Astraweb problems again

[drunkenm4ster]

Hi All,

You have probably heard this all before, but every file I download from FST (movies, pc games), I am getting missing blocks, for example the most recent being Predestination and Far Cry 4. Even happening when using an indexer - nzbindex.
Any solutions please?, I am locked to Astraweb for a couple of months methinks, as I bought a years sub to keep the cost down, bur willing to bite the cost as this is getting pointless, and oh how I love FST NZBs.
Thank you

[Beck38]

Again, which Astraweb (please)? And since the nzb used is coming from a 3rd party source (in this case FST), not the original uploader, one needs to realize that it may contain the 'gaps' to start with (even the large hoover sites like NZBIndex and Binsearch have tons of 'holes' in their nzb's).

The Astraweb/US/EU 'fades' that I reported a while back (see the thread on that) affecting things from around 6 weeks old to 6 months, has been almost completely been repaired (to 98+% completion), so it only takes a handful of pars to fix. You don't list some percentage in overall gaps that you are getting; did you run NZBcc on the nzb's beforehand (?) and I take it no fills server setup in whatever program you're using to hoover up things, not even the 'reverse' Astra plant...(eu if us main, or us if eu main)?

[drunkenm4ster]

Again, which Astraweb (please)? And since the nzb used is coming from a 3rd party source (in this case FST), not the original uploader, one needs to realize that it may contain the 'gaps' to start with (even the large hoover sites like NZBIndex and Binsearch have tons of 'holes' in their nzb's).

The Astraweb/US/EU 'fades' that I reported a while back (see the thread on that) affecting things from around 6 weeks old to 6 months, has been almost completely been repaired (to 98+% completion), so it only takes a handful of pars to fix. You don't list some percentage in overall gaps that you are getting; did you run NZBcc on the nzb's beforehand (?) and I take it no fills server setup in whatever program you're using to hoover up things, not even the 'reverse' Astra plant...(eu if us main, or us if eu main)?

Hi Beck38,

Wow thanks for the response, very impressed.
I am using the EU server.
Did not know about the NZBcc remedy, so will give it a go.
Do I need to try anything else?.
I use Grabit for the downloads, Quick Par, and will for alternate software, that would be much appreciated.
Once again thank you.

[Beck38]

I watch Astra/US like a hawk, since it's my main (and internet mileage wise, closest) posting server, but others have noted (here on FST and elsewhere) that the EU plant is a bit more than unsteady. I've noted that whereas the US plant has a near 100% completion on an nzb, the EU is, on average, a couple points lower (i.e., 100%/US and 98%/EU).

But even if you don't want to employ a 'fills' server (Blocknews is a big favorite, with both US and EU/Amsterdam plants), the first step is to always first use the 'reverse' plant to cheaply (no additional cost) as I pointed out, in your case, have the US plant as the first 'fills' server, then if you want, Blocknews or some other plant (although a lot of folks will say some other Dutch provider may be better when dealing with DMCA takedowns) but that is up to you. Some EU folks use the US server as their main, but the speed and latency crossing the Atlantic and then the North American continent is a much slower process, and ISP speeds and throughput in Europe well exceed that generally available in the US (or Canada).

But first, get that reverse plant in your setup and it should help a lot, hopefully getting you to the point where the pars can work.

I also keep harping that a lot of Euro posters have let their amount/percentage of pars get way to low, thinking that 1-2% is 'good enough', and don't realize that folks utilizing a slightly (or more than that) unsteady server need more; I don't ever do less than 10% on anything (back in the 'olden days' 15+ years ago that minimum was more like 20%), as I've seen even top-flight servers slowly 'fade' parts over time (I'm talking months to years). But folks tend to think in the short term, not the long; human nature. And saving what, another hour or two generating and posting those pars is thought to be 'too much' in their scheme of things.

[Gribley]

the first step is to always first use the 'reverse' plant to cheaply (no additional cost)

Damn, I didn`t think of that so many thanks :)... my tweaknews block will now, I hope, get much less hits.

Regards
Grib

[chakara]

Those bad speed are really killing it for me, because completion wise they're good.

[Beck38]

Those bad speed are really killing it for me, because completion wise they're good.

I'll 'assume' you're talking about the EU plant, as others have pretty much historically said the same thing about that plant. But, the US plant 2-3 months ago was suffering the same kind of bad throughput, and it was tracked down to bad routers at Astras main feed from Level 3, have you done any testing trying (if you can) some different routing into/through Amsterdam to the input ports...? If you do traceroutes into the plant, do they change occasionally and can you figure (when it does) things get either better or worse, depending....?

That was the 'hint' as to the L3 problems in SF/SJ, as occasionally the data routing hit Sprintnet on the coming out of the main L3 routers on it's way to San Jose, and everything worked fine, they it would 'go direct' L3 into Astra and it would all go to hell in a handbasket. Eventually some folks a bit closer to the 'action' figured that some older Cisco routers used by L3 were running out of routing table memory (or something like that) and when L3 made a slight adjustment, running the traffic coming into SF and pointed it at LA, then from LA back into SF, things 'cleared up'.

They left it running that way for 2-3 weeks until they swapped out those older routers (they apparently couldn't be upgraded further memory wise) and things have been running perfectly ever since; and one can see small 'wobbles' and changes in the routing tables every once in a while, the latest has been a new company (pccwbtn) right there off L3 in SF going to SJ.

Being always interested in 'what the heck is that?' when I see something 'new' around the internet, I looked it up and it's a somewhat new company (started in 2ooo) that is now having a submarine fiber system built between the Mediterranean (France/Italy), through the Middle East (Egypt/Saudi Arabia), through the Indian Ocean to India, and around to Vietnam and then China with a few of the other southeast Asia countries with feeders as well. Being built to carry at 40Tbits. Exactly why they have some routers in San Francisco...?

It's a main transit point, so they have some hardware there. Why any of my traffic headed toward Astra in San Jose goes through it? The wonders of the internet I guess. Wired Planet. And one has to wonder what exactly (other than Astra itself) is causing the problems around Amsterdam, maybe some good detective work might yield some answers eventually.

[chakara]

I have no idea what you just said :lol:

I want to set up my grabber, click connect and max out my connection. I don't care about traceroutes, I don't care about plants, I don't care about submarine fiber optic cables.

I pay a service and expect it to work. If not, I'll just change providers.

Although it looks like Usenetnow SSL servers can't connect on Newsleecher v4 (and it's a bug they know about, the tech guy asked me immediately "what version of Newsleecher ?), so I'll have to find someone else !

[pinhead1000]

99% of the things i grab now from astraweb is useless and cant be repaired old stuff and brand new it doesnt matter all full of broken unfilled files and all the pars are always damaged so nearly always cant be repaired

its starting to be a real pain in the ass :(

[Beck38]

99% of the things i grab now from astraweb (

Once again, I'll have to 'assume' you mean 'Astra/EU' when you say 'astraweb'. And I'll have to repeat (once again) you ARE utilizing a secondary fill feed to the 'opposite' plant (eu main then us fill) that would most probably get your completion up to at least the level of pars repair (?).

Virtually all the major plants have us/eu 'pairs' and this 'no cost' fills is the first step before 'eating' an actual fills server (like Blocknews). I rarely have to actually 'repair' anything I get from Astra/US, and I use (of course) Astra/EU as my first fills server (with a secondary Blocknews).

So I bring this up all the time here (it seems like mostly with folks who 'mainline' off Astra/EU) and I'm very quick to point out any 'wobbles' and such with the US plant as it's very close to me (both internet wise and 'as the crow flies').

So make sure that your newsreader (or something like SABnzbD which is what I use) is set up with secondary (or more) servers, and I'm sure that even with the slow(er) rates having to 'cross the pond' and then across the continent to get to Astra/US in San Jose, that the trip is worth it to get your completion rate up.

[pinhead1000]

i use both and they both fail for me im using altbinz i must be doing something wrong somewhere?

[Beck38]

Possibly, but I've never used 'altbinz' so don't know how it's set up. You DO use nzbcc to check the nzb beforehand? Other than that, you may send/post the nzb (pm if need be) and I'll check it out on the various servers.

If it seems to be everything (figuring that 'everything' isn't 'nothing but p0rn') you may look at where the posting is originating from, and perhaps what the poster is using to post it. If, for instance, the postings are all or mostly originating from a particular server plant, that may be the problem; but if they are originating from one of the Astra plants, that may narrow things down a bit, but nzbcc would help tell if it's your s/w or setup that may be at fault.

[pinhead1000]

cheers beck never used nzbcc will look into that first no its not porn m8 films and tv series that i grab ;)

[Hypatia]

'Astra/EU' when you say 'astraweb'

Most files ~20-30 days old fail on both servers. I dunno what is the exact affected range though, I haven't bothered checking, I just don't have time for this. I dunno what happened but apparently it's one of their infamous screws ups as in a large amount of random missing articles throughout a certain range of retention.Generally ~10% of data is missing.

Tbh I'm thinking of switching to usenetserver for downloading stuff (yeah, yeah I know, it's highwinds, but their speed is fine, their completion atm is better than SN\GN's and especially astraweb's even with all dmca takedowns and there is simply no alternative with the same retention.) and upload as usual via my second AW block account.

[Beck38]

Most files ~20-30 days old fail on both servers. I dunno what is the exact affected range though, I haven't bothered checking, I just don't have time for this

I kinda do, and I haven't run into any 'gaps' in the last 30+ days or so, including all my usual hyper checking of posted 'stuff'. I usually take a couple of days a week to load up on downloads, the age of most are fairly 'new' (1-3 weeks or so) and didn't run into any gaps or missing parts whatsoever in my 'run' of last week (zero repairs). All were in the BD25-50 range of sizes, 25-50GB each (total around 500GB) so if something was seriously amiss I would have thought I'd have run into it.

That and like I said, I take an almost anal review of what I've posted (through Astra/US) particularly that from 1-8 weeks old, so any large gaps and such would be instantly noticeable, and only the 'usual' 1% drop-off in Astra/EU v. Astra/US is there, whereas both Giga/US-EU and Blocknews/US-EU are virtually 100% as is usual for them.

Will continue as usual my 'routine', but I simply haven't seen any large gaps appear lately.

[Hypatia]

Check Efnet uploads (movies\teevee series ~20 days old) for instance.

erotica (http://nzbindex.nl/search/?q=efnet+erotica&age=&max=25&minage=20&sort=agedesc&minsize=1000&maxsize=&dq=&poster=&nfo=&hidespam=0&hidespam=1&more=1) will do too. You can start from the top of the page.

Just an example:
gush.b720p
blocknews - 100% completion
AW US - 221 articles missing

or, say, welcome to sweden web-dl (http://nzbindex.nl/search/?q=welcome+sweden+web+720p&age=&max=25&minage=&sort=agedesc&minsize=100&maxsize=&dq=&poster=&nfo=&hidespam=0&hidespam=1&more=1)

Welcome.To.Sweden.S01E01.Day.One.720p.WEB-DL.DD5.1.H.264-Coo7

AW US -350+ articles missing
blocknews us - 100% completion
Everything is severely broken

[pinhead1000]

try this beck ive tried on both us and eu servers and both fail for me Ghost.Stalkers.S01E06.Farrar.School.720p.HDTV.x264-DHD (http://nzbs.org/details/8be567753e1f00c9c70fb4f19dfca104/Ghost.Stalkers.S01E06.Farrar.School.720p.HDTV.x264-DHD) see if you can get it to work as mine wont repair or d/l with out major missing data

ive tried that nzbcc but it just keeps giving me an error Article[[email protected]] not found on server and all different file names but the same not found on server any ideas becks thats with the above file

[justlooking]

i use both and they both fail for me im using altbinz i must be doing something wrong somewhere?

Maybe I'm crazy, but I think many of the incompletes are because of the newsreader. Altbinz doesn't seem to be able to handle multi-server downloads very well, and my friend has to use the Astra European server in Newsleecher to get something that was incomplete in Altbinz despite using both servers.

[Beck38]

Some Preliminary Results:

Yes, Astra/US appears to have developed some 'soft spots' (or maybe a 'soft range' is more a more appropriate term) in it's retention. In doing an A/B on known 'good' (i.e. nzb's that were posted (and checked multiple times) in the same dates as those folks supplied above.

BUT... (and one can disagree with me on this)

All those nzb's were posted with, IMHO, far fewer par's than they should have been. I follow a regime that takes into account the complete size of the files protected, according to the following amount of included pars:

Size > 25GB (BD25) - 10% minimum
Size ~8GB (DVD5) to 25GB - 20% minimum
Size ~4GB (<DVD5) - 30-40% minimum
Size ~2GB - 50% minimum
Size ~1GB and lower - 100% minimum

The largest nzb given above is 'gush' and it has the typical 5% pars (4GB size), which is WAY too little. The next is 'ghost stalkers' at a bit better 10%, but with only a size of 1.3GB it needs a LOT more as well. The 'welcome to sweden' has a fair amount, but at under 800MB it needs a lot more that a paltry 30% pars.

Now yes, if usenet worked 100%, 100% of the time, then little if any pars would be needed. And yes, Astra/US (I'll assume that Astra/EU may be doing worse) is falling off the rails a bit, but not laying on it's side quite yet.

Putting more pars into a posting takes only a few extra minutes of generation, and the same in posting, but if one actually wants their work to last beyond a few days, or only on a few servers, then one needs to take the time and effort (we're only talking about machine time here, it's not as if it's taking that out of one's rear end).

So yes, Astra needs to be better. Put in a ticket and see what that gets you. Or you can give up and 'pay the man' over at Giganews/Blocknews, and they have eventual problems as well here and there and over time.

But bottom line is, and this is something I've been harping on, for just about forever, more pars never hurt anyone.

Meanwhile, I'll take a look at some historical data and see where the fade gap starts and ends, will take a day or so.

[Beck38]

Some more information:

Usually (like every other time some gaps have been found and noted) they start at x and go to y with several weeks or months between. Not this time.

The first gap starts about one week back. Goes for about two months back (at this point from the first week in December to about the first week in October), then things look fine for about 3-4 weeks, then another drop-off for x weeks/months.

The gaps aren't large drop-offs, just down into the 90-85% completion range, with some slight hints down to the 65-75% range upon occasion.

So in the case of the three nzb's that folks are having problems with, they are all within those gap ranges and don't have enough pars to recover. But obviously, it should be working better; however, I'm sure that once again the folks running the plants simply can't see the forest for the trees.

I'll continue to monitor this situation, and maybe things will improve at some point.

[Hypatia]

Thanx for the info.

Seeing as you have identified the retention ranges that have problems , perhaps, you could send them a note or something.They practically know you now ;) and trust your findings.

[pinhead1000]

I've sent an email to Astra letting them know of my issues and I have to try both us and eu servers and send them a log off my newsreader

[Hypatia]

Is it only me or AW has limited (again) upload speed to 5+MB.? Remember they did this several times back then when their servers started getting lots of missing articles (especially during upload process)? They claimed that some users were hammering their servers (I guess uploads via VPS). I dunno maybe it's just me experiencing some problems atm.

[Beck38]

Since my pathetic ISP (Comcast) barely exceeds that level (5Mb/s) of upload speed without (quite literally) throwing my cc or wallet at them every month (current costs are now up to $125/month for 25/6, to get the the next 'tier' of 50/10 is double that amount which I'm not going to pay) I don't see any speed problems, even going 24/7 at max uploading.

If I can ever get moved from my current location, my primary reason is to get on (at least) 30/30 fios for less than half the bucks I'm shelling out to Comcrud. They also have 100/100 as well for about half Comcrud. I'm sure I've mentioned before, that FIOS is right at the entrance to my cul-de-sac but neither Verizon (when they were running it) or Frontier (current owner) will plumb down the street due to non-competitive agreement with Comcrud. Luckily, I've had satellite for TV for 35 years, as my street is not under any 'no satellite' deed restrictions which is probably the reason why it's under the non-competitive agreement.

Put in a ticket to Astra as well, don't really think it does any good at this point. It will either get better on it's own, or not.

[DngrMs]

^ holy crap that's expensive for bandwidth.

Using a basic conversion to US$ for an unlimited u/d account:

In one region I'm at around US$37 for 120/30 (copper - CBD).

In my other primary region (different Continent) it's about US$80 for 100/25 (glass - CBD).

Sucks hard to be raped for bandwidth.

[Beck38]

^ holy crap that's expensive for bandwidth.

The US is a BIG country. Get outside the big cities (>1M households) and the average distance to a telco Central Office is something like 35,000 feet, so even low speed DSL is, without large scale deployments of DSL extension cabinets and the like, a non-starter, and that leaves coaxial cable and/or fiber, and most telco's blew off fiber deployments throughout the 70's to today, simply because they could keep their copper plants generating revenue.

Now with a good chunk of their old subscribers moved to wireless/cellular, I know they wished they'd spent those years deploying that fiber, as most traditional telco's are now scraping the bottom of the barrel, barely keeping alive.

Add to that all the 'tricks' the cablecos use to stop any true competition, and most folks are left with no competition and those high rates.

[DngrMs]

Add to that all the 'tricks' the cablecos use to stop any true competition, and most folks are left with no competition and those high rates.

^ probably this.

[DigDawg]

Yeah - Astraweb seems to be on a 'permanent' shit completion path.
And yes, I am utilizing both of their US and EU servers, and yes, I have a completely separate fills server which gets depleted almost immediately because of their issues.
I think Astraweb might be a poor choice for provider going forward.
I'm moving on to another unless by some work of magic they clear up an issue they've obviously had for quite a while now.
It's a shame too, because they were the best out there - I've been with them forever and they were always top tier and quick to fix the rare occasional issues that sprung up.

(Note: these are two recent posts using NZB directly created by the poster whom I've downloaded 100% from Astra MANY times in the past. Others using same NZB on other Usenet SP have been DL fine.)

[Summerisle]

Shame about Astraweb. When I joined a few years ago they were pretty close to being 100% reliable. Right now, none of their servers work well for me with missing pieces approaching 10% on a regular basis. I'm still completing files most of the time but resorting to a fill server is becoming more common. I guess I'll be looking fir an alternative sooner rather than later.

[Beck38]

The folks currently running (I'm talking 'day to day' plant operation, not the 'suits' pushing paper) can't see the forest for the trees.

Every time anyone complains about poor completion, they simply ask 'what file?' and figure that it's only one little part that's hosed and not any large part. They don't seem to know anything about statistical analysis.

[pinhead1000]

ive still had no reply to my email i sent them after giving them screen shots and logs :(

[Beck38]

As of sometime this morning (San Jose time) the Astra/US plant is basically failed.

It appears that the upload/posting/propagation continued for awhile (that is still a bit under review) but the downloading/leeching has pretty much ground to a halt, or very intermittent at best, with minimal requested connections (or the number of those going up/down/up/down you get the picture).

It isn't the internet connection (or route) to the plant (I have the ability with vpn to come at them from various directions, as see through the trace routes).

I haven't re-traced the 'gaps' that were seen in the last couple of weeks, but I'll do that now and see what gives (if I can get any nzbcc connections that hold up, of course).

[Beck38]

Over the day into the next (now) things slowly, and I mean S L O W L Y improved, where even now it's still bouncing off zero as far as pure throughput downloading.

That 'semi-dead-zone' that is between things posted (approx.) mid-October to around December 1 still exists. About a week ago it looked like it was beginning to improve a bit (completion rate up to around 95% or so which is still pretty bad) but it's down into the mid-80's or worse now.

But the base throughput is, as I said, still dragging quite a bit, at best now is running at about 70% of the usual rate, with dips down to zero every few seconds or so.

Guess I'll see what give in another 12+ hours or so.

[minimalist]

Generally flipping between the EU and US servers fills in broken files. Although it keeps getting worse. A few years back I never had to use the EU server.

[Beck38]

No matter WHICH plant is closest to one, you should always utilize the 'opposite' as your first fills, your downloader should take care of that automatically if you set it up right.

Then of course use a block provider (Blocknews etc.) as a third possibility. Actually, as far as Astra is concerned, folks in Europe seem to report more problems with the Amsterdam plant than the San Jose one. My checking shows that Amsterdam seems to loose about a percentage point or two from the US/SJ. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on what you're trying to get and where (perhaps) it was posted to (a US vr Euro plant).

[myself12345]

Astraweb is a pile of turd they don't give shit anymore they refuse to acknowledge problems and fix correctly everything with them is band aid and problems keep coming back.
Binary group count is a joke now when comparing to other providers.
They refuse to add new groups claiming they don't exist but in realty they don't want to deal with more take-downs.

Even up-loaders are reverting to other providers because their servers are too unreliable everyone else should to the same.

[Beck38]

I don't think there is anyone else who tracks Astraweb/US as close or as completely as I do, and while there is a bit of reality in your statement, the one area that I've NEVER seen any problems with their US plant is in posting/propagation. This in over at least 10+ years.

Now, there have been wobbles in the actual connections while posting, to be sure, just as there is in downloading/leeching. As far as adding 'new' groups I don't know. I don't think there are any 'new' groups I've tripped across in ages that had any decent amount of traffic. And as far as takedowns, I repeat what I've said many times here, that in those 10+ years of use (Giganews and Supernews were my major usenet connections for at least the 10 years previous to that, so we're talking about 20 years ago) that I've NEVER had a single posted file that has been removed by any provider, and in the last 8+ years I've transferred (posted) at least 20TB every year since 'day zero', which is when most plants stopped 'rolling off' any data, i.e., around Aug2008. And yes, I've saved every nzb generated.

I do 'retention studies' on Astra/Giga/Blocknews every month or so, going all the way back to those early days. I sometime spot 'weak' retention in the plants that are data sensitive. Right now, Astra/US is still having a problem with data in the Sept-December 2014 time frame, that doesn't seem to be going away, and was some of the reason why this particular thread was started. I along with several others have complained and it doesn't seem to be being fixed or even looked at.

Then again, a lot if not all of these data 'fades' would be minor to inconsequential if folks would simply follow a few basic rules on the included percentage of parity, which I outlined previously in a reply a couple pages back, as lots of folks seem to believe that usenet operates perfectly (both transmission and storage) and that providers that aren't 100% are, as you put it, dung.

Well, then, move to other providers at 3+ times the cost. Or get a good block provider like most folks, and be done with it.

[IWH2010]

I don't think there is anyone else who tracks Astraweb/US as close or as completely as I do, and while there is a bit of reality in your statement, the one area that I've NEVER seen any problems with their US plant is in posting/propagation. This in over at least 10+ years.

Now, there have been wobbles in the actual connections while posting, to be sure, just as there is in downloading/leeching. As far as adding 'new' groups I don't know. I don't think there are any 'new' groups I've tripped across in ages that had any decent amount of traffic. And as far as takedowns, I repeat what I've said many times here, that in those 10+ years of use (Giganews and Supernews were my major usenet connections for at least the 10 years previous to that, so we're talking about 20 years ago) that I've NEVER had a single posted file that has been removed by any provider, and in the last 8+ years I've transferred (posted) at least 20TB every year since 'day zero', which is when most plants stopped 'rolling off' any data, i.e., around Aug2008. And yes, I've saved every nzb generated.

I do 'retention studies' on Astra/Giga/Blocknews every month or so, going all the way back to those early days. I sometime spot 'weak' retention in the plants that are data sensitive. Right now, Astra/US is still having a problem with data in the Sept-December 2014 time frame, that doesn't seem to be going away, and was some of the reason why this particular thread was started. I along with several others have complained and it doesn't seem to be being fixed or even looked at.

Then again, a lot if not all of these data 'fades' would be minor to inconsequential if folks would simply follow a few basic rules on the included percentage of parity, which I outlined previously in a reply a couple pages back, as lots of folks seem to believe that usenet operates perfectly (both transmission and storage) and that providers that aren't 100% are, as you put it, dung.

Well, then, move to other providers at 3+ times the cost. Or get a good block provider like most folks, and be done with it.

I used to have Astraweb as a supplier a few years back, (eu-user) and i loved them, however they problems with retention and DMCA, is it still the same situation today?

Thanks!

[Mutantx]

Yup what they have is usually solid.. The issue you're probably encountering is with posts that have disappeared due to "formal" requests.

-Mutantx



I don't think there is anyone else who tracks Astraweb/US as close or as completely as I do, and while there is a bit of reality in your statement, the one area that I've NEVER seen any problems with their US plant is in posting/propagation. This in over at least 10+ years.

Now, there have been wobbles in the actual connections while posting, to be sure, just as there is in downloading/leeching. As far as adding 'new' groups I don't know. I don't think there are any 'new' groups I've tripped across in ages that had any decent amount of traffic. And as far as takedowns, I repeat what I've said many times here, that in those 10+ years of use (Giganews and Supernews were my major usenet connections for at least the 10 years previous to that, so we're talking about 20 years ago) that I've NEVER had a single posted file that has been removed by any provider, and in the last 8+ years I've transferred (posted) at least 20TB every year since 'day zero', which is when most plants stopped 'rolling off' any data, i.e., around Aug2008. And yes, I've saved every nzb generated.

I do 'retention studies' on Astra/Giga/Blocknews every month or so, going all the way back to those early days. I sometime spot 'weak' retention in the plants that are data sensitive. Right now, Astra/US is still having a problem with data in the Sept-December 2014 time frame, that doesn't seem to be going away, and was some of the reason why this particular thread was started. I along with several others have complained and it doesn't seem to be being fixed or even looked at.

Then again, a lot if not all of these data 'fades' would be minor to inconsequential if folks would simply follow a few basic rules on the included percentage of parity, which I outlined previously in a reply a couple pages back, as lots of folks seem to believe that usenet operates perfectly (both transmission and storage) and that providers that aren't 100% are, as you put it, dung.

Well, then, move to other providers at 3+ times the cost. Or get a good block provider like most folks, and be done with it.

I used to have Astraweb as a supplier a few years back, (eu-user) and i loved them, however they problems with retention and DMCA, is it still the same situation today?

Thanks!

[Summerisle]

Things may be improving for Astraweb. Over the last month I've been getting pretty much a 100% successful retrieval,including a 10Gb zip which needed no pars or fills.

[spectrenine]

I've been having missing blocks in my astraweb dl's for a little while now. I connect to ssl-us.astraweb.com.

[spectrenine]

I usually just try reopenning the nzb and redownloading the parts with missing blocks. It sucks but sometimes I get them 2 or 3 times and each time the file will grab a different size.

Weird my previous post didn't show up. I originally said that I've been getting missing parts for awhile now from astraweb also. I connect to ssl-us.astraweb.com.

[famoussasjohn]

I'm hit or miss with astra lately. sometimes I get my normal connection speeds, sometimes it takes a crap and am hitting garbage speeds. I mainly use the news.astraweb.com and news.astraweb.com servers. Not sure if I should switch to another company or not.

[andreta]

I'm using Astra Europe, with a free XSusenet as a backup, works fine most times .
That said, as of this morning I can't download anything, hope it'll get fixed soon ...

[dlee021772]

I had the same problem with AstraWeb, so I got NZB Completion Checker and a fill-in server account from TweakNews, so far it has worked out great.

[vinnyb]

Im also having some download problems with Astraweb..I'll try your solution dlee021772..thx

[Hypatia]

wtf is going on with astra? a shitload of incompletes here and there(random releases posted within last week)Some releases are totally screwed up.Not dmcaed. There are some peculiar cases where nzbcc reports this or that release is complete but the moment you start downloading it there is like 400+++ missing articles

[Gribley]

wtf is going on with astra? a shitload of incompletes here and there(random releases posted within last week)Some releases are totally screwed up.Not dmcaed. There are some peculiar cases where nzbcc reports this or that release is complete but the moment you start downloading it there is like 400+++ missing articles

It is still pants but to lesser extent. My fill server (not the usual Astraweb US backup) is taking many hits for some particular posts. Doesn`t seem to be group specific on the download side so I can only assume it goes a bit further back to the original poster and their provider. Which is no excuse of course as other NNTP providers are picking up the posts anyway....

[jloc]

Same here, will def be lookin to change provider once sub expires !!


I had the same problem with AstraWeb, so I got NZB Completion Checker and a fill-in server account from TweakNews, so far it has worked out great.

Thanks , will try before giving up on astraweb

[Beck38]

Things do tend to come and go a bit, but I tend to ignore things until they got really off the rails


The lack of a lot of posters to include anywhere near what I consider the minimum in pars (10%) adds to the problem.

I also notice that L3 (the primary feeder into Astra/US) has been messing around with their route tables this week, sometimes sending traffic down to LA on a loop. Unknown as to why.

Mr. Internet is not perfect. That's why PARS were invented, if folks would use them properly.

[fuz9]

What is PARS? Parity?

[shaina]

Things do tend to come and go a bit, but I tend to ignore things until they got really off the rails


The lack of a lot of posters to include anywhere near what I consider the minimum in pars (10%) adds to the problem.

I also notice that L3 (the primary feeder into Astra/US) has been messing around with their route tables this week, sometimes sending traffic down to LA on a loop. Unknown as to why.

Mr. Internet is not perfect. That's why PARS were invented, if folks would use them properly.

Yes that is true, but even in the providers I use sometimes the PARS don't download properly either, and I look for alternate newsgroup posts, and I see a lot more now, uploads of alternate groups to solve that problem (marked DG)

[Beck38]

As I noted on my '2015 Bitch List' a while back, a lot of posters fail to do a 'check' on both their rar and par generation, which leads to many archives being 'unrepairable'. Of course, this has nothing whatsoever to do with server failures.

[shaina]

As I noted on my '2015 Bitch List' a while back, a lot of posters fail to do a 'check' on both their rar and par generation, which leads to many archives being 'unrepairable'. Of course, this has nothing whatsoever to do with server failures.
That is true , and you would be correct , if you have it set to automatic ,and not do it manually with QuickPar and WinRAR yourself
I am a dinosaur, and still like the control of extracting what I want.

[Beck38]

Of course, even then one can go back and re-check 'manually', I do so all the time when I think I've had a 'brain freeze' or 'finger lock' when I finish packing things up.

[jiyuoer]

As I noted on my '2015 Bitch List' a while back, a lot of posters fail to do a 'check' on both their rar and par generation, which leads to many archives being 'unrepairable'. Of course, this has nothing whatsoever to do with server failures.
That is true , and you would be correct , if you have it set to automatic ,and not do it manually with QuickPar and WinRAR yourself
I am a dinosaur, and still like the control of extracting what I want.

Yea I'm the same, I prefer to extract manually too (manually pars too if extract fails first time), making sure the actual file I want has been selected (not .nfo .txt .pdf pics junk etc).

[shaina]

That is true , and you would be correct , if you have it set to automatic ,and not do it manually with QuickPar and WinRAR yourself
I am a dinosaur, and still like the control of extracting what I want.

Yea I'm the same, I prefer to extract manually too (manually pars too if extract fails first time), making sure the actual file I want has been selected (not .nfo .txt .pdf pics junk etc).

It is nice to know there is another dinosaur around still.

[Hypatia]

so..AW is fucking things up.. again.. shitload of incompletes not related to DMCA on lots of new stuff... I'm getting tired of this tbh..

[piercerseth]

Yeah, this weekend was a mess.

[Beck38]

They simply aren't paying attention; there appears to be a fault in the part of the s/w that transfers the incomming blocks ('uploads') from the 'front end' to the main storage.

One can see the problem straight away by running NZBcc right away after posting (with JbinUp of course which has 100% verified the upload of course), and one will get several percent 'MIA', which 'improves' back up to 100% after a few hours. Then 'fades' down to x% for several days/weeks before crawling back up. The EU server is, at least for things posted on the US, really has trouble.

I wonder if the base s/w they are running is a bit too much 'cobbled together' versus some other plants (GN and Blocknews in particular). But that doesn't excuse not being more watchful on the operation.

I think it's rather like the DC Metro subway system; they've been running it in 'auto' mode for so long without upgrading the sensors that are getting old and failing, that they don't (or won't) fix things until a major crash. It's something to keep in mind if one uses them consistantly.

But it appears that the propagation out to other Usenet servers works 100%; so where as Astra may be fading out, folks like GN and BN are 100%, thankfully. Still wants one to beat the Astra ops upside the head.

[shaina]

They simply aren't paying attention; there appears to be a fault in the part of the s/w that transfers the incomming blocks ('uploads') from the 'front end' to the main storage.
One can see the problem straight away by running NZBcc right away after posting (with JbinUp of course which has 100% verified the upload of course), and one will get several percent 'MIA', which 'improves' back up to 100% after a few hours. Then 'fades' down to x% for several days/weeks before crawling back up. The EU server is, at least for things posted on the US, really has trouble.
I wonder if the base s/w they are running is a bit too much 'cobbled together' versus some other plants (GN and Blocknews in particular). But that doesn't excuse not being more watchful on the operation.
I think it's rather like the DC Metro subway system; they've been running it in 'auto' mode for so long without upgrading the sensors that are getting old and failing, that they don't (or won't) fix things until a major crash. It's something to keep in mind if one uses them consistantly.
But it appears that the propagation out to other Usenet servers works 100%; so where as Astra may be fading out, folks like GN and BN are 100%, thankfully. Still wants one to beat the Astra ops upside the head.

I use to switch Usenet providers all the time , I finally had enough and stuck with Giganews and just added a offshore provider. 99% of the time you send a ticket into Astraweb , they always blame the user , they never took blame or even felt responsible (at least the person who answered your complaint and not so speedy to reply , Giganews answers you faster than you can type ). There are so many little offshore providers now that are way more reliable , speeds may be slower on some but I am having way more success , and less aggravation.

[Hypatia]

Why giganews and not supernews? Giganews has nothing useful to offer for the money they ask and supernews=giganews just without useless stuff they offer.


As for their replies... Giganews has always blamed their incomplete issues (mostly old files) on DMCA whereas it was all lies coz DMCAed stuff is deleted completely and they just had lots of random missing articles. I dunno whether they have fixed this or not, I doubt it.

[shaina]

Why giganews and not supernews? Giganews has nothing useful to offer for the money they ask and supernews=giganews just without useless stuff they offer.


As for their replies... Giganews has always blamed their incomplete issues (mostly old files) on DMCA whereas it was all lies coz DMCAed stuff is deleted completely and they just had lots of random missing articles. I dunno whether they have fixed this or not, I doubt it.

I did use Supernews ($9.99) and they use Giganews access to the there servers , and the access of the retention is not the same , If Giganews does have a DMCA on there server farm access (I think I am saying it right if not sorry on the terminology) so does Supernews . I would assume that if Giganews receives a notice to remove access to said files , they will comply. I don't think I said the files were gone off the server banks , they are restricting the access by a legal request (what I assume). And with a lot of workarounds (making fucked up names for files and stuff) today some get through and some don't. But the files are there and that is why I said I do use an offshore account as well , and sometimes I do get what I am looking for if I couldn't get from Giganews . Plus I am on top of downloads on a daily basis. For a long while now I really haven't had too many take downs , and if it is not complete , the par files fix it. I am not saying Giganews is perfect , I just find it more professional and reliable where I am located in Canada and I pay $19.99 a month and that includes there VPN (and I do use VPN for US access to Netflix and I haven't found a reliable free one yet) and other crap which I don't use , that's all.
Sorry I also saw you mentioned Giganews with older files , the only explanation there is , I don't have an answer (and it does happen) when it does I use the offshore account and if it doesn't work (and that has happened too) and it is something I really wanted , my last resort is torrents. , Just like I don't know why Astraweb gets requests to add binary groups to there service , and I was one who did send a ticket , and they got back to me 4 days later with a bogus answer that there isn't enough traffic for them to add it. It just happen to be one of the groups that files I wanted were there. And low a behold Giganews had access to it.
I am sorry if I was misunderstood .... I just said I have tried a bunch of different usenet providers and Giganews is my preference. And if you have had a bad experience with Giganews , use what you like.

And saying all that Hypatia... what UseNet provider do you use??

[Hypatia]

I've been using AW but their problems are starting get to me, however I think I still will be using them anyway, mostly because there are just 2 other providers that have the same retention, and they are Highwinds(resellers) and giganews(supernews). I won't pay Highwinds a dime, ever, and supernews is not friendly to uploaders.

Atm I'm thinking of getting supernews account for downloads and keeping AW block account for uploads. It seems reasonable enough. But I would really prefer to stay with AW.

They've got a really serious problem this time.. After new stuff is uploaded\ propagated from another provider at first everything is fine however within X hours or days AW farms start loosing a large amount of articles for reasons unknown.Some stuff can still be repaired but mostly can't. They'd better identify this otherwise everything is gonna be affected from now on and it will get much worse. I sent them email with sample nzb and stuff like that,well, we'll see if they manage to fix this.

[shaina]

I've been using AW but their problems are starting get to me, however I think I still will be using them anyway, mostly because there are just 2 other providers that have the same retention, and they are Highwinds(resellers) and giganews(supernews). I won't pay Highwinds a dime, ever, and supernews is not friendly to uploaders.

Atm I'm thinking of getting supernews account for downloads and keeping AW block account for uploads. It seems reasonable enough. But I would really prefer to stay with AW.

They've got a really serious problem this time.. After new stuff is uploaded\ propagated from another provider at first everything is fine however within X hours or days AW farms start loosing a large amount of articles for reasons unknown.Some stuff can still be repaired but mostly can't. They'd better identify this otherwise everything is gonna be affected from now on and it will get much worse. I sent them email with sample nzb and stuff like that,well, we'll see if they manage to fix this.

I just have a few Questions...

You mention AW block for Uploads? Do you support somewhere and upload NZB's ? I am assuming you meant download for both.

You mention a Propagated issue- I haven't found any one provider that doesn't have this problem one way or another. That's why I mentions a offshore account I find they have less of this issue , or I wait a little bit longer and usually it is all there with one of the providers I use.

You mention Retention- How far do you really have to go back ? Giganews goes back over 6 years. Even with them there is limitations on certain binary groups that all you get is air when you go back that far ,thinking the upload could have gotten corrupt or it was removed. And Its just not there , on any provider I have found and used. So again how far do you really need to go back??

Supernews vs Giganews - I have used both Supernews (2357 days binary retention) vs Giganews (2367 days binary retention) they are pretty close , but when you use both they is no comparison Giganews is way more reliable on every level on basics (forget the extra crap as you said) . If you think about it , they control both , if Giganews allowed anyone to be equivalent , how the hell could charge what they charge. They are better off to close Giganews and flood the market with Supernews
That is just my thought. Take it or Leave it

In stead of keeping North American providers only , try one of these ....
EWEKA
XS USENET
I use both (switch back and forth every couple of months) and they are fair priced (cheaper than giganews) and I have had great success by reducing to use shitty torrents to find what I want. Or do some research and test a few out yourself. No one has a gun to your head on what you do , and you can cancel a service anytime you want.

DMCA or Takedowns - The problem here is I don't know if something was uploaded to the newsgroup servers a long time back can still be removed if spotted. I am not a technical guy on this subject , but if you try multiple UseNet providers and the files are not there , they are just not there. But I have been lucky with the 2 offshore providers I have suggested and you can choose what you want to do yourself. And to avoid takedowns if you can find a provider that doesn't have them sooner or later , let me know.

I really have found that Astraweb can be temperamental and Giganews more consistent. They both get spurts on takedowns , nothing you can do.

[piercerseth]

Have to echo Hypatia's sentiments here, I won't support UNS' current practices. So that precludes Eweka and XS Usenet :(

However, if you know which server/backbone your favorite poster's content originates from, you *could* get a subscription with that provider. Wouldn't have to wait 15-20 minutes for propagation. Probably pretty cheaply too.

[Beck38]

Many servers no longer list a 'trace' in their headers, although both Astra and Giga both still do; I believe all of the Highwinds no longer do ( definatly Blocknews doesn't).

[Hypatia]

Many servers no longer list a 'trace' in their headers, although both Astra and Giga both still do; I believe all of the Highwinds no longer do ( definatly Blocknews doesn't).

How do they deal with spammers, CP posters etc without X-Trace then?

[Beck38]

Just because they hide it from their users doesn't mean it doesn't exist somewhere 'in the system'.

[shaina]

Many servers no longer list a 'trace' in their headers, although both Astra and Giga both still do; I believe all of the Highwinds no longer do ( definatly Blocknews doesn't).
So what is the benefit (not being a smart ass I really don't know , and would like too?)??
And how do you use this information for our benefit??
What software do you need to search or benefit??

I have been doing this for many years and I am old school and I really don't look into who owns who or any of that stuff. It is not going to change If something isn't working the way you want , I do some research on the net or other NZB sites and I try out new providers That they suggest , local or offshore , and some work for a short time and some work longer. I am not locked in to who I use I don't owe them and they don't owe me , so yes , it is a little inconvenient , but think of what we are doing here , it is not all Kosher... Plus someone enlighten me that I am in Canada , so when an a American show is posted (and it is amazing I never see a takedown on a UK or Australian show ,or movie , and I download some , Hmmmmm), there is a different time zone in the UK or Australia or Europe , so if there is a takedown , Us in north America we have a better chance of beating the takedown and getting the movie or show we want.
I remember reading along time ago (someone can correct me if it changed) these host servers are not just used for this shit. These severs are used to store bank information , stock information ,etc. etc. , and companies pay for chunks of the server to store there information , and block it out for everyone they don't want to access it. I would think it is the same instance , some providers unblock the access , and some don't . But it still doesn't change that you have to find a provider that gives you what you want. And don't forget even in the older days when you loaded all the headers , there was corrupt files then , and anyone who goes back 6 years it happens. Thank G-D for re-posters!!. And you are seeing a lot more multiple post (maybe not here as much but private or paid nzb sites) of these shows and movies and they are posting them in various binary groups with different names. That is helping.

Thanks Beck38


Just because they hide it from their users doesn't mean it doesn't exist somewhere 'in the system'.


Here is the real question to ask?????

Does someone know which web site is actually , really doing all of the work first , by making and posting the original "NZB" link from the binary group itself (there has to be a origin)??
I would have to assume there is a group that is scouting the raw binaries simply because the names of the files are out in left field now , I also assume the only way would be the NFO file located with it. how else is it possible???
I think that would be great information and if the price was right I would join there in a heartbeat.

[Beck38]

I believe any newsreader that lists the headers (with the routing information) in any reasonable plan-text way shows it, at least any that I've ever used, will show the originating server, all the servers it jumped through (remember, usenet is an electronic bucket-brigade) until it gets to the server you are on.

What Hypatia was saying is, if you have or know some poster who posts on 'x', you could get an account on that server and be 'first in line' so to speak to grab things before they have to get propagated and whacked or whatever. May or may not actually work, and better than simply waiting for it to show up on you 'favorite' server, as if all the propagation is working right it will take maybe two hours to get around the globe.

The 'power-post' type poster programs and their variants pre-generate the nzb's and post them (unless you specifically halt that posting). Posting programs like JBinUp DON'T pre-generate the nzb but wait until the parts are posted (and verified) and then it takes specific actions of the operator (human) to generate and save off the nzb, then post (either by JBinUp or by another program (like power-post). In either case, that nzb may be posted off-set by usenet group (space), time, or both. Or neither.
I've seem folks who post part of the rar archive in one group, then parts in another, then the nzb in a third. With the password found only on a 'private' pay-site. Or not.

IF a binary search site gets all the parts, or the server you use does, then you're good to go to generate it up (again, most newsreaders do this). But usenet is generally not that 'good', and x parts will be MIA, and hopefully there's more than enough pars to fill in the gaps.

This of course is without all the takedown nonsense. I post 2TB/month on average, and only twice has anything been taken down; it was re-posted within a week, and still exists on all the servers that I monitor, to this day (same 'name', interestingly). One of those was the nzb's but not the actual binary item (go figure). So apparently they simply whack it once and don't ever re-search for it ever again. Folks who complain apparently haven't figured this out. Same with those who post things that will disappear within a few ticks of a clock (pay per view pro-wrestling is a sure goner), so I don't know what those folks simply have the archive saved off on a drive somewhere and re-post it a couple days later. Or maybe they do and I simply haven't noticed.

But since they don't do the most simplest obfuscation techniques, they figure the 'auto-grab' systems work just fine. But I don't get the thinking; all that work over the years to get retention up to the 7+ years was what, not worth it?

[liveon2legs]

Have dropped AStra and moved to newshosting.

[Beck38]

At this point, probably a good idea.

[niteyeti]

ive been having a lot of problems with anything i download being incomplete...reading this seems to make more sense now, will give some of the suggestions a bash and see...thanks all

[Stabber]

So as things are at the moment , torrents are the most reliable way to download files . I only use usenet when there are not enough seeders for something old .

[ZEROdayO]

Usenet is great and work, you have just BAD nzb source (public source which get DMCAed) plus astra, you need to find better source, alo other usp not this astra crap :-)