Astraweb Down 'Across the Board'

All the front end ports of Astraweb, both US and EU, and non-responsive at the moment.

A while back, I noted that Sunday PM seemed to be a 'maintenance period' for particularly Astra/US, and I made sure that I didn't try to do anything 'important' during that time, and as such I've avoided that time period.

Today/Tonight, however, I noted that even attempting to gather some headers from either system, on any group, led to a freeze. Every other server I use/monitor works find, just Astra.

I haven't seen any messages about 'gaps' in retention of such lately, it may is just 'routine maintenance'; but at any rate, it's totally unresponsive.

Note: after watching this for 2-3 hours, I notice that Astra/EU crawled back up, but US is still unresponsive.

I've been on astra us SSL all day maxing out my line.

So was I until about 3 hours ago. They are still 'there' ping wise, but no response on any port for 3+ hours now.

AstraEU up and down. All this may be a DNS problem, but if it was, then I wouldn't be able to ping or tracert them, and I can.

Are you getting a port response from them right now?

I assume you mean both SSL and non SSL? I haven't tried any myself, I've got nothing I'm looking to download at the moment.

Try going to one of the '.test' newsgroups and sent a... well, test message. Or update headers on any group.

It will just 'sit' there. If I 'beat' on it, eventually I'll get a 'server no response' message.

Same here. Must be upgrades/maintenance.

I'm on the US SSL right now with 18 connections downloading at 1.6mb/s.

They never did totally come clean on the Sunday PM slow/down that's been going on forever, like I said, I generally simply avoided doing anything around midnight (ET), which was around 9PM Pacific. Usually, by 10PM, everything would be back up totally.

This time, I was kinda stunned that the EU plant was down at the same time. There is no 'heads up' message on their web site, this seems (once again!?!) to come out of the blue.

I guess we'll see when/if they get back up.

EU servers are the only ones working for me.

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Originally Posted by pestul

EU servers are the only ones working for me.

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Yup, same here. Only EU (non-SSL) servers working for me.

It's definitely down across the board apart from the EU non-SSL servers. It seems strange that they still haven't posted a notice or anything if they've been having trouble for hours.

Weird in Sab under status it shows 20 connections listed under the US SSL server. But when I look at each connection it shows I am connected to the EU server. Which I have set up as backup but I figure it would list those under that servers section. Not under the US one. Also it doesn't say SSL. Could it connect to a not SSL server without me adding it?

Just downloaded a TV episode and no problems. Maxed out at 4.1MBps...

Yep, it came back up ~10min or so (from the time stamp on this message).

Time to 'ramp back up', go to sleep, and find out what gives tomorrow morning.

Anyone want to take bets they won't acknowledge any 'problems'?

Seems to be working okay. Still nothing on the news page. I'll put money on no acknowledgement.

seems to be back up to me too.

if they have been filling in missing articles within their"bad range" then i dont mind, i guess

Which range? I thought since the last 'super-major meltdown' 2-3 months ago, of the March/April011 'gap') all that appeared (at least to me) to be pretty much 'cured'.

So what other range is on the MIA list?

BTW, things 'appear' tot be running fairly smooth now for the last 12 hours or thereabouts.

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all that appeared (at least to me) to be pretty much 'cured'.

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im not sure which one. it's hard to pinpoint now.

somewhere between 200 and 380 days

Interesting, since I post virtually 24/7 (and do propagation verification in 'real time' while doing so) I'll take a look when I get a 'gap' in my 'schedule' tomorrow (or thereabouts) and see what gives.

delete

The testing process(both STAT and HEADER) is really slow on most of the files from within this range

Sometimes its is SO slow that connections start dying and then you get connection limit error

PS i suspect the actual download process to be as slow as testing too

PS it seems they have managed to fix many releases.. last week i had shitload of incompletes

But still.. too many uploads are unrepairable

I am not as forgiving as you fellows, no way I would ever have Astraweb as a primary provider - they just don't care enough and something is always broken. I do think as a backup they are ok so I do use them as a fill server. The real kick to the teeth is that they don't even tell you what is going on... Customer Service = FAIL.

the money you get for promoting highwinds bastards with all their 100% console games + HBO tv series(1-5 block per each file) takedowns on ALL retention range makes you not forgiving ;D

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Originally Posted by Hypatia

the money you get for promoting highwinds bastards with all their 100% console games + HBO tv series(1-5 block per each file) takedowns on ALL retention range makes you not forgiving ;D

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I did say Astraweb was good as a filler account mostly because well they don't comply with DMCA which is technically breaking the law so we all are very lucky they are still around :)

Ok. Say you are a console games fan. Nowadays games are usually 6-12Gb in size.
Taking into account 100% takedown you would have to get the whole game from your fill server.In other words even 100gb block plan will be wasted pretty soon

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Originally Posted by nntpjunkie

I am not as forgiving as you fellows

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That's only true when it comes to non-Highwinds providers, no matter how bad the service becomes.

You are much more forgiving to Highwinds when that service is crappy - in fact, you serve as an outright apologist and defender of Highwinds.

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Originally Posted by nntpjunkie

no way I would ever have Astraweb as a primary provider

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Of course not. Astraweb is not paying you -- Highwinds is. To Promote Astraweb over Highwinds, you'd be taking money out of your own pocket.

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Originally Posted by nntpjunkie

they just don't care enough and something is always broken.

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Unlike your beloved Highwinds, at least Astraweb works to fix its problems. Highwinds has had a chronic incomplete problem for over a year that are still unfixed - virtually every old file is incomplete and needs to be fixed with pars. Why can't Highwinds at least backfill missing articles like Astraweb does?

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Originally Posted by nntpjunkie

I do think as a backup they are ok so I do use them as a fill server.

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A lot of Highwinds users like yourself would be lost without having Astraweb or other a backup server to fill in what Highwinds lacks.

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Originally Posted by nntpjunkie

The real kick to the teeth is that they don't even tell you what is going on... Customer Service = FAIL.

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You complain about Astraweb, yet you close your eyes to the fact that Highwinds has been the absolute worst when it comes to hiding problems from its customers.

Case in point: Easynews, a company which went from having the very best customer relations ... to the very worst. This is well documented. What changed? Easynews was bought by Highwinds, and after month after month of terrible service, broken promises, and outright lies, Easynews's frustrated customers started leaving in droves.

Another example is Newshosting, which used to post every problem on its server log. After being bought by Highwinds, Newshosting acts like its many problems don't even exist.


I apologize to everyone for my long rant. It's just that I hate hypocrites, and I hate shills, and I especially hate people who are both.

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Originally Posted by zot

I apologize to everyone for my long rant. It's just that I hate hypocrites, and I hate shills, and I especially hate people who are both.

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nntpjunkie's blind paid promotion of Highwinds is common knowledge for a core group of users here; however, it's not known to the casual forum browser so it's helpful to remind everyone that he does promote Highwinds and WHY everything he spouts is absolute bunk.

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Originally Posted by zot

I apologize to everyone for my long rant. It's just that I hate hypocrites, and I hate shills, and I especially hate people who are both.

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I am quite disappointed @zot as I mistakenly thought that you had more self control than to resort to child like accusations and name calling. You in fact are usually one of the most positive contributors to the board - this time you just flamed me. I would expect more from a long time contributor like yourself. That said, this is an open accepting community of which I have been a long time member and I am entitled to my own opinion, I know some folk don't agree with me and that is fine that is the nature of how things go. I am not at war with Astraweb, I use them as a backup - I would however not recommend them as a primary provider for the reasons already stated, this should not give anyone here any reason to personally attack me. Yes I run a blog and yes it is in my sig, for those who know me you know that I support Newshosting and I do have ads on my site, I like Newshosting and always have so I support them - If Astraweb had half quality and infrastructure and reliability of Newshosting I would support them also (I still do support them as a fill server) Just wanted to clear the air here so that maybe folks will start acting like grown ups again.

We all give our opinions and we should be allowed to do so without being personally attacked or flamed and by the way - if someone decides to try Newshosting or Astraweb
based on opinions here and they don't like it guess what they don't stay with that provider not rocket science - people will stay if they are happy where they are.

Last point, no one has to go try Newshosting or Astraweb for that matter and I certainly not saying they are the greatest thing since sliced bread, but just do a search anywhere between Astraweb and Newshosting and see how many problem threads you find on Astraweb in the last 6 months. Some people are just jerks....

I still have a block account at Highlands, and without a doubt they are the worst around.

Astra is not 'broke' all the time, in fact, they are rarely so. And I say this although I had planned on doing some 'research' as to any gaps in the 100-300 day range today, but the abysmal slow-ass speed throughput on Astra/US today got me off that idea real quick.

I don't think they 'ignore' DMCA whatsoever, doing so would lead them very quickly down the rabbit hole of what passes for the 'justice' system in the US these days. I'm sure, though, that those issuing those takedowns see Astra, compared to Giga, as 'second-ran' and therefore aren't on their top 'hit list'.

I sent my money to Giganews for years and years....with Astra as a backup with a block account. Then, when the prices headed north of $30/month I had a 'meeting of minds' and with the <$10/month high-speed deal from Astra, jumped some 3-4 years ago. So I've saved about $1K since, and that's a LOT of potential 'aggravation' avoidance fees in the bank, so to speak.

Again, slow-downs do occur, for no reason whatsoever, like today, where the throughput is averaging around 100Kb/s on a 20Mb/s+ link (and this going on for around 2-3 hours now). Downright pathetic.

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Originally Posted by Beck38

Again, slow-downs do occur, for no reason whatsoever, like today, where the throughput is averaging around 100Kb/s on a 20Mb/s+ link (and this going on for around 2-3 hours now). Downright pathetic.

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It seems like AW is continuously having a hard time meeting bandwidth demands, must be why they're offering capped bandwidth subscriptions, to convert some of their userbase to managed throughput.

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100-300 day range today,

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its not 100-300

its 200+-350+

try for instance this
or this (~9% data unavailable)


Go to nzbindex, and set filter to 220 days-250 days+ efnet for instance try several 2+Gb releases.

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, that those issuing those takedowns see Astra, compared to Giga, as 'second-ran' and therefore aren't on their top 'hit list'.

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giganews and others made it pretty easy for mafia to deal with dmca letters.. they have special email address embedded in messages(abuse), they have forms to fill on their site. AW doesnt have it

I just dumped Astraweb because of incompletes. They seem to have gaps in very specific time frames; i.e., 320-350 day range. They know about it, but they don't seem too concerned about their reputation as far as I can tell from the the Helpdesk.

Welp, no matter who you go with, you'll need a backup server.

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Originally Posted by cola

Welp, no matter who you go with, you'll need a backup server.

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Amen. Wise words from a wise fellow.

So if I switch astraweb to a block backup server, who should I switch to for primary? I don't really want to pay much more than I do for astraweb...

I'd keep astraweb as your primary and use someone like blocknews as the backup.

For over a year, I've used Astraweb without a backup server. Call it laziness, but it has yet to bite me in the ass.

220-350 days range- it will bite you =))

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Originally Posted by mjmacky

For over a year, I've used Astraweb without a backup server. Call it laziness, but it has yet to bite me in the ass.

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Same here, except I have been with Astraweb for years. I just haven't had a need to get a block account. And for the date range Hypatia talks about, XSUsenet's free account can serve as a back up to those date ranges. It is well within their retention.