HostBill Forums Down?

[Patrick]

Although I'm excited that they are now taking the bugs seriously, I'm also very unhappy that they have removed the community forums completely. It was the best way to ask support, for free, with the community that they themselves can monitor and reply to. Some of the topics there are still relevant and helpful. If they want to close the forum, they could have at least use it as an archive for viewing only. /endrant

Something tells me because these forums will become and are the "official but unofficial" hostbill forums.  As soon as these came up, kris removed his.  So maybe it's what he needed?  Who knows but i prefer these anyway.  I agree with Lawrence that the forums should have at least been left up for archival purposes, but it is what it is.

[tallship]

Angelfire... Geocities... Lawrence mentioned the Wayback Machine (at archive.org) in another post.

When you give yourself away to the public as an artist, you have crossed a line of obligation and IMO, are expected to be David Cassidy or Steven Tyler or Leta Ford or Ozzy for the rest of your life.

Similarly, when an Internet resource exists and is put out as a public resource, especially considering all the backlinks, etc., pointing to articles there, I believe there is an ethical obligation to ensure that it remains for posterity - if nothing else.

That's just my two cents, but the first two entities I mentioned above still have bazillions of little 1990's era websites hosted there, and lycos and yahoo took that responsibility seriously enough to ensure that they would remain. I don't know if the kbkp forums will be found at the wayback machine in the future, but it's one thing to close a board, while it's entirely another to raze it.

There was a wealth of info there and I concur - it should remain available, at the very least, as record and to prevent 404's.

[electric]

Given Kris's complete lack of any business skill whatsoever, what did you expect?  Just think of what common sense would do, and then Kris will do the opposite.  It's very simple.

Personally, I think he will soon restore the forums as read-only and then he's going to charge $99/month to access them.

lol.   

[thetrusteeco]

help.hostbillapp.com is currently down.  Hmmm what's that? 48 hours and the inbox is full?  Hopefully it's just a minor glitch. 

Kris contact me for some free hosting if needed.

[Enterprisevpssolutions]

This makes no sense at all, why close it down when you have all the information online for client knowledge and not to mention SEO aspect in the search engines for people looking for help on a subject to fix to a custom module or a language a client needed and now they take it all away. Are they just trying to piss off the ones that are still around trying to help? I have given a good amount of support when needed and to have that just taken off from client access is wrong they need to make it public and if you don't want to host it i'm sure someone would have no issues with storing the forum for you.

[John]

help.hostbillapp.com is currently down.  Hmmm what's that? 48 hours and the inbox is full?  Hopefully it's just a minor glitch. 

Kris contact me for some free hosting if needed.

It seems up now!
http://isup.me/help.hostbillapp.com

[thetrusteeco]

The server is there, but I'm getting:

http://help.hostbillapp.com/cgi-sys/defaultwebpage.cgi

Are you actually seeing a website there?

Run: ipconfig /flushdns

Is it still there?  Just curious, maybe it's my ISP.

[Patrick]

Must be your DNS.  If you have no issues using googles DNS (as many fear google for some reason) change your DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 and give it a go again after flushing once more. 

Site is there, functioning and good

[thetrusteeco]

Thanks, my ISP has this infuriating habit of caching DNS.

There are entire countries (IP ranges and ccTLDs) that I cannot reach because I guess no one at my ISP has heard of them.  I remember calling them a couple years ago to complain that I couldn't access a server I was supported to work on remotely in Malawi ... they hadn't heard of Malawi.  You'd think this is a small company, but no, one of the biggest in Canada ...the shame.

Thanks again for the info.  I'd rather the error was on my end than help.hostbillapp.com was down after 24 hours.

[Patrick]

No worries.  It could also be a POI in between you and hostbill too.  It after all may not be you, so i'd try a trace route and see if you connect to hostbill without any drops just for troubleshooting purposes.  If it's your ISP, i feel your pain, most ISP's and IISP's in Canada have the same problems.  I haven't used my ISP's DNS for over 10 years.  Nothing but trouble

[thetrusteeco]

I can reach hostbillapp.com no problem.  It's just help.hostbillapp.com that is /cgi-sys/defaultwebpage.cgi

I actually use a custom DNS script so I can reach the sites I work on in Africa now.  Given the number of Africans in Canada, I don't know how the Canadian ISPs can do this.  Maybe it's just my ISP.  They blame the US datacenter they route traffic through.

I'll try the Google DNS.  I use it for servers; never thought about it on my laptop.  Strange the things you overlook...

Thanks.

[Lawrence]

I can reach hostbillapp.com no problem.  It's just help.hostbillapp.com that is /cgi-sys/defaultwebpage.cgi

I actually use a custom DNS script so I can reach the sites I work on in Africa now.  Given the number of Africans in Canada, I don't know how the Canadian ISPs can do this.  Maybe it's just my ISP.  They blame the US datacenter they route traffic through.

I'll try the Google DNS.  I use it for servers; never thought about it on my laptop.  Strange the things you overlook...

Thanks.

You should consider an RDP / Remote Desktop. I'd suggest Ubuntu or Debian!

[tallship]

The server is there, but I'm getting:

http://help.hostbillapp.com/cgi-sys/defaultwebpage.cgi

cgi-sys instead of cgi-bin? Not a common name for an out of band (outside DocumentRoot), script-alias. hm...

Run: ipconfig /flushdns

ewww... wYND0z3, lol.

Thanks, my ISP has this infuriating habit of caching DNS.

There are entire countries (IP ranges and ccTLDs) that I cannot reach because I guess no one at my ISP has heard of them.  I remember calling them a couple years ago to complain that I couldn't access a server I was supported to work on remotely in Malawi ... they hadn't heard of Malawi.  You'd think this is a small company, but no, one of the biggest in Canada ...the shame.

hm... you might try putting this in your /etc/resolv.conf:

Code Select Expand


search .
#
#
# Your own DNS Servers (You should be able to trust these!)
# nameserver x.x.x.1
# nameserver x.x.x.2
# nameserver x.x.x.3
#
#
# OpenDNS
# nameserver 208.67.222.222
# nameserver 208.67.220.220
#
#
# Google
# nameserver 8.8.8.8
# nameserver 8.8.4.4
# nameserver 216.239.32.10
# nameserver 216.239.34.10
nameserver 216.239.36.10
# nameserver 216.239.38.10
# 8.8.4.4 and 8.8.8.8 are just round robins for the following actual hosts/IP addresses:
# ns1.google.com    216.239.32.10
# ns2.google.com    216.239.34.10
# ns3.google.com    216.239.36.10
# ns4.google.com    216.239.38.10
#
#
# UCSD (My alma mater)
# nameserver 132.239.1.51
nameserver 128.54.16.2
# nameserver 132.239.1.52
# ns0.ucsd.edu        132.239.1.51
# ns1.ucsd.edu        128.54.16.2
# ns2.ucsd.edu        132.239.1.52
#
#
# Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command
# nameserver 198.253.48.7
nameserver 198.253.16.35
# nameserver 198.253.252.3
# ns1.nosc.mil        198.253.48.7
# ns2.nosc.mil        198.253.16.35
# ns3.nosc.mil        198.253.252.3
#
#
options rotate
options timeout:1
#
#
# Use "search" (on the very first line!) instead of
# the "domain" directive. If you want to search your
# own domains first, then you can set the environment
# variable LOCALDOMAIN with a list of space separated
# list of domains to search through (append to a simple
# hostname) before checking the root ".", but this is
# best performed by entries in your /etc/hosts instead.
# Make sure your /etc/nsswitch.conf lists "files" first.
# The LOCALDOMAIN env var and "domain" directive allow,
# by default, up to 256 Chars max with up to six domains.
#
# The "domain" and the "search" directives are mutually
# exclusive - if you use both, only the first one appearing
# in your resolv.conf will be used.
#
# The "options rotate" directive is like throwing a three
# sided die with the values being returned as one of the
# three (max, by default) nameservers you have enabled to
# use with the "nameserver" directive.
# If you comment out the "options rotate directive", then
# the nameservers will be queried in the order they are
# listed.
#
# The "options timeout:1" is the time in seconds your
# resolver will wait before checking a different DNS
# server instead - adjust this value according based
# upon your 'ping' results for a given IP
# 1 second is usually sufficient.
#
# If you are a DHCP client then you can use chattr
# in the shell as root to make the file immutable.
# Just don't forget that you have done this or you
# might pull all of your hair out wondering why you
# can't change the file! Be careful with using chattr.
#
# Usage:
# "# chattr +i /etc/resolv.conf"
# "# chattr -i /etc/resolv.conf"
#
# EOF


Simply uncomment a DNS server when you want to add it to the list of servers you query - remember to comment out another one - by default, you can have only 'up to' 3 at a time, unless you change that elsewhere

I made some sane recommendations for you to start off with, but do customize as need be, since YMMV.

If you're concerned with an ISP that is just a bonehead, or if you think you are being blocked because of the country you are in or for any other reason, you can use these guys for SSH proxy for a flat fee of $5.00/mo. I know them personally, and they're good, OpenBSD folks: https://www.tunnelr.com/

If you use them bear in mind that *some* places like "OpenDNS" block them on their DNS servers (won't be a problem for you because you just disable by commenting out OpenDNS in your resolv.conf and don't use them). i.e, if you're using OpenDNS and you enter https://www.tunnelr.com/ in your browser you might be redirected to a page saying bad things about them - this is why OpenDNS is in business - to block sites with a selective list they won't provide DNS resolution to.

You see, it's not actually that they're bad or do warez or anything. They don't. But bad people do use their service so the stigma is attached to them for not discriminating, or perhaps discerning - IOW They don't care who you are, where you are, or what you're doing as long as it isn't illegal.

Tunnelr blocks nothing, filters nothing, is completely anonymous (no logs), and allows you to go literally anywhere on the net.

I'll try the Google DNS.  I use it for servers; never thought about it on my laptop.  Strange the things you overlook...

Your servers should be using themselves, each other and/or getting the AUTH data for zones from the root servers. Ideally, as pointed out in the sample resolv.conf file I just made for you, your workstations should use and trust your own nameservers because you should be able to trust them

I hope that helps!

Kindest regards,

[tallship]

You should consider an RDP / Remote Desktop. I'd suggest Ubuntu or Debian!

debian fer sure But frinds don't let frinds use ewboontew

LMDE is nice.

[thetrusteeco]

"Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command"? and people fear Google?

Thanks for the info guys.  I actually did recently restore my "hosts" file to the windows default, maybe that's the problem.  (I need Windows on this machine because I have to run a couple programs that only support Windows! I know... not my first choice either.)

Anyway, I did find the site.  It's not my ISP, I jumped onto another machine sitting 3 feet away.  I should have checked that first.  Sorry to waste your time, but thanks for the posts.