Nothing is worse than waking up and finding out your website is down. The immediate reaction is to grab the phone and drop an anger bomb on your web hosting provider. While it certainly could be a problem with your server, there are a few things to check before going ballistic on the IT guys.

1. Check your own network connectivity. If your website (or the email associated with it) was the first sign of a problem, you might find that other websites are down as well. If this is the case go through normal ISP connectivity troubleshooting.

2. Check your web host’s website for any connection status notices.

3. Try to connect to your server via FTP and/or SSH.

4. Try a traceroute to see if there are connection hiccups along the way.

5. Use a remote service to run a traceroute. It may be a connection problem only for your service provider. You can also check the Internet health.

6. Contact your web host.

You can do all of these checks in less than 5 minutes, so do not worry about wasting time when you could have been tearing into your web host on the phone. With the right tools at your disposal, you can be up and running again in a matter of minutes.

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons

Continue reading: Troubleshooting website connectivity issues

When you are faced with relentless spamming, it is a good idea to use tools that go beyond simple filtering. One way to stop SPAM is to develop some type of proxy that stops known spammers before the messages reach the mail server. Another is to rely on DNS black lists that are periodically updated.

Whatever method you choose, it is important to contribute tot he fight against SPAM by reporting known spammers. The first place to report to is the spammers web hosting provider. The provider is most likely unaware of the spammer’s actions and will suspend their accounts once you tell them.

The second method to try is to contact their Internet service provider. Just as it is a violation of the terms of service for most web hosts, most ISPs will not tolerate SPAM either. Finally, you can contribute to global blacklists by reporting the spammer to SPAM prevention websites. This will ensure that offenders cannot get away with SPAM even if their providers allow it.

Photo Source: Flickr

Continue reading: How to handle known spammers

Topeka, a city of 120,000 in America’s Midwest, has changed its official name to Google, Kansas. Before you update your maps, however, take note. The new name is only temporary and will revert back at the end of March.

Topeka made the change in hopes of boosting its chances to become a test site for Google’s “Fiber for Communities” program. The Mountain View company is currently looking for a guinea pig to test a fiber optic Internet service capable of speeds up to 1 gbit per second.

Google hopes to provide service to 50,000 and 500,000 people as part of the trial, making Topeka a perfect match. If the Kansas city isn’t picked, at least it won’t be stuck with the new name.

Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: American city changes name to Google, Kansas

Facing an imminent shortage of IPv4 addresses, American ISPs are beginning to request more and more IPv6 addresses.

So far this year, the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) has received some 300 requests for IPv6 address blocks– greater than the number of requests made in 2007 and 2008 combined.

John Curran, President of ARIN, said:

We’re seeing an uptick in IPv6 address space requests; it’s a very significant growth rate.We’ve seen a slight slowdown in IPv4 address space requests…It’s probably dropped off 10% or 20% year over year.

ISPs are asking for IPv6 addresses so they can make their networks IPv6-enabled so they are ready [for the future].
We give each ISP enough IPv6 addresses to support 4 billion networks, and each network can contain trillions and trillions of hosts.

The question is, will ISPs adopt IPv6 fast enough before IPv4 runs out? Providers will have to move much more rapidly if they want to avoid an IP shortage.

Source | Network World

Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: American ISPs stock up on IPv6 addresses

Given the increasing scarcity of IP addresses, especially in rapidly developing countries, it’s no wonder that the Indian government now wants the ability to regulate IP allocation.

The Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) currently governs IP distribution in the region. If India can obtain permission from the organization to hand out addresses, it would mean that users could obtain IPs more quickly and for a lower price.

An ISP executive stated:

At present, if one wants an IP address that entity has to pay the retail price directly to APNIC. If an Indian NIR is set up, it will buy IP addresses from APNIC on wholesale rates and then resell it to Indian corporates at much lower rates

Because a national IP allocation system would reduce APNIC’s revenue, it is unlikely that the agency will be eager to accept the change.

Source | Hindu Business Line
Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: Indian government seeks to regulate IP allocation

IP exhaustion, or the increasing scarcity of the IPv4 addresses needed for the web to function, has been a problem for quite some time. ISPs are being pushed to move to IPv6, but thus far few have budged. As things currently stand, the current supply of IP addresses is slated to dry up by 2011.

What does that mean for you? Online news site bMighty.com posted an insightful article on that topic yesterday.

The consensus is that since large blocks of addresses are owned by registries around the world, some places will run out before others. A good many server users need dedicated IPs to run, and as addresses become harder and harder to come by, those providers with IPs still left to distribute could jack up prices. The operating costs for hosts will go up, too, and no doubt they will pass this expense onto their customers. Meanwhile, those of us requiring dedicated IPs for our web server software to function will end up in price wars trying to snag the few addresses left.

Continue reading: Could IP exhaustion drive up the cost of hosting?

If you’re Monday is off to a good start, here’s some bad news to put a damper on any sort of nice day you might have been having. According to a report issued earlier this month, your provider’s failure to upgrade infrastructure at a time when usage is increasing could spell disaster down the road.

It seems as though network providers are seeing increases in traffic, but are doing nothing to upgrade infrastructure such as routers and switches. This includes both web hosts and ISPs. Providers are letting their equipment run “hotter.” Whereas in the past networks might have run at 40%-50% utilization and leave room for future growth, they are now operating at more than 80%. With IP traffic expected to increase fivefold by 2013, the picture down the road doesn’t look very cheerful.

John Mazur of Network Infrastructure at Ovum summed the problem up:

Router spending is down, IP traffic is up. Internet service providers (ISPs) are putting off buying new network equipment to save money, just when the amount of traffic they are handling is exploding.

If networks do not expand, web services –hosting included– could become more limited and more expensive as time goes on. During traffic speaks, people would experience time outs, packet loss, and slow speeds. In other words, that Thriller video might take a longer than normal to load.

Source | eWeekly
Photo | Flickr

Continue reading: Providers delay network expansion, risk catastrophe

The British government has announced plans to curb Internet piracy by restricting access of repeat offenders. In collaboration with the entertainment industry and Ofcom, Britain’s broadcasting regulator, the plan includes sending letters to customers who have been suspected of downloading illegal files, such as movies. Internet service providers would be required to send information collected about the offenders to media companies who could threaten them with legal action.

Ultimately, if a year passes without a cease of pirating activities, Ofcom would have the authority to order ISPs to cap the user’s Internet usage. The film and music industries around the world has long called for stricter measures to stop piracy, particularly with the advent of BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer file sharing system without any centralized servers. The law still has to pass through Parliament, and there will undoubtedly be serious concerns about privacy.

This move is part of a larger £200 million plan being initiated to connect everyone in the UK to high-speed Internet access by 2012. In the United States, bandwidth capping has been met with staunch opposition, forcing service providers to change their planned restrictions. A law is now moving through U.S. Congress that would place regulations on capping. France has announced plans to completely ban Internet pirates from access after three offenses. In Sweeden, owners of the popular torrent sharing site The Pirate Bay were convicted of copyright infringement and sentenced to prison, pending appeal.

Source: Wall Street Journal
Photo: Flickr

Continue reading: UK government to restrict Internet access of pirates