm
Location: Front Royal, Virginia

Re: www.newlisp.org site server problems

Post by rickyboy »

TedWalther wrote:I remember I colocated a server years ago with a large colo company. I was watching my logs, at the web server level, and also at the packet level. Suddenly the colo said bandwidth usage jumped, but my own logs said it didn't. I protested, and they held my server hostage. Ever since, I try to host my own servers.
I agree with that. I like NFSN, but a $5/mo Digital Ocean box looks really good. :)
(λx. x x) (λx. x x)

ralph.ronnquist
Posts: 228
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2014 1:40 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: www.newlisp.org site server problems

Post by ralph.ronnquist »

I haven't used them myself, but there are bandwidth limiting and throttling modules for apache; maybe something like the "mod_cband" would serve the purpose. I suppose you need something that would limit the amount of data a single user can get in a short time period, ideally without affecting a "normal" user.

Lutz
Posts: 5289
Joined: Thu Sep 26, 2002 4:45 pm
Location: Pasadena, California
Contact:

Re: www.newlisp.org site server problems

Post by Lutz »

Thanks to everybody for all the good advice. I posted more details about the case on the nearlyfreespeech.net discussion forum.

All the bandwidth increase is reported for CGI pages, which is strange because the number of hits on these pages is the same as before and scripts haven't changed. Hopefully I will get some answers soon. Today the bandwidth increase is 20-fold, yesterday about 10-fold !?!?

TedWalther
Posts: 608
Joined: Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:04 am
Location: Abbotsford, BC
Contact:

Re: www.newlisp.org site server problems

Post by TedWalther »

Has the awstats software been updated? How does it tell the size of a CGI transaction? Is your CGI script accurately reporting the size of the data it is returning, in the MIME header?
Cavemen in bearskins invaded the ivory towers of Artificial Intelligence. Nine months later, they left with a baby named newLISP. The women of the ivory towers wept and wailed. "Abomination!" they cried.

Lutz
Posts: 5289
Joined: Thu Sep 26, 2002 4:45 pm
Location: Pasadena, California
Contact:

Re: www.newlisp.org site server problems

Post by Lutz »

Looks like the problem is solved :)

One of the nfs guys on the nfshost.com user forum gave me a command to extract file sizes from the access log. That helped to identify a big text file in the newLISP wiki's pages directory and from more and more sources over time. It had nothing to do with the IPs locked out by .htaccess, which is still working well.

Thanks again to everybody for helping to shed light on this.

Locked