Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Well done @rockedge and many thanks for all your efforts......

Name and shame time? Who was the host who abandoned us??

IMPORTANT!
This Forum was hit by a deliberate DDOS attack which forced the server host provider to suspend and throw us and the forum's software out. At this time we are migrating to a new host provider.

Curious: Would HTTPS have any safety?

cheers rock

appreciated

Clarity wrote: Wed Mar 30, 2022 6:50 am

Curious: Would HTTPS have any safety?

The forum's already using HTTPS. But that doesn't help against a DDoS attack, which is primarily bogging a server down with way too much traffic/connection requests to handle.

In general, this is a sad trend. Recently, more and more often the browser began to show a page about DDoS protection before opening sites. I noticed that most of these mentions are about Cloudflare, although some Russian sites (mostly with news) use DDoS-Guard.

I doubt that these are "Russian hackers". They have more important things to do right now. I noticed that several other sites are not working, for example, with free vst plugins for working with sound. Most likely, many have suffered, and the goals are some broad. Insanity and panic are mass phenomena and are accompanied by side effects.

Prior to the DDOS, I saw PUPs pages come up as HTTP...not HTTPS. Did anyone else see the same?

Edit: Just checked..., now, HTTP: is still open and a pathway into the forum.

Thanks Rockedge. Glad you were able to get it back up.

Glad to hear that the forum,... are back and sorry to read and hear the damage that has been done

Thanks from here too! And Rockedge won't say it but folks, don't forget the donations button.

Thanks rockedge for all your efforts to keep this forum alive, great !!

Name and shame time? Who was the host who abandoned us??

iFastnet.com dropped us without hesitation and with not more than a "sorry" to boot. They did package up all of our data, backups and MySQL database dumps so I could download it all. And they will refund a small portion of the money. We have actually bumped up the level of service by changing host providers to the current one. Costs slightly more money but still reasonable.

How much money do you have to pay to provide the forum?

Who is now providing hosting?

@rockedge
Can I also just add my thanks to you for getting the forum back up and running so quickly.

Regards,

Ken.

Very glad to see the forum up and running again! I even went over to LinuxQuestions to the Puppylinux thread there. There weren't any current discussions on anything concerning the forum though, and why it was down. Was having Puppy forum withdrawal symtoms. So good to see it back up and running.

Puppy LInux Forum hit with DDOS attack................................

What does @rockedge do?

Amazing recovery time Rock

Thanks
wizard

For those wondering why we are a victim of a ddos, one possibility:: https://www.cloudflare.com/ransom-ddos/

A ddos could be followed by a demand for $$ for them to not do it again.

Also, anyone could try to trick you to give them $$
when they had nothing to do with the ddos
Anyone could pretend to be the perpitrator.
(so giving them $$ would not help.)

Right, gang. I'm "back in the saddle" again.

(Turns out my own IP, TalkTalkUK, simply would NOT re-route the forum's URL to the new IP address. Hence why I couldn't access the forum, and kept getting the "Account suspended" page.

I've fixed that one quite simply.....by switching to CloudFlare's free-to-use 1.1.1.1 nameserver service. Sorted. And everything connects a fair bit faster now, too..!)

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

Huge thanks go to rockedge for persevering in the face of unwarranted adversity. This is a guy who refuses to let the buggers knock him back, and just keeps going ahead. A massive thank-you from me, and I'm quite sure I speak for the rest of the community as well.

Cheers, Erik. You're a prime example of why the Puppy "spirit" will never be beaten, mate.....and why you've made some firm friends on here.

To echo Marv; don't forget that 'DONATE' button, gang!

Mike.

Thanks rockedge for keeping this forum relatively alive. I knew Puppy wouldn't go down easily without a fight.

Also, I see we have new users joining in. In any case,

Again, thanks rockedge for perservering. <3

I repeat what I said in the Facebook Puppy Linux Users Group.
I also would like to thank you Erik Schoepplenberg personally for your efforts.

thanks nay-bah
job well done

we might want to toss a few quid in his direction.

8Geee

Thanks @rockedge for the hard work. Less than 48 hours down time for a "side project" website. Awesome work.

Mentioned above, there is a Facebook group for Puppy users. I know some don't like facebook, but if there is one thing to have it for, it's to go there if this ever goes down again.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/puppylinuxusers

Sorry the moderator had to sort through the recent forum issues.

Would it be of any advantage if puppylinux users contribute to a paid server state to avoid those problems in the future?

Just wondering.

Thanks for you efforts sorting out the forum mess.

Today I saw three spam messages in Russian on the forum. Something like a lot in a day It doesn't seem to be a weekend, students should be busy.

Grey wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 4:45 pm

Today I saw three spam messages in Russian on the forum. Something like a lot in a day It doesn't seem to be a weekend, students should be busy.

There HAS been a lot of spam today. I've dealt with at least half-a-dozen, and yes; 3 of those were in Cyrillic. And every single one aimed at the exact same sub-forum....."Additional Software".

Obviously not aware we don't put anything outside the sub-categories.

(*shrug*)

Mike.

Hi All!

I remember way back around 2009 puppy Linux lost all the wiki help and how-to pages by a similar aggressive attack. Those pages were never recoverable and therefore puppy lost a lot of new users and enthusiasts.

Guess this little community has a lot of haters. You can also call them sick people!

Big thanks to all the moderators

and a big thank you to you Erik for not giving up!

I have a fiber optic internet connection, optical coupler and fast routers so I have the luxury of downloading complete copies of our web sites, data and export databases dumps so I can re-create pretty close to the original (in most cases) with all the backups. I do this periodically or before any upgrade or update of any kind. Also I was able to retrieve the all of the directories and software. That means when the need for a reconstruction has arrived all of the phpBB extensions, plugin modifications, images, avatars and attachments are immediately lined up and coordinated with the database import.

The advantage is I have an uncompressed synced mirrored copies stored on my local HDD's that I can detach. Also can use these to set up a copy of the forum that is mechanically equal to this one on a localhost server and really try out designs and features on the forum before ever transferring the customization's to the production forum. That way I can really break it with no fear and if something really goes south it's really easy to blitz schnell get back to pole position. To try again.

So its Hardware that saves the Puppy... not software. Parallel HDDs much like RAID with backups. Nice. Just load and shoot so to speak.

rockedge wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 9:33 pm

I have a fiber optic internet connection, optical coupler and fast routers so I have the luxury of downloading complete copies of our web sites, data and export databases dumps so I can re-create pretty close to the original (in most cases) with all the backups. I do this periodically or before any upgrade or update of any kind. Also I was able to retrieve the all of the directories and software. That means when the need for a reconstruction has arrived all of the phpBB extensions, plugin modifications, images, avatars and attachments are immediately lined up and coordinated with the database import.

The advantage is I have an uncompressed synced mirrored copies stored on my local HDD's that I can detach. Also can use these to set up a copy of the forum that is mechanically equal to this one on a localhost server and really try out designs and features on the forum before ever transferring the customization's to the production forum. That way I can really break it with no fear and if something really goes south it's really easy to blitz schnell get back to pole position. To try again.

nice set up and thanks for all you do.
Did the attack stop when you changed hosts, or is it being mitigated by some additional service?

wiiliwaw wrote:

Did the attack stop when you changed hosts, or is it being mitigated by some additional service?

It is a combination of those. The sudden change of the DNS nameservers, different host with different load balancing schemes, luck and the fact what is there to gain by directing the resources needed to pull off such a DDOS attack?

I feel like the host provider was hasty in singling us out when it's obvious we were not alone in being targeted. But now we have what feels like a better home base.

My neighbor has 2 Chihuahua's. These little guys are probably the most efficient guard dogs in the neighborhood. They'll come with a ferocity barely equaled when they've decided that's what needs to be done. The power in those little minds and bodies with a courage and loyalty unmatched. A true inspiration of resilience and the ability to face adversity head on. But they sure love who they love.

Probably a lot like Barry's "Puppy", who's name lives on as inspiration through tough times.