Jump to content

problems with "http://mailsc.spamcop.net" login


DavidT

Recommended Posts

I don't care if certain SC admins can't admit there's a problem....THERE IS!

It has nothing to do with our cookies, either....the reporting login used by email account holders (http://mailsc.spamcop.net) is having serious problems at the moment...here's an error I just got in IE:

An error occurred while processing your request.

Reference #97.bbfb746.1133641925.ae63253

and in Firefox it's been asking for a password and the fields are blank, although Firefox "knows" what they should be....this isn't a cookie issue, it's a problem with their stupid server and they need to admit it.

edit: here's an actual server error message from a FireFox session a few minutes ago:

Gateway Timeout

The proxy server did not receive a timely response from the upstream server.

Reference #1.12bfb746.1133641841.42d6a15

This problem has been happening on and off for months, and YES it's at the SpamCop servers and NO, it's not local to the users' computers and/or connection.

second edit: the system is stable again, and logins are working correctly, without errors. I think that Jeff G posted something to the topic in Announcements almost simultaneous to my report....so there's a correlation/connection....proof of a problem, in other words!

Here's a capture of the system status graphic, showing the gap in activity that coincides with the login problems I experienced:

SpamCopProblem.gif

DT

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Received the e-mail notification of your (first) PM. Pulled up SamSpade, got some results that didn't seem to reflect a problem, but going to have to look a few things up anyway ...

12/03/05 14:54:37 Slow traceroute mailsc.spamcop.net

Trace mailsc.spamcop.net (64.86.101.8) ...

66.110.14.166 RTT: 46ms TTL:224 (if-2-0.core2.CQW-Chicago.teleglobe.net ok)

207.45.222.181 RTT: 46ms TTL:224 (if-9-0.core2.TTT-Scarborough.Teleglobe.net ok)

66.198.82.9 RTT: 53ms TTL:224 (if-7-0.core2.MTT-Montreal.teleglobe.net ok)

207.45.221.135 RTT: 46ms TTL:224 (Vlan2.msfc2.MTT-Montreal.teleglobe.net ok)

64.86.101.8 RTT: 45ms TTL: 53 (No rDNS)

(Why am I in Canada?)

12/03/05 14:54:43 ping mailsc.spamcop.net

Ping mailsc.spamcop.net (64.86.101.8) ...

1 Addr:64.86.101.8, RTT: 48ms, TTL: 53

2 Addr:64.86.101.8, RTT: 44ms, TTL: 53

12/03/05 14:56:34 Browsing http://mailsc.spamcop.net/

Fetching http://mailsc.spamcop.net/ ...

GET / HTTP/1.1

Host: mailsc.spamcop.net

HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized

Server: Apache/1.3.33 (Unix) mod_perl/1.29

WWW-Authenticate: Basic realm="your SpamCop account"

Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1

Expires: Sat, 03 Dec 2005 20:56:36 GMT

Cache-Control: max-age=0, no-cache, no-store

Pragma: no-cache

Date: Sat, 03 Dec 2005 20:56:36 GMT

<html><head><meta HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" CONTENT="0; URL=http://www.spamcop.net/denied.shtml"></head><body><h1>401 - Authorization Required</h1><a href="http://www.spamcop.net/subscribe.shtml">Click Here</a></body></html>

and this would try to make a connection to the west coast Parsing & Reporting machines, which were dead .... hmmmm ... newsgroup scan just now shows no announcement ...

Your mention of the error with a Reference # .... rather than throwing even more stones, I'll let current posts make the commentary ... http://news.spamcop.net/pipermail/spamcop-...ber/106802.html .. then "Go Thread" ... Though my e-mails on this were never answered, it is now stated that this is an Akamai issue (compounded by a SpamCop.net failure???? seems a bit odd to me, but ....) and my previous attempts at talking to Akamai failed because they only wanted to talk to the folks that sent them money .... ... yeah, it looks like things are back up now ... off to answer your (and other) PMs <g>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, I'm aware that SpamCop uses the Akamai geographically distributed network, and yes, the errors many of us have been seeing and griping about probably have something to do with that system, or more likely, with the actual SpamCop servers going "brain dead" for apparently unknown reasons and the Akamai servers, acting as proxies then report problems back to us, screw up our memorized passwords, etc.

For several months, on the actual reporting screen, there *had* been an acknowledgement from the sytem folks about all of this, but they've now removed it, as if things are just fine....but they're not, and so they can't escape it by doing the "ostrich behaviour."

DT

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For several months, on the actual reporting screen, there *had* been an acknowledgement from the sytem folks about all of this, but they've now removed it, as if things are just fine....but they're not, and so they can't escape it by doing the "ostrich behaviour."

37140[/snapback]

Such "ostrich behaviour" is ineffective long-term.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For several months, on the actual reporting screen, there *had* been an acknowledgement from the sytem folks about all of this, but they've now removed it, as if things are just fine....but they're not, and so they can't escape it by doing the "ostrich behaviour."

37140[/snapback]

The "removal" of data from the "news" or login screen I believed is addressed at http://news.spamcop.net/pipermail/spamcop-...ber/106401.html ....

>Even the "few" entries dealing

> with the system being down are rarely followed up with  "fixed"

> status note.  As stated in my documenting this addition, it was

> placed there to try to head off all the "is it down" questions.

When the news disappears then you can assume that the problem is fixed.

Me talking about the years of this issue occuring, the ton loads of posts that used to occur during those system outages, the offers by myself and several others to offer off-site hosting of some kind of "status" page was somehow turned into an alleged personal attack on Ellen ....

However, I do see the the "not-logged-in" www.spamcop.net page does now have a "News link" at the bottom, also currently referencing the blowback issue for ISP's .... but one is still left to whoever may be on-line at the moment, and whether this server is up and running (and accessible) by someone to post a bit of a status report ....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"When the news disappears then you can assume that the problem is fixed."

That's true of temporary situations, but this one is chronic and ongoing...it certainly hasn't been fixed. I wasn't referring to one of the standard "News" items found on the login page, but rather a disclaimer they posted below that stating that they were aware of the system problems but hadn't been able to track them down. That has recently been removed, and IMO, shouldn't have been. That's what I meant by "ostritch behavior" (or maybe the three monkeys would be better..."see no evil" etc.).

DT

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An error occurred while processing your request.

Reference #97.bbfb746.1133641925.ae63253

Gateway Timeout

The proxy server did not receive a timely response from the upstream server.

Reference #1.12bfb746.1133641841.42d6a15

Those errors *can* be caused by an Akamai server with a problem, but it is extremely rare, and always isolated.

What you're seeing is the result of SpamCop being down and dead at the time. It's caused by our database crashing, which brings down the whole system because the database is the heart.

Fortunately, we have developed alarm systems that alert us to the problem when it starts, and methods of bringing the database back up rapidly when it goes down. In many cases, the outage is only for a few minutes, and sometimes during dire straights, a few hours. As far as the users and deputies go, there isn't anything we can do but wait for the system to come back up.

We're acutely aware of the problem, I assure you. We all access SpamCop from outside, just like everybody else, so we're often the first to know. If the duty engineer isn't already on the problem, which they usually are, we page them.

Unfortunately, our database and the way we use it is *hugely* complicated and we haven't found the root cause of the problem. We've found and fixed several little items that help keep things from going awry, but not everything.

All I can ask is that you bear with us while we work on the problem.

- Don D'Minion - SpamCop Admin -

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for the info Don. We have been told (Ellen?) that when the information on the reporting page went away, the problem would be solved. Please return the news item to the reporting page until this problem is resolved. Help us "bear with you" by keeping known issues in the spotlight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please return the news item to the reporting page until this problem is resolved.  Help us "bear with you" by keeping known issues in the spotlight.
Yes, please do so. This is what spurred my little "rant." Someone removed the acknowledgement regarding this issue from the "Report spam" page, where it's been for quite some time.

Thanks for the details, Don.

DT

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Someone removed the acknowledgement regarding this issue from the "Report spam" page, where it's been for quite some time.

37162[/snapback]

Yes, that News appears to have been pulled as of "Monday, November 21, 2005 11:56:27 -0500". Please see http://forum.spamcop.net/forums/index.php?...indpost&p=36440 for details. Thanks!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The acknowledgement of the problems has been restored to the "Report spam" page for both the email customers and the logged-in reporting system users, as follows:

Occasional system outages and error messages.

We are still encountering some error messages and system outages. These may take the form of error messages when retrieving a page on the reporting system or a failure to be able to log in. If you encounter these situations, please wait a couple of minutes and try again. Please do not change your password unless you are certain that you have forgotten your password and need a new one. Thanks for your patience.

It's a lot easier to be patient when a problem is acknowledged, so whoever was responsible for removing that information from the system in the first place could maybe learn not to do that sort of thing in the future...

DT

Link to comment
Share on other sites

per comments in another thread, e-mail was sent upstream;

From: "Wazoo"

To: "SpamCop/Ellen"

Subject: "news" not being displayed when not logged-in

Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2005 14:07:08 -0600

The re-added notification on the Reporting page and some

other "logged-in" pages about "outages and instabilities" is

not being seen on the "not logged in" www.spamcop.net web

page.  Background provided in the following links,

discussions, threads, posts ....

problems with "http://mailsc.spamcop.net" login

http://forum.spamcop.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=5514

Reporting problems, getting HTML code instead of page!

http://forum.spamcop.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=5525

Ellen's post at;

From: "Ellen" <nobody[at]spamcop.net>

Newsgroups: spamcop

Subject: Re: password issues

Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 08:50:43 -0500

Message-ID: <dla9dq$g51$1[at]news.spamcop.net>

Indigo's thread starting at;

From: "indigo" <nobody[at]spamcop.net>

Newsgroups: spamcop

Subject: system problems?

Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2005 13:49:25 -0500

Message-ID: <dmq4vl$fl8$1[at]news.spamcop.net>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From: "Wazoo"

To: "SpamCop/Ellen"

Subject: Re: "news" not being displayed when not logged-in

Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2005 16:00:34 -0600

Yes you did, I even pointed to that post.  However, that the "News"

link had been added to the bottom of that page suggested that your

bug report had been "handled" .. thus this new notification.

The identified Forum Topics identify that this "notification" had

been removed from the "reporting" web pages, thus invoking your

"if the news is gone, you can assume that it's been fixed" scenario ...

but continuing posts in both the Forum and the newsgroups and the

complaint that this "notification" had disappeared .... then the action

of someone re-adding the notification, but it's not being "seen" by

those impacted/concerned ....

----- Original Message -----

From: "SpamCop/Ellen"

To: "Wazoo"

Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005 2:15 PM

Subject: Re: "news" not being displayed when not logged-in

> Yes we are aware that the news only shows up on the pages when you are

> logged in. I believe I said that I had opened a bug on that and I did. It is

> in the engineering bug list.

>

> Thanks

>

> Ellen

> SpamCop

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...