[LINK] RFI: Email Download Failure from Local ISP
Roger Clarke
Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
Tue Jan 22 22:56:25 AEDT 2008
People with low threshholds for stupidity please tune out now.
__________________________________________________________________________
Please tell me I'm a dubbo and need to try harder. Or explain what's
happened here (and, if you're even cleverer, why I can't quite see
it).
I think my failure to get email this evening may be my ISP's fault.
(Or maybe Telstra's. But that would be just *too* much of a cop-out).
If you don't love 'em you lose 'em, so I use a local ISP:
http://www.apex.net.au/contact_us.php
Office Hours
Monday to Friday 9:00am till 7:00pm (Support)
Saturday 9:00am till 2:00pm (Support)
At 22:00+11 Tue 22 Jan 2008 and up to 23:00ish, fetches of mail from
mail.apex.net.au were dropping out - Eudora said 'No response after
120 seconds'.
The Squirrelmail/webmail alternative also wasn't working, just
hanging, and finally displaying a message I haven't seen before (at
the very bottom).
A search of the DNS on mail.apex.net.au delivered:
15 - postoffice.telstra.net.au. (203.50.2.186)
[Only one MX record?? What kind of fallback arrangements are in place??]
[And Apex subcontracts to Telstra for an smtp server??]
[I asked about that a few months ago, and wasn't sure that I
understood the answer. Maybe I should have listened more closely, or
thought deeper?]
A traceroute of mail.apex.net.au delivered a connection that appeared
to be inconsistent with the above. It ended up at 203.20.62.10.
That *also* back-translates as mail.apex.net.au.
Apex resolved to 203.20.62.16
Its DNS servers were shown as:
ns1.apex.net.au 203.20.62.12
ns2.apex.net.au 203.20.62.13
[I've previously threatened to abandon them because the backup
DNS-server is on the same subnet as the primary, in breach of the
(advisory only) IETF RFC, i.e. the nearest thing to a standard that
exists in Internet contexts]
I divert all of my various email-addresses to xamax.com.au, which is
delegated to Apex.
Xamax's MX entry is: 20 - mail2.apex.net.au. (203.20.62.11)
An attempt to fetch mail from mail2.apex.net.au produces:
Server not responding. 706; Lost connection to the server.
[Am I going mad, or has Apex stuffed up its DNS entries?
[Am I a goose for delegating to an ISP who may only know marginally
more about what they're doing than I do?]
[Declaration: Among a few other things, I teach a Masters seminar in
Internet and Web Infrastructure for eCommerce. But then it's only at
a University; and it's not as if I'm claiming to be able to actually
*do* things that I teach about. 'Those who can, do ...', etc. ]
__________________________________________________________________________
The traceroute result, from my TPG ADSL service to mail.apex.net.au:
1 3/3 1.309 1.672 2.396 192.168.123.254 192.168.123.254
2 3/3 11.278 12.181 13.420 202.7.162.164
cbr-pow-ibo-tit-2-loo-20.tpgi.com.au
3 3/3 12.277 13.086 13.811 203.26.16.193
cbr-pow-ibo-tit-1-ge-0-1.tpgi.com.au
4 3/3 18.610 34.013 64.197 202.7.167.130
syd-pow-ibo-zeu-ge-3-2.tpgi.com.au
5 3/3 17.517 18.235 18.837 202.92.102.77 202.92.102.77
6 3/3 18.190 18.687 19.228 203.111.1.65
nsydnbrdr01-ge4011.powertel.net.au
7 3/3 17.687 17.759 17.837 203.111.3.246
nsydnbrdr01-ge4244.powertel.net.au
8 0/3 2147483.647 0.000 0.000
9 0/3 2147483.647 0.000 0.000
10 0/3 2147483.647 0.000 0.000
11 0/3 2147483.647 0.000 0.000
12 3/3 24.408 24.643 24.866 210.8.107.138
gigabitethernet0-1.cor1.can.connect.com.au
13 3/3 23.747 25.276 27.492 61.69.5.5
dtra138127-2.gw.connect.com.au
14 3/3 24.670 25.075 25.437 202.55.144.26
ve1102-1g.erx01.gate.transact.net.au
15 3/3 23.618 29.553 38.974 202.55.146.58
static-146-58.transact.net.au
16 3/3 25.412 26.976 29.446 203.20.62.10 mail.apex.net.au
__________________________________________________________________________
The results from http://wq.apnic.net/apnic-bin/whois.pl for 203.50.2.186
inetnum: 203.48.0.0 - 203.51.255.255
netname: TELSTRAINTERNET3-AU
descr: Telstra Internet
descr: Locked Bag 5744
descr: Canberra
descr: ACT 2601
country: AU
admin-c: TIAR-AP
tech-c: TIAR-AP
mnt-by: APNIC-HM
mnt-lower: MAINT-AU-TIAR-AP
remarks: -----
remarks: All reports regarding SPAM or security breaches
remarks: should be addressed to abuse at telstra.net
remarks: ------
status: ALLOCATED PORTABLE
changed: nobody at aunic.net 19961120
changed: nobody at aunic.net 20000105
changed: aunic-transfer at apnic.net 20010525
changed: addressing at telstra.net 20020115
changed: hm-changed at apnic.net 20030415
changed: hm-changed at apnic.net 20041214
source: APNIC
person: Telstra Internet Address Registry
address: Telstra Internet
address: Locked Bag 5744
address: Canberra
address: ACT 2601
country: AU
phone: +61 3 9815 5923
e-mail: addressing at telstra.net
nic-hdl: TIAR-AP
remarks: Telstra Internet Address Registry Role Object
mnt-by: MAINT-AU-TIAR-AP
changed: nobody at aunic.net 19951128
changed: aunic-transfer at apnic.net 20010523
changed: aunic-transfer at apnic.net 20020115
changed: Kushnil at apnic.net 20020813
changed: hm-changed at apnic.net 20050310
source: APNIC
__________________________________________________________________________
The traceroute result, from my TPG ADSL service to 203.50.2.186:
1 3/3 1.307 2.159 3.783 192.168.123.254 192.168.123.254
2 3/3 10.814 12.349 14.099 202.7.162.164
cbr-pow-ibo-tit-2-loo-20.tpgi.com.au
3 3/3 12.381 12.705 12.903 203.26.16.193
cbr-pow-ibo-tit-1-ge-0-1.tpgi.com.au
4 3/3 18.884 21.149 24.414 202.7.167.130
syd-pow-ibo-zeu-ge-3-2.tpgi.com.au
5 3/3 18.071 18.463 19.144 202.92.102.77 202.92.102.77
6 3/3 16.814 18.593 20.645 202.92.64.138
nsydnbrdr01-ge102.powertel.net.au
7 3/3 18.928 19.744 21.083 203.111.3.246
nsydnbrdr01-ge4244.powertel.net.au
8 3/3 18.168 18.369 18.592 203.63.130.249
hay-telstra.gw.connect.com.au
9 3/3 18.308 19.692 21.938 203.50.6.41
bundle-ether4.ken-core4.sydney.telstra.net
10 3/3 18.835 19.376 20.180 203.50.6.13
bundle-pos1.chw-core2.sydney.telstra.net
11 3/3 32.709 33.253 33.672 203.50.80.1
tengigabitethernet0-12-0-2.exi-core1.melbourne.telstra.net
...
and then seems to wander off to never-never land.
__________________________________________________________________________
The traceroute result, from my TPG ADSL service to 203.20.62.11:
1 3/3 1.252 2.134 3.703 192.168.123.254 192.168.123.254
2 3/3 11.313 11.858 12.615 202.7.162.164
cbr-pow-ibo-tit-2-loo-20.tpgi.com.au
3 3/3 11.732 12.545 13.328 203.26.16.193
cbr-pow-ibo-tit-1-ge-0-1.tpgi.com.au
4 3/3 18.610 19.391 20.394 202.7.167.130
syd-pow-ibo-zeu-ge-3-2.tpgi.com.au
5 3/3 17.115 18.514 20.643 202.92.102.65 202.92.102.65
6 3/3 21.361 22.918 25.608 203.111.1.65
nsydnbrdr01-ge4011.powertel.net.au
7 3/3 22.097 22.941 23.573 203.111.3.242
aapt-pwt-haym45.powertel.net.au
8 0/3 2147483.647 0.000 0.000
9 0/3 2147483.647 0.000 0.000
10 0/3 2147483.647 0.000 0.000
11 3/3 25.171 25.922 26.528 210.8.107.154
gigabitethernet0-2.cor1.can.connect.com.au
12 3/3 29.840 30.576 31.823 61.69.5.5
dtra138127-2.gw.connect.com.au
13 3/3 32.478 34.034 36.837 202.55.144.26
ve1102-1g.erx01.gate.transact.net.au
14 3/3 30.321 36.118 46.765 202.55.146.58
static-146-58.transact.net.au
15 3/3 33.486 39.635 45.516 203.20.62.11 mail2.apex.net.au
__________________________________________________________________________
Safari error after trying to get to Apex Squirrelmail:
Safari can't open the page
"https://www.apex.net.au/squirrelmail/src/redirect.php". The error
was: "lost network connection" (NSURLErrorDomain:-1005) Please choose
Report Bug to Apple from the Safari menu, note the error number, and
describe what you did before you saw this message.
__________________________________________________________________________
--
Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/
Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre Uni of NSW
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