Not sure if I should ask about this the public area

This is the second time in 24 hours I've had this experience. Now I am certain of the cause.

THE SYMPTOM
My IP is being denied access to my domain. I have somehow triggered a security measure that is blocking me.

How do I know this? When I go to my staging domain (https://www.MedHarvest.biz) it refuses to load, the connection eventually times out. If I switch computers, in the office I get the same problem.

Both computers have internet access, I can do google searches and come to this forum.

When I sent an email to my host, she sent me one right back saying she can see my domain without a problem and, btw, I like the progress you are making.

So now I call my wife and she confirms that she too can see the website.

My network at home is virtually the same as at the office: comcast broadband cable modem connected to Airport Extreme wireless router (dhcp) feeding 3 or 4 computers.

Eventually I figured out how to fix the problem... force my network to create a new DHCP IP address by turning it off and then restarting.

THE CAUSE
Both times this occurred I was doing the EXACT same thing. Both times I was in ADMIN/TOOLS/SIDEBOX. On both occasions I was attempting to disable all the right side boxes for a template.

After like the 3rd or 4th time of clicking "edit" then "off" and "off", suddenly my screen would not refresh.

MY QUESTION
Is there some kind of security mechanism built into ZC 1.3.9b that could block an IP like this? If so, is there a way to fix this glitch?

Woah! I did not think this thread would be publicly viewable, hence the reason I gave my actual domain!

Feznizzle:

Woah! I did not think this thread would be publicly viewable, hence the reason I gave my actual domain!
This thread is NOT publicly viewable.

Oh! Good. I thought I had read that it was not. :blush:

Feznizzle:

MY QUESTION
Is there some kind of security mechanism built into ZC 1.3.9b that could block an IP like this? If so, is there a way to fix this glitch?
Shouldn't be.

Your server's apache error_log will record the cause of denied access to pages. If you show that to your host/administrator, then they may be able to find out what "rule" you're triggering in their system, and then they can fix it.

And when talking to them, be sure to give them the correct IP address to look up. You can see yours in your Admin navigation menu bar, or visit https://www.wimi.com

This is very unlikely, but are there any "myDebug-adm-xxxxxxx.log" files in your /cache/ folder? Those will show any PHP errors that are occurring, in case that's triggering something.

Hi DrByte,

Yes, my cache folder has about 20 myDebug files in it! But the most recent one is dated from 2 days ago... my problem began yesterday.

Lord is this yet another problem? Should I be concerned about the myDebug files?

Man everything was moving so smoothly until yesterday!

+++

With regard to my IP address being "blocked"... I appear to be very wrong about that.

My IP address is still the same as it was this morning. Since I use DHCP, I assumed that my ISP was changing my IP. And I figured when I restarted the modem, it was reassigning a new IP.

But apparently this was not the case, it had nothing to do with my IP.

Since unplugging my modem/router resolved the issue, I'm wondering if this is some sort of local issue. If it happens again, I'll try restarting just the router.

I wonder why my firewall would freak out like that (if that is what is happening)?

And I wonder why this problem is specific to my Zen Cart site?

Thanks for your help. Any further thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I'm off to research myDebug now (groan).

1. Your router problem sounds like a local issue. Sorry, can't help you with that.

2. The myDebug log files will only be generated when PHP errors are occurring.
   Typically that's when you see blank pages on your site, or might be a result of a problem happening from an addon that's just been installed or is half-uploaded when someone visits your site.
   If you've dealt with whatever errors are found inside those files, you can delete the files so the list is clean.
   The FAQ/Tutorials area, and the forum, are good places to find solutions to whatever errors your find there.

3. If your "blocking" problem was really just router failure, then there's probably nothing your hosting company can do to help you. That would explain why they saw no evidence of you being blocked.

The event occurred again last night, flipping the router didn't help, but flipping the modem on and off did. This definitely appears to be a local issue, though it is isolated to only being tripped off be Zen.

My host(ess) does seem to think it was her fault, saying this:

The DNS issue appears to be resolved, or is in the process of being resolved once propagation is completed. that is why all the freaky router/modem/ip address things ocurred I do believe.

There shouldn't be an IP blocking issue, and I am not seeing any evidence of it in the server. I believe any access issues were related to the nameserver entries not matching between the registrar and the zone files on the server itself.

She says that she somehow had both dns (ns1/ns2) pointing at the same ip.

Looks like this had nothing to do with ZC, but thanks for your help anyway.
+++++

DrByte,

On a personal note, I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me with this. You have also directly helped me on a couple of my other posts.

But I want to thank you even more for the indirect help you have provided to me. Before I post anything, I have usually read thru tutorials and dug all around the forums.

For every time I post, there are about 20 times I did not post because I was able to find my answer in a thread somewhere. Your name pops up very frequently and your comments almost always end up helping me.

I know I am not alone, I hope you realize that. Every time you assist a noob, dozens of other noobs (such as myself) come along, find your answers, and are helped.

Marketing students are taught that for every customer who takes the time to complain, there are 26 others who quietly suffer with the same complaint. My bet is that the situation is very similar, if not multiplied, with this forum. There may be 26 others at that very moment, but your posts are left up for years, so that number is probably multiplied by a factor of 10!

Your comments are always very well written, very clear, and always useful.

I imagine you must get tired of helping people, frustrated with seeing the same ole silly questions, etc.... but don't loose heart! Your words help those who request it and the individual help is multiplied over the years as dozens and dozens of others comb through your wisdom, long after you have posted.

Anyway, I guess this is just a really long 'thanks'.

Your #1 fan,
Mike

:blush:
You're welcome.