Usenet not working

[#1]

Hello

back after 10 days abroad and usenet.plus.net has disappeared from the Internet. Did I miss any "memo" ?

I remember about a related issue few months ago (authentication errors) but this one seems much more serious as the domain doesn't resolve anymore... I am 100% confident it was working right before leaving the country.

[#2]

Same here. Domain not resolving.

[#3]

Same here:

Thu Jul 28 12:16:01 2022 - Error connecting to “text.news.plus.net:119” (Connection refused)

(using pan on Linux Mint)

[#4]

hmmm...

both usenet.plus.net and text.news.plus.net resolve to "lb-182-246.above.com (103.224.182.246)" which is

ISP	Trellian Pty. Limited
Hostname(s)	lb-182-246.above.com
Domain Name	trellian.com
Country	Australia
City	Beaumaris, Victoria

[#5]

just posted another message, but it has disappeared. Try again...

both usenet.plus.net and text.news.plus.net resolve to lb-182-246.above.com, which is:

netname:        TRELLIAN-AU
descr:          Trellian Pty. Limited
descr:          8 East Concourse, Beaumaris Victoria 3193
country:        AU

[#6]

Same here.

Unable to connect: Host not found

[#7]

Thanks for raising, looking into this now.

[#8]

The domain does resolve (at least from a Plusnet perspective). It is CNAME aliased to the reseller: -

~ $ dig news.plus.net @212.159.6.10

; <<>> DiG 9.11.5-P4-5.1+deb10u7-Raspbian <<>> news.plus.net @212.159.6.10
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 15968
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 4096
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;news.plus.net.                 IN      A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
news.plus.net.          69961   IN      CNAME   usenet.plus.net.
usenet.plus.net.        69962   IN      CNAME   europe.isp.giganews.com.
europe.isp.giganews.com. 77     IN      CNAME   news-europe.ord.giganews.com.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
ord.giganews.com.       677     IN      SOA     ns-1565.awsdns-03.co.uk. awsdns-hostmaster.amazon.com. 1 7200 900 1209600 86400

;; Query time: 11 msec
;; SERVER: 212.159.6.10#53(212.159.6.10)
;; WHEN: Thu Jul 28 13:12:34 BST 2022
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 214

Something doesn't look quite right with the target hostname though - news-europe.ord.giganews.com

Still looking into it (ref: IMT-8012)...

[#9]

I use text.usenet.plus.net.  I get:-

>ping usenet.plus.net
Ping request could not find host usenet.plus.net. Please check the name and try again.

>ping news.plus.net
Ping request could not find host news.plus.net. Please check the name and try again.

>ping text.usenet.plus.com
Ping request could not find host text.usenet.plus.com. Please check the name and try again.

[#10]

Bob, I know you're a sensible and practical guy, so here's a suggestion:  for external servers and DNS entries that are required for your own services to work, why not periodically test them yourselves (that is Plusnet, not you personally) so that you proactively discover when they break, maybe even before your customers report a problem.  (I used to work for a company with computers, and that's what we did.  You're welcome )

The DNS entry for the Usenet server broke over 12 hours ago!!  (Somewhere in Giganews land, it would seem...)

If the DNS configuration error is going to take any length of time to fix, perhaps you can just tell us the IP address to use in the meantime?

Thanks,

Mike.

[#11]

Using nslookup I was seeing 'name not found' but I now see

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

DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
Server: news-europe.giganews.com
Addresses: 127.42.0.1
51.89.1.37
135.125.197.173
135.125.197.81
135.125.197.85
141.95.121.65
Aliases: usenet.plus.net
europe.isp.giganews.com

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

But it is asking for a password that I don't think is necessary. If it is how do I set one up?

[#12]

Something has changed - the DNS is now resolving to 6 IP addresses, which all have Usenet servers running, but the all ask for authentication details.  (Presumably they should be configured to recognise Plusnet IP ranges?  My IP is 146.199.21.132.)

[#13]

I'm seeing the same. From a Plusnet IP (which is the only authentication that should be required): -

bob@penguin:~$ telnet news.plus.net 119
Trying 51.89.1.37...
Connected to news-europe.giganews.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
200 News.GigaNews.Com
group plusnet.service.customer-feedback
480 authentication required

I'm involved in a dialogue with Giganews.

[#14]

Thanks Bob, I appreciate your efforts on our behalf. 

Its hard to believe that I have been here since 2007 - not long after your good self!

   Brian

[#15]

Thanks, think I've been around a while longer than that though!

The registration date on these forums is from when they were migrated from the old phpBB ones to SMF I beleive (and now Lithium/Khorus).

I was contributing for a fair few years prior to that!

Must have done something wrong in a former life