Is the transparent proxy supposed to be working properly yet?

Forums › Spark New Zealand › Is the transparent proxy supposed to be working properly yet?

julianz

114 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 1

Topic # 67508 2-Sep-2010 23:27

I saw some conversations a week or so ago about how a new transparent proxy was being introduced on Telecom, right around the time that my web access went completely wrong for a few days, and then seemed to gradually improve. I noticed that my IP was using the proxy, assumed kinks were being ironed out and things would return to normal soon.

But it's now a week later and things are still pretty much crap. Major sites like Youtube, Facebook, Twitter frequently don't load at all or load without CSS or graphics. Any new site I haven't visited before/recently is unlikely to work first time, and usually shows up after a couple of reloads (today sites like Forbes and Business Week took 3 or 4 reloads to get a page). Geekzone forum pages will stall out loading ads from a doubleclick address about 50% of the time.

Before this proxy was introduced, my (Broadband Pro) connection had been absolutely rock solid for over a year, if not spectacularly quick. Is anyone else seeing this kind of degradation? I've (double) checked that I'm using the right DNS servers, have rebooted modems and all the other things suggested in the original discussions.

Julian.

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8029 posts

Uber Geek
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Subscriber

Reply # 376050 3-Sep-2010 00:00

Check if you are going via the proxy here:
http://www.lagado.com/proxy-test

Send the details to Paul from Telecom of any problems you are having with sites:
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=39&topicid=66729&page_no=2#371328

numfarr

325 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 7

Reply # 376059 3-Sep-2010 00:29

Yes it has been diabolical today for me and exactly as described by #1. Flickr and Google Images in particular are just a joke.

ptinson

677 posts

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Reply # 376073 3-Sep-2010 06:39

Ragnor: Check if you are going via the proxy here:
http://www.lagado.com/proxy-test

Send the details to Paul from Telecom of any problems you are having with sites:
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=39&topicid=66729&page_no=2#371328

Hi Guys,

As per the link ragnor posted please PM me the details of your issue.
I also encourage you to raise a case with broadband support if you have not done so already.

Caching will always be a moving goal to reach, by its very nature it is not a static solution and requires attention so "fixing" it one day may not mean its "fixed" permanently as things are very dynamic.

Regards

Paul

meat popsicle

rugrat

1457 posts

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Reply # 376158 3-Sep-2010 10:25

Is everyone not using the same cache. Just strange problems for some and fine for others. Did test above and I'm on cache. Since introduced internet seems to be going faster. Had to do a refresh once as yesterdays page showen ,refresh fixed it.

raab

262 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

Reply # 376179 3-Sep-2010 10:59

I assume those of you that are having issues are using Telecom's DNS servers not open or google DNS as it will break things like CSS etc

julianz

114 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 1

Reply # 376187 3-Sep-2010 11:21

Yep, I've told my router to grab them automatically and then I use the router as my DNS. Currently they're listed as...

Primary DNS: 202.27.158.40
Secondary DNS: 202.27.156.72

ptinson

677 posts

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+1 received by user: 27

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Reply # 376189 3-Sep-2010 11:27

julianz: Yep, I've told my router to grab them automatically and then I use the router as my DNS. Currently they're listed as...

Primary DNS: 202.27.158.40
Secondary DNS: 202.27.156.72

Hi julianz,

Do you still have the issue?
If you do please make sure you log a call with the helpdesk and feel free to PM me the details of your issue so testing can be done.

Raab is correct DNS is important, please use the Telecom DNS servers. I know you are in this case.

Requests to pages and objects of pages are balanced across a farm of proxy caches, invariably people will see common caches at times and not at others.
We don't assign each customer to a particular proxy cache.

Regards

Paul

NB: edited to reflect you are using the right DNS

meat popsicle

numfarr

325 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 7

Reply # 376227 3-Sep-2010 12:54

raab: I assume those of you that are having issues are using Telecom's DNS servers not open or google DNS as it will break things like CSS etc

Yes I am, it does seem to be better today so far.

Anbo

103 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 376360 3-Sep-2010 19:12

I had this problem for about 2 or 3 weeks, all fixed now, but i didn't even know about the proxy servers at the time, made me very confused :\ haha

chrisjunkie

407 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 3

Reply # 376394 3-Sep-2010 23:25

Hi ptinson,

I have my own DNS server here at home for reasons such as personal hosting and various other reasons. Noticed that almost no photos on Facebook would load (people here complaining) and by switching to Telecom's DNS server's the problem is resolved.

Does this basically mean that I can't use my own DNS servers?? Would be rather annoying if this is the case.

Would greatly appreciate your help.
Cheers
Chris

PenultimateHop

637 posts

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Reply # 376399 3-Sep-2010 23:57

chrisjunkie: Hi ptinson,

I have my own DNS server here at home for reasons such as personal hosting and various other reasons. Noticed that almost no photos on Facebook would load (people here complaining) and by switching to Telecom's DNS server's the problem is resolved.

Does this basically mean that I can't use my own DNS servers?? Would be rather annoying if this is the case.

Would greatly appreciate your help.
Cheers
Chris

Set your local server to use Telecom's as DNS forwarders, that way you can still use it but pass the query traffic through theirs, ensuring you get the correct DNS answers.

ptinson

677 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 27

Trusted

Reply # 376450 4-Sep-2010 08:05

PenultimateHop:
chrisjunkie: Hi ptinson,

I have my own DNS server here at home for reasons such as personal hosting and various other reasons. Noticed that almost no photos on Facebook would load (people here complaining) and by switching to Telecom's DNS server's the problem is resolved.

Does this basically mean that I can't use my own DNS servers?? Would be rather annoying if this is the case.

Would greatly appreciate your help.
Cheers
Chris

Set your local server to use Telecom's as DNS forwarders, that way you can still use it but pass the query traffic through theirs, ensuring you get the correct DNS answers.

Exactly what I would recommend if you need to maintain internal name servers for your internal servers.

There are a few gotcha's to be aware of though.

Shortcut DNS entries wont work for sites that are hosted outside NZ i.e. webmail mapping to mail.google.com

internal names for external sites outside nz that are not resolvable on the internet will not work, this is common for developers testing things

Basically the rule is if the Telecom/Xtra DNS servers cant resolve the name you are using it will cause you problems.

If you need config examples for various name servers please ask.

Regards

Paul

meat popsicle

chrisjunkie

407 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 3

Reply # 376454 4-Sep-2010 08:09

Well I can most definitely configure that but it seems silly that this transparent proxy requires DNS to work...

I have a transparent proxy here caching myself and it doesn't care what DNS servers you are using??

ptinson

677 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 27

Trusted

Reply # 376488 4-Sep-2010 09:45

Quite right, its not a requirement of transparent proxy caching in general it is a requirement of the Telecom solution at present.

meat popsicle

PenultimateHop

637 posts

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+1 received by user: 2

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Reply # 376497 4-Sep-2010 10:28

It's also just a best practice. By not using your ISP's DNS servers you are most likely making your own Internet experience worse, as content delivery networks like Akamai, Limelight, and Google all rely on DNS tricks to figure out where you are. Using an out of network DNS server most likely means you will get worse performance due to being sent to the wrong CDN platforms.

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