Test posting. Been having some problems - think I've sussed it!

Hmmm so far so good.

now from FF

All sorted! (if this last post works)
Bubba: Please delete this thread, I have now figured out what the problem was.
Firewall picked up odd connection the other day; I blocked it.
iits0114.inlink.com wasn't something I associated with UKC so I blocked it without thinking.
Remove that one firewall addition and it works.
Dep

Why delete it? Other people may have the same problem.

There does seem to be some connection (although my DNS digging skills are fairly limited) between ukcaving's host and inlink.com so I think you have the right solution, Dep.

I'm finding that the site is very slow to respond; it that just traffic, or a problem? I've rebooted my router just in case, but it hasn't made any difference.

Chris

I had a brief issue about a week and a half ago with UKC.
I then started looking more closely at my firewall and could see a connection I did not recognise iits0114.inlink.com
I am now assuming that this is what UKC's host server passes out as the name for each HTTP connection rather than what I expected which was the ukc url. It is used for upward links as all connections on it are outwards.
Restoring this connection and UKC works once again.

Bubba: does this make sense to you?

yes - i've actually had a similar problem myself.

i installed a network monitor and found inklink so blocked it. stopped desktop access to my server totally. i assumed inlink was some sort of adware but it's legit.

glad you've sorted it though

Yes, all sorted now.
Thanks for confirming inlink.com as legit.

I've noticed that a lot of other websites do this sort of thing - usually for externally sourced included content such as ads or commercial links.

Some website do that for adverts, but so far as I can see we don't have any adverts here. What I think is happening is more to do with where the UK Caving server actually is. If you do a DNS lookup on ukcaving.com it's actually hosted at 209.135.140.14, which is part of the range controlled by Rose Web Services (ROSEHOSTING) which in turn goes back to "InLink Communications Company INLINK97".

What happens is that the hosting companies use webspace wherever in the world is most cost effective; if I'm correct, what appears to be the UK caving server is actually iits0114.inlink.com.

You'll probably also see things in your firewall logs like a1969.l.akamai - Akamai host 15% of the web, including a lot of Microsoft stuff, and attempts to access akamai through a windows firewall are probably windows update or something like.

Chris

Nice one Chris, that more or less confirms what I had noticed and what I was thinking.