So I know that my workplace, like many workplaces, has junk in place to block sites... but electrical didn't used to be one of them.

Usually if a site is blocked, we get a specific message like "we have blocked this site" or whatever (they want to rub it in your face, right?)

Within the last week or two, I've been unable to connect to electrical from work, although I am not getting the "we have blocked this site" message. (Meanwhile, anything else that has normally been blocked still does give the "we have blocked this site" message)

When I try to connect to electrical, the browser takes a long time and then finally says either:

(a)

ERROR
The requested URL could not be retrieved

While trying to retrieve the URL: www.electrical.com/

The following error was encountered:

* Request Timeout

The system returned:

Unable to connect

A Timeout occurred while waiting to read data from the network. The network or server may be down or congested. Please retry your request.


- OR -

(b)

Network Timeout

The server at www.electrical.com is taking too long to respond.

The requested site did not respond to a connection request and the browser has stopped waiting for a reply.

* Could the server be experiencing high demand or a temporary outage? Try again later.
* Are you unable to browse other sites? Check the computer's network connection.
* Is your computer or network protected by a firewall or proxy? Incorrect settings can interfere with Web browsing.
* Still having trouble? Consult your network administrator or Internet provider for assistance.



(Anyone else experiencing an issue like this?)

Like I said, if they had just added electrical.com to the "blocked" sites list, then I would know for sure if I got a "we have blocked this site" message... but this is kind of weird...

Any chance it's related to Russ's cookie changes?

Sounds strange. Like you say, it doesn't make much sense that your work's filter would forgo its 'in your face, flanders' message when blocking a site.

Could it be some sort of DNS problem? Have you tried getting to the PRF with its IP address to check that?

I think the IP is: 70.47.38.85. If you can get here with that there's something amiss with your company's DNS servers or somesuch.

When troubles like this occur I recommend using THE most valuable network troubleshooting tool:

[cmorgan@fakeaccount cmorgan]$ ping www.electrical.com
PING www.electrical.com (70.47.38.85) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 70.47.38.85: icmp_seq=0 ttl=57 time=43.7 ms
64 bytes from 70.47.38.85: icmp_seq=1 ttl=56 time=46.5 ms

--- www.electrical.com ping statistics ---
2 packets transmitted, 2 received, 0% packet loss, time 1007ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 43.708/45.123/46.539/1.431 ms, pipe 2


this command works in unix, Windows (using the cmd prompt) and presumably Mac. If you don't get a success using the name www.electrical.com try the IP address 70.47.38.85 instead. If that works and the name did not, it's a DNS problem. If neither work, the second most useful network troubleshooting tool could tell you why:

[cmorgan@fakeaccount cmorgan]$ traceroute www.electrical.com
traceroute to www.electrical.com (70.47.38.85), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets
1 206.123.75.129 (206.123.75.129) 1.164 ms 1.328 ms 1.206 ms
2 206.123.64.45 (206.123.64.45) 0.750 ms 0.567 ms 0.623 ms
3 ge-9-16.car2.Dallas1.Level3.net (4.71.170.29) 0.983 ms 1.205 ms 0.967 ms
4 ae-33-89.car3.Dallas1.Level3.net (4.68.19.133) 1.488 ms 2.073 ms 1.349 ms
5 4.68.63.194 (4.68.63.194) 1.628 ms 1.755 ms 1.842 ms
6 chi-bb1-link.telia.net (213.248.80.150) 31.551 ms chi-bb1-link.telia.net (80.91.248.210) 34.503 ms 34.496 ms
7 nyk-bb1-pos0-3-0.telia.net (213.248.80.154) 39.965 ms nyk-bb2-pos7-1-0.telia.net (213.248.80.74) 42.490 ms nyk-bb2-link.telia.net (80.91.248.198) 40.233 ms
8 nyk-b3-link.telia.net (80.91.250.93) 43.004 ms 40.770 ms nyk-b3-link.telia.net (80.91.248.174) 43.676 ms
9 netaccess-114875-nyk-b3.c.telia.net (213.248.83.186) 41.750 ms nac-110814-nyk-b3.c.telia.net (213.248.82.94) 42.416 ms 44.675 ms
10 0.e1-4.tbr1.mmu.nac.net (209.123.10.101) 42.692 ms 46.033 ms 0.e1-4.tbr2.mmu.nac.net (209.123.10.77) 45.595 ms
11 vlan804.esd2.mmu.nac.net (209.123.10.14) 42.921 ms 69.690 ms 43.753 ms
12 392.ge-3-0-0.dar2.mmu.nac.net (209.123.11.166) 43.005 ms 45.665 ms 43.429 ms
13 * * *
14 * * *


It appears some ICMP filtering is going on after hop 12 there, but assume that if you can get to the nac.net network you should be able to get beyond it. This command works in unix, in Windows it is translated to "tracert" and in Mac, your guess is as good as mine. It's probably something silly.

Hope this helps. A little.

C:\>ping www.electrical.com

Pinging www.electrical.com [70.47.38.85] with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 70.47.38.85:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\>tracert www.electrical.com

Tracing route to www.electrical.com [70.47.38.85]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 10.0.13.2
2 29 ms 29 ms 29 ms 10.0.2.22
3 39 ms 33 ms 33 ms 10.4.202.254
4 30 ms 29 ms 34 ms 10.4.64.50
5 32 ms 30 ms 30 ms xxcyberoam01.myworkplace.com [10.4.70.3] *!*
6 35 ms 30 ms 30 ms 63.86.107.161
7 31 ms 31 ms 35 ms Serial1-1.GW6.CLE1.ALTER.NET [63.122.160.229]
8 32 ms 31 ms 31 ms 0.so-0-2-3.xl2.cle1.alter.net [152.63.69.214]
9 69 ms 71 ms 67 ms 0.so-7-0-0.XL4.NYC4.ALTER.NET [152.63.17.97]
10 67 ms 65 ms 65 ms GigabitEthernet5-0-0.GW1.NYC4.ALTER.NET [152.63.20.101]
11 65 ms 69 ms 65 ms teliasonera-test.alter.net [157.130.255.206]
12 65 ms 65 ms 67 ms nyk-bb2-link.telia.net [80.91.248.153]
13 70 ms 66 ms 64 ms nyk-b3-link.telia.net [80.91.248.178]
14 64 ms 67 ms 65 ms nac-112088-nyk-b3.c.telia.net [213.248.83.74]
15 66 ms 69 ms 70 ms 0.e1-4.tbr1.mmu.nac.net [209.123.10.101]
16 67 ms 66 ms 66 ms vlan801.esd1.mmu.nac.net [209.123.10.10]
17 76 ms 71 ms 71 ms 209.123.11.206
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.

Trace complete.

C:\>

*!* (this 'cyberoam' bastard is definitely the site-blocking thingamajig)

So it seems to get past that and into nac.net territory as ironyengine mentioned... but then why does the ping completely fail... hmm...)

I'm sure that it is my workplace that is screwing me out of quality PRF time, I just don't understand how... and why it isn't like the regular run-of-the-mill "In your face, Flanders!" blockage style.

Rick Reuben needs to do a better job maintaining this blog hosting site of his.

Just for interest, Arson Smith, have you tried doing an ping and a trace route to a site you know is definitely blocked by the gae filter software?

Just to compare what happens with what is happening with the PRF. IE does the blocked site just time out when pinged and does the trace route hop a few routers before going for a holiday.

It's a funny one alright but the crap kind of funny.

Heading off to work now (late in the day) - will try a few more things as mentioned here in the thread...

So far I have only found one anonymouse browsing thing that they don't already have blocked, and it will only let me browse the forums (i.e. it won't let me do a log on, therefore I can't post)

Curious.

chuckles wrote:Just for interest, Arson Smith, have you tried doing an ping and a trace route to a site you know is definitely blocked by the gae filter software?

Just to compare what happens with what is happening with the PRF. IE does the blocked site just time out when pinged and does the trace route hop a few routers before going for a holiday.

It's a funny one alright but the crap kind of funny.

OK, so for example, www.achewood.com is blocked, and has been blocked for some time:



BUT - although the site is blocked, ping works just fine:

C:\>ping www.achewood.com

Pinging achewood.com [72.51.33.52] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 72.51.33.52: bytes=32 time=99ms TTL=48
Reply from 72.51.33.52: bytes=32 time=99ms TTL=48
Reply from 72.51.33.52: bytes=32 time=99ms TTL=48
Reply from 72.51.33.52: bytes=32 time=98ms TTL=48

Ping statistics for 72.51.33.52:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 98ms, Maximum = 99ms, Average = 98ms


...meanwhile ping to www.electrical.com still just times out - now I really am confused.


Also, because I'm sure anyone cares, here was the traceroute to www.achewood.com:

C:\>tracert www.achewood.com

Tracing route to achewood.com [72.51.33.52]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 10.0.13.2
2 28 ms 29 ms 30 ms 10.0.2.22
3 30 ms 33 ms 31 ms 10.4.202.254
4 28 ms 29 ms 29 ms 10.4.64.50
5 29 ms 29 ms 29 ms xxcyberoam01.myworkplace.com [10.4.70.3]
6 29 ms 30 ms 30 ms 63.86.107.161
7 31 ms 31 ms 31 ms Serial1-1.GW6.CLE1.ALTER.NET [63.122.160.229]
8 35 ms 33 ms 37 ms 0.so-0-2-3.XL1.CLE1.ALTER.NET [152.63.69.202]
9 42 ms 42 ms 42 ms 0.so-4-0-0.XL1.CHI13.ALTER.NET [152.63.69.221]
10 42 ms 43 ms 42 ms 0.so-6-0-0.BR2.CHI13.ALTER.NET [152.63.73.25]
11 44 ms 42 ms 43 ms uu-gw.cgcil.ip.att.net [192.205.35.181]
12 99 ms 99 ms 99 ms tbr1.cgcil.ip.att.net [12.122.87.250]
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.

etc.