Randomly blocking ports and IPs

[zen63]

I just found this forum last night and wow its a good one - cheers to the owner and moderators - good job.

Im getting quite frustrated with Virgin BB, over the past two months their service has been unable to reach a data center in Holland which I use for development purposes. No problem I thought, and shifted to another datacentre (yes I know thats stupid - but I couldnt face dealing with tech support who generally know nothing other than how to power cycle a modem)

The server was of course available on any other ISP connection, globally and in the UK.

Last night, I couldnt access any of my proxy servers - I need to use these to test my Google advertising campaigns in different countries. I have numerous proxies in numerous countries all in different server farms, all with different IP ranges - and all for my own private use.

Once again these are all working on services other than Virgin Cable.

It seems like these muppets have decided that port 3128 is a bad one and simply stopped traffic to it - no warning, just a network time out.

So in the past two months, my work has been seriously impacted by a cable company that randomly takes action without informing their customer.

Has any one else been affected by these types of blockages? Do they resolve over time? Is there a useful method for getting Virgin to fix their over zealous port blocking?

I am seriously considering getting an alternate supplier as their service is not fit for the purpose I purchased it for.

Any help appreciated.........

[Peter_]

Virgin do not block any ports but the are occasional glitches so they use the proxy below when that happens.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Proxy for IE

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The proxy goes in your browser.

The proxy to use is : webcache.virginmedia.com

The port number is : 8080


How to set up proxy in Internet Explorer 6/7

Step 1 � On the Tools menu in Internet Explorer, click Internet Options, click the Connections tab, and then click LAN Settings.
Step 2 � Under Proxy server, click to select the Use a proxy server for your LAN check box.
Step 3 � In the Address box, type the IP address of the proxy server. (e.g. proxy.abc.com or 202.188.17.24)
Step 4 � In the Port box, type the port number that is used by the proxy server for client connections (by default, 8080).
Step 5 � You can click to select the Bypass proxy server for local addresses check box if you do not want the proxy server computer to be used when you connect to a computer on the local network.
Step 6 � Click OK to close the LAN Settings dialog box.
Step 7 � Click OK again to close the Internet Options dialog box.

Proxy for Firefox

Here is a proxy add on for Firefox https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2464

To enable proxy settings in Firefox 3.0

Select Tools -> Options. ( In some Firefox browser's you have to go to Edit>Preferences usually in LInux )
Select Advanced.
Open the Network tab.
In 'Connections' area click 'Settings' button.
Select Manual Proxy Configuration radio button.
In the necessary proxy field(s), put the same settings in the HTTP field then
Click 'OK'

[Joxer]

Traceroutes to the proxies would be useful, as would the proxy addresses.

I would also hazard a guess that your IP address begins with 92.

[Kymmy]

How can a web proxy (8080 to 80) help with blocked ports like 3128????

[Toto]

Yawn, another "VM are muppets" thread when the O/P would never question their own technical skills.

Honestly zen63 if you had sincerely asked for help rather than blame anyone but yourself, you may get some very good support here from people who know what they are talking about.

[zen63]

Thanks Moldova - but I want to use my own proxies not virgins - I cant test a US geolocated advertising campaign from a UK ip (which the virgin proxy is).

Joxer my IP on virgin is 86.1.73.***. The traceroutes complete with no problems. I use a variety of different NOCs for my proxies (many different IP ranges and suppliers) so I dont think its a simple routing issue. It seems to be that the port has become unavailable/blocked. I am able to use proxies on other ports.

[Zhadnost]

A quick test here shows that 3128 isn't blocked from here.

Are you sure it's not that the proxy you are trying to use is down?

[zen63]

Toto, with the greatest of respect - if you have nothing to contribute, perhaps go back to bed?

I was asking for suggestions and possible reasons. I have performed numerous tests, and have even went so far as to get a network engineer to remotely test my machine and setups. I dont pretend to know everything - that why I'm asking for help.

Simply put - on any other ISP I have no problems - with Virgin media I do.

[Kymmy]

Behave please people... Let's stick to the topic and not each others comments

---------- Post added at 12:17 ---------- Previous post was at 12:17 ----------

Zen63, VM do NOT block ports...Yet!!!

[zen63]

Zhadnost - thanks for checking. This would be my first guess also, but I have ruled it out as I have 7 US private proxies across different providers, IP classes, and different locations/NOC's. They are all working correctly when tested by freinds on other ISP's

From your post, the block seems to be limited to my connection (but I was never suggesting this was a Virgin wide issue).

I wonder could it be something on my own router thats causing the problem (restarted it multiple times - no joy).

[Toto]

Originally Posted by zen63

Toto, with the greatest of respect - if you have nothing to contribute, perhaps go back to bed?

I was asking for suggestions and possible reasons. I have performed numerous tests, and have even went so far as to get a network engineer to remotely test my machine and setups. I dont pretend to know everything - that why I'm asking for help.

Simply put - on any other ISP I have no problems - with Virgin media I do.

Well I just did a very simple update to my FF settings, and have been able to connect to a Malaysia proxy on port 3128 in less then 2 minutes, and that includes the search to find one.

I didn't need a network engineer.

Rather than rely on your own proxies using that port, try these, they may actually work.

[zen63]

Toto - Sorry for going off at you - frustration on my part.

I understand that Virgin is not blocking the port in general. I was able to use my proxies until yesterday night. I have tested the following:

1. Used proxyfirewall to test other non private proxies on the same port - FAIL
2. Restarting router - FAIL
3. Testing my private proxies from alternate ISP's - PASS
4. Testing other computers/browsers on my virgin connection - FAIL

I'm out of other things to try

[Joxer]

Have you tried running a trace on that port?

---------- Post added at 12:27 ---------- Previous post was at 12:27 ----------

Or bypassing the router and connecting direct to the modem?

[zen63]

Toto - I just tried the five newest proxies on the page you gave - all not working for me. I would be willing to bet that they will all work for you.

Its something on my specific account, or local network - but I cant for the life of me figue out what it would be Could the netgear router be causing this?

[Joxer]

It certainly could be the router, if bypassing it isn't easy you could try disabling it's firewall.

My router appears to block traceroutes, which is odd.