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31

Bug reports / Re: HFS needs restart

« Last post by adam on November 03, 2023, 09:16:28 AM »

Hi Leo,

I updated to 2.4 only after 2.3 started to have problems, after years of working seamlessly without any change on our end. I believe the reason was rather that spiders started to download thousands of files daily, and I guess HFS crashed due to the large number of downloads (possibly a memory leak or something similar).

Regarding 3.0: I installed this, it is a nice stuff (the remote HTTP admin is particularly useful, as well as the HTTPS), What is a bit unclear is whether that PowerShell window can be made to run in the background (a system tray icon was nicer for 2.x), and not to open the browser on each startup.

Let's see whether 3.0 will have the same problems or not...

32

Bug reports / Re: HFS needs restart

« Last post by LeoNeeson on November 03, 2023, 04:42:05 AM »

I've found a very similar report from 2004, where no solution was found, but as ‘workaround’ it seemed that using a non-standard port, other higher than port 80, it could help on those cases.

» Just wondering: besides upgrading from HFS 2.3 to 2.4, try to think what other changes you did on your server. Since HFS worked fine for years, there must be something else that suddenly is causing this (like for example, an incompatibility with another software, or some other change). It's known that some applications like Skype, could 'take over' (or grab) port 80/443, thus blocking the normal functioning of HFS, as you can read HERE. In Windows 10, an "IIS service" is enabled by default (or it could have been re-enabled after a Windows Update), and it could cause the same issue, as you can read HERE.

• Besides that, if you wish, you can share a debug log by uploading it as attachment here on the forum. To get a debug log, follow THESE steps, but on step 4 wait until HFS stop responding, and then continue with step 5 onwards. I can't make any promises or guarantee about fixing this (this only could be useful to find the origin of the issue, or find a possible workaround, but most of the time, it is not enough to find the source of the error). Remember that without having an EXACT way to reproduce this bug, this could be hard to fix.

At the moment, since Rejetto stopped developing HFS v2.x (now considered obsolete by him), and until an independent fork of the old HFS v2.x branch doesn't arise, I would highly recommend testing his new HFS v3.

33

Bug reports / Re: HFS needs restart

« Last post by adam on November 02, 2023, 01:52:17 PM »

Hi Leo,

Thanks for the suggestion. However, unfortunately the problem must be elsewhere: this is our server computer, all the other services (such as FTP, TeamViewer, invoicing, building heating, files) work seamlessly, HFS is the only one which fails on almost daily basis, and with F4+F4 it continues working.

Let me know if you have any other ideas. I'd be glad to supply logs, but the default on-screen log certainly doesn't show anything (the last log is about the last downloaded file).

34

Bug reports / Re: HFS needs restart

« Last post by LeoNeeson on November 02, 2023, 12:36:25 PM »

Hi, and welcome to the forum...

Have you tried disabling 'power saving' (or something similar) on your network adapter to avoid getting idle?. I've read that some network adapters would not reconnect after returning from sleep, and/or that they could enter on idle mode without you even noticing it (check HERE and HERE, for a possible solution).

Perhaps is as easy as that (since you were 'successfully using HFS for years', it could happen that some 'Windows Update' changed some networking setting).

Hope it helps.
Leo.-

35

Bug reports / HFS needs restart

« Last post by adam on November 01, 2023, 01:34:48 PM »

We're successfully using HFS for years. Lately we started to have problems: after a while (hours or days) HFS stops answering HTTP requests, restarting it from the menu (or F4 + F4) solves the problem.

I'm not a network expert, but I did some basic checks:
– HFS does answer if I connect locally as localhost, but doesn't answer if I connect locally as from the IP of the local network interface;
– TcpView shows the connection in LISTENING state, and this looks identical after restart;
– the only suspicious thing in TcpView is that about 10 connections are in CloseWait state;
– turning off the firewall doesn't help (and HFS is let through anyway);
– turning off the Defender doesn't help;
– sometimes it shows banning, but other times it doesn't, I don't think that's the problem.

I tried upgrading to the 2.4.0. RC7, that is even worse than the old 2.3 (failing on almost daily basis, while the old one failed on weekly basis).

Any ideas what else to check?

36

HFS ~ HTTP File Server / Re: blocking ip-addresses by country

« Last post by LeoNeeson on November 01, 2023, 04:32:15 AM »

I Use HFS 3

Sorry, my bad, now I realize that you use HFS v3 (I thought you were using HFS v2). All my comments apply only to version HFS v2.x, not HFS v3. Ignore my comments then, and follow what Rejetto says.

37

HFS ~ HTTP File Server / Re: blocking ip-addresses by country

« Last post by rejetto on October 31, 2023, 10:19:19 AM »

Still, attacks will slow down the performance of the system....

it is possible that most of these attacks get to you by scanning IPs, and don't know your domain.
You can block all requests that come without knowing your domain.
The easiest way is by using the vhosting plugin. Enter your domain with root "/", and enable "Block requests that are not using any of the domains above".
Let me know how it goes

38

HFS ~ HTTP File Server / Re: blocking ip-addresses by country

« Last post by rejetto on October 30, 2023, 10:49:08 AM »

and I wanted to find out if I am blocking the ip address ranges correctly, for example 192.168.1.10-192.168.1.50?

yes, this syntax for ranges is supported since version 0.48
i'm going to update the documentation about this

39

HFS ~ HTTP File Server / Re: blocking ip-addresses by country

« Last post by LeoNeeson on October 29, 2023, 08:12:45 AM »

Still, attacks will slow down the performance of the system....

I would like to ask if you know a program or a method that blocks external ip addresses?

There is nothing I know, besides PeerBlock, to block incoming connections at country level (at least, as 'easy to use' like that program). Another option is installing a firewall, like TinyWall (which is a free and lightweight firewall for Windows), but you can NOT install it when you are using a VPS, since you will end up blocking your own access to your VPS (I repeat: do not install it over a remote connection, as they state on their FAQ), so, forget that option. Most of the time, a firewall cannot stop a DDoS Attack but mitigate the effects, since usually a DDoS attack will flood your network connection or exhaust hardware resources (as you can read here). But keep in mind that ANY software you install on your VPS, no matter how lightweight it is, it will have some kind of impact on the performance of the system.

If you were not using a VPS (if this were your local computer), I would recommend filtering those connections using a firewall at router level. Since most home routers don't offer that feature, in that case you would need to buy a router compatible with OpenWRT. Then you would need to configure OpenWRT's firewall. But since you use a VPS, your last resort would be commenting your problem with your VPN's support team (perhaps they could block those IPs for you).

I don't know how they do that 'DDoS attack' to your HFS website, if it's by accessing your direct IP or your Hostname, but if it's by your Hostname, then you could configure Cloudflare as a 'protection layer' between your server and the end user (and you should block direct access to your IP).

Another simpler option: change your VPS to another "DDoS Protected VPS" (so you don't have to worry about this), like: BuyVM, Cloudzy, Alexhost, BlueVPS, JavaPipe, UltaHost, DDoS-Guard, etc. (I've found them doing a simple Google Search).

I've run out of ideas...
I truly don't know other way to help you, sorry...

40

HFS ~ HTTP File Server / Re: blocking ip-addresses by country

« Last post by ALEX on October 28, 2023, 04:59:08 PM »

Still, attacks will slow down the performance of the system....

I would like to ask if you know a program or a method that blocks external ip addresses?