Author Topic: IONOS Issues  (Read 1085 times)

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Offline CamarilloWX

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IONOS Issues
« on: April 23, 2021, 12:04:08 AM »
I am experiencing a couple of issues with IONOS that I am trying to work with their tech support and I am not making any progress.  I think the problems are probably connected but at this point I am not sure.  I am using CumulusMX for uploading data to my website as well as weather underground, AWEKAS, etc.  I am only seeing issues with my website.

The first problem is that SFTP from CumulusMX fails at random times.  When I notice it, I check with FileZilla and confirm that SFTP does not work at all and is not limited to CumulusMX.  When I contact IONOS (which is 4 times now) they run me through their standard troubleshooting steps and/or questions?
  • Is your password correct? Yes
  • Give me your password and I will try and connect from here.  It works for them.
  • Lets change your FileZilla timeout setting to 60 seconds.  Ok, makes no difference.
  • Lets download the FileZilla config file from IONOS and import that to FileZilla.  Ok, no difference.
  • Turn off your antivirus.  Ok, no difference.
  • Sorry sir the issue is on your end, check with your ISP.
On the first occurrence I didn't make it to the talking to my ISP part but it miraculously started working again so I dropped it.

On the second occurrence, I again noticed my site was not updating.  This time I looked around here a bit before calling IONOS and found this thread https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?PHPSESSID=63m6119ri38ar46026codo6sg5&topic=15098.msg374132#msg374132 about IONOS blocking IP's.
Aha I thought, so I called them again and asked them to look for a blocked IP.  They ran me through the same steps as before with the same results.  They confirmed my IP was not blocked and pointed to my ISP as a potential source of the problem.  After hanging up with them I reboot my router thinking I would get a new WAN IP from the ISP but I did not.  I tried connecting with a SFTP app from my phone via 5G and it failed which confused me since I was expecting the problem to be related to my home IP address.  That's when I noticed the second problem which is even more intermittent, my site was gone.  When I refreshed the screen displaying my site, my homepage was replaced with an IONOS default site parked page.  When I logged into IONOS I was greeted by a suggestion to build my site and the webspace had no files.  Before I could call IONOS the site was back up and SFTP was working.

Third and fourth occurrences were today.  The site was gone this morning but reappeared this afternoon although SFTP never started working.  When I got home I called IONOS again and spent 30 minutes redoing the above list again.  I told them about the site disappearing and reappearing but it was present at that time so not much to tell them other than that.   I was again pointed to my ISP and we ended the call.  I tried to connect to my site with FileZilla via another wireless PC and a mobile hotspot and it would not connect, my website was gone again.  Back on the phone with IONOS and 5 minutes in to the conversation we got disconnected, 5 minutes later the site is back and SFTP is working.

I realize that was little long winded so I appreciate those of you that made it this far.  Has anyone else ever seen these kinds of issues with IONOS?  Any ideas what the issues may be?  I'm assuming the problems are connected but it's very hit and miss and I am not even sure what they should be looking for.  I don't want to run through their 30 minute SFTP checklist every time I call and the site disappearance seems to be hard to catch.




Eric

Offline saratogaWX

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Re: IONOS Issues
« Reply #1 on: April 23, 2021, 01:01:39 PM »
Ouch!  What a pain!

Are you running on a shared Ionos server or a VPS?  If the former, their 'hacking detection' software does tend to false-positive on weather software uploads, and they do temporarily add the 'offending' IP address to a deny-list. 
I switched from using their shared server for the website to a VPS server a while back because I was having the same issues (lots of weather programs uploading, and limits on concurrent connections and connection rates).
Ken True/Saratoga, CA, USA main site: saratoga-weather.org
Davis VP1+ FARS, Blitzortung RED, GRLevel3, WD, WL, VWS, Cumulus, Meteobridge
Free weather PHP scripts/website templates - update notifications on Twitter saratogaWXPHP

Offline CamarilloWX

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Re: IONOS Issues
« Reply #2 on: April 24, 2021, 01:49:41 PM »
Thanks, Ken,  Yes, it has been a pain.  It is running on a shared server.  I am not sure why it's suddenly having issues since I moved to Ionos about 18 months ago.  I'll take a look at VPS.  Any suggestions on the level needed to run a single Saratoga-Weather template site?  It looks like VPS M would be about the same cost as a shared server plan.
Eric

Offline saratogaWX

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Re: IONOS Issues
« Reply #3 on: April 24, 2021, 02:40:06 PM »
I have two different accounts at Ionos and 3 server instances.

Cloud Server S - Ubuntu 20.04 - runs wxradio.org (Icecast/Nginx)

Cloud Server M - Centos7,Plesk18 - runs wxforum.net, cumuluswiki.org, northamericanweather.net

Cloud Server XL - Centos7,Plesk18 - runs Saratoga-weather.org(and subsites), and 15 regional weather network sites

None of the servers are showing any 'strain', and you might get by just fine with a (slightly cheaper) Cloud Server S or a M (if you need more disk space).

The good news is you get to be a full server administrator.  The bad news is you get to be a full server administrator.

I do recommend adding Plesk to the contract ($5/month) as it makes it easy to setup/update/maintain multiple websites on your virtual server.
Pick your distribution (CentOS or Ubuntu (20.04 is LTS)) and avoid a Windows server.

The Plesk panel allows easy setup for Let's Encrypt SSL certs (and auto-renew), and can handle FTP, DNS, PHP and security configurations.
Ken True/Saratoga, CA, USA main site: saratoga-weather.org
Davis VP1+ FARS, Blitzortung RED, GRLevel3, WD, WL, VWS, Cumulus, Meteobridge
Free weather PHP scripts/website templates - update notifications on Twitter saratogaWXPHP