PHP can't be viewed. IP-number related problem

php

[evn64]

Hello people@webmasterworld,

I hope someone can shine a light on a strange problem that's occuring since yesterday afternoon.

I can't view .php pages anymore that are hosted on IP number 84.244.151.xx
They return a 404 error. Pages with a different extension (.html for instance), or images or swf files have no problem.

The strange part: these PHP pages can be viewed! When?
- when I'm behind an anonymous proxy
- when I use the wifi connection of my neighbours
- when they're not hosted on this particular ip number
- the rest of the world can view them

So it's obvious it's related to my own IP-number in combination with the IP number of this particular webserver. It isn't computer related, because all the computers in the house have the same problem.

The thing is that both my ISP and the hostingscompany claim that there's nothing wrong on their side. My ISP also tells me that the solution I suggested, just give me a new IP number, isn't possible. (Which is a bit strange, since they hand out dynamic IP-numbers)

And because I don't have a clue what's causing this issue, it's hard to convince either of them that there must be something they must do to solve this problem. Is there anybody here who has an idea what can be the issue here?

rgds, Eric

[jamie]

that sounds really weird eric. have you tried changing the DNS on your router? try using OpenDNS (http://www.opendns.com/). you'll find the IPs at the bottom right of the page.

[evn64]

Hello Jamie,

Thank you for responding.

Yes, I did. I've actually used the DNS server from OpenDNS. But that didn't solve the issue. I've been Googeling whole day to figure out what could be wrong, but up till now without any luck.

Rgds, Eric

[Leosghost]

Have you tried actually using another router?

Having asked that ..it does sound very much more like the problem is at the server end, than at yours.

[incrediBILL]

If some files display but others don't, and you think it's related more to your computer than the host, I'd REBOOT everything, the browser, computer, router, etc. to make sure you don't just have something odd stuck in your system.

If it still fails after that, then it's time to dig deeper!

[evn64]

Hello Leosghost and incrediBill,

It's not possible to use another router. The one I've got is a combined modem/router Thomson TMG850, supplied by the ISP and is the only one that works with this cable connection. If I could, I've would have swapped it with the one from my neighbours. They're with the same ISP and have exactly the same modem/router.

For as far as I understand this matter, I too think the issue is caused by some setting on the server of the webhoster. The bad part is that this is my developserver, where I build websites for my clients.

I've rebooted everything twice, took out the powerplugs for more then an hour (also hoping this would get me an new IP address, as was suggested by the helpdesk of the ISP).

I'm almost certain it's not a problem from the computer itself. In this house are three computers, one iMac, a Macbook and a Windows laptop. They all have the same problem. When I took the Macbook to the neighbours and used their internet connection, everything worked fine again.

At the time the problem occured, I was working on a Joomla website, editing the CSS files. On top of that, I don't have admin-access to the server. It's a shared server, where I don't have any rights to edit anything releated to the webserver software. It's a 'resellers-package', where the only access I've got is with DirectAdmin.

Thank you both for your interest and the attempts to help me out!

Rgds, Eric

[Leosghost]

Do you by any chance have a "back up account" with your ISP for if your cable goes down? ..the kind of thing that you can connect to with just an old style modem?

That would ( if it was using the same IP as your router ) allow you to really confirm that it was the server end ..

Failing that , best I can suggest is that you persuade your hoster to give you another IP at their end for your reseller account..but keep the nameserver settings that allocate incoming requests to your customers and your accounts..if it is a config problem on the specific account IP at the server end, that would solve it ..and if it is a server wide setting that they have changed recently that is causing the problem,then the problem would still be evident even on a different IP, and that would confirm to them that it was at their end..

[incrediBILL]

If it's a reseller account it's probably on shared hosting, might be easier to ask them to migrate your account to a different server which would also get a new IP address but posing it a different way may get action from the host. Based on what you're saying I think it's your home IP address that's the issue, not the server IP address since others can see the PHP running, so doing this might just be a waste of time. Especially if it's something tweaked wrong in the hosting account, which I'm thinking since it's causing a 404 just for PHP files and just to your home IP, you may end up simply moving the problem to a new server.

Was there anything in the software you were using that tracks the IPs being accessed that give allow/deny access you might have inadvertently enabled?

Perhaps clearing out your temp folder on the server will clear out the problem, I would try this as well.

Also try wiping out all cookies in your browser related to your accounts, clean 'em out, sometimes this can be an issue as well if something rogue gets stuck in your local cookies.

Worse case, since you can't seem to get a new IP from your ISP, a quick fix would be to set your browser to use a proxy server IP so you can still continue working until the problem is resolved, if ever! ;)

BTW, if you put the same PHP files where they can be referenced under a domain name on the server, do they then work from your home IP?

[evn64]

Hello Leosghost and incrediBill,

Unfortunately there's no 'backup account'. The suggestions you both make to narrow the number of causes down are very welcome and I'll use them when contacting the hostingprovider tomorrow morning.

The software I was using at the time the problem occured were a texteditor and a FTP client. The cookies and cache were both already cleaned, but that didn't help.

I'm gonna use a proxyserver to continue my work, after all a slowish connection is always better then no connection at all.

And to answer you last question, when the PHP files are referenced under a domain name on this particular server, they still don't work.

Although I'm not to keen on hosting websites for clients, a few of them are on this same shared server, but under their own unique domain. All these sites work perfectly, as long as they're not viewed from my ISP IP-number.

Tomorrow I'll increase the pressure on both my ISP and hosting provider to come with an anwser on what's wrong and a good solution. When I know I'll post both the cause and the solution in this thread for future reference.

Thank you all for your efforts on your free (that's what I hope, at least) sunday!

Rgds, Eric

[evn64]

Hello everybody,

The issue is solved. It turned out my IP-number was blacklisted by the hostingprovider in a special way so only scripted pages were blocked, due to 'possible security risks, coming from this IP number'. They said I must have had a red warning page before I was blocked, but I haven't seen it.

Thank you all for taking interest!

Rgds, Eric

[Leosghost]

Glad to read that you resolved it. :)..was going to ask you last night ( I was posting at about 04.00 am my time ) and didn't get around to it, to get them to check their firewall again to be sure that they had not blocked you specifically from running scripts..

Unusual for that to just "happen"..maybe they were rebuilding a kernel at the time you were working ? or tinkering at their end with config..

They need to check their logs more frequently , they should have been able to see you being refused at your IP..