NationStates

Is anyone getting the "Too Many Connections" SQL error very often? The site is barely usable in the gaps of attacks

Nacrad wrote:Is anyone getting the "Too Many Connections" SQL error very often? The site is barely usable in the gaps of attacks

Yes, I am experiencing these errors too. I think the mods are trying to deal with the recent waves of post and nation spam? That's just my theory

Its a DDOS attack. Almost certainly

Yup. I don't know if it's a Denial of Service attack or just a high amount of traffic.

Eshialand wrote:Yup. I don't know if it's a Denial of Service attack or just a high amount of traffic.

considering there was a ton of spam right before it, I can almost guarantee it was a DDOS

Eshialand wrote:Yup. I don't know if it's a Denial of Service attack or just a high amount of traffic.

It's a probably both? A DDOS attacker creates many nations to the point of high traffic? I mean isn't that how DDOS attacks work?

Cavirfi wrote:

Eshialand wrote:Yup. I don't know if it's a Denial of Service attack or just a high amount of traffic.

It's a probably both? A DDOS attacker creates many nations to the point of high traffic? I mean isn't that how DDOS attacks work?

and posts

Cavirfi wrote:

Eshialand wrote:Yup. I don't know if it's a Denial of Service attack or just a high amount of traffic.

It's a probably both? A DDOS attacker creates many nations to the point of high traffic? I mean isn't that how DDOS attacks work?

By "a high amount of traffic" I mean genuine traffic, i.e. not a DDoS.

Eshialand wrote:

Cavirfi wrote:It's a probably both? A DDOS attacker creates many nations to the point of high traffic? I mean isn't that how DDOS attacks work?

By "a high amount of traffic" I mean genuine traffic, i.e. not a DDoS.

Okay then, it's probably a DDOS

I had this same issue. It seems likely NS is getting DDOSed because a person was spamming probably with bots everywhere on the forum.

General Error
SQL ERROR [ mysqli ]

Too many connections [1040]

An sql error occurred while fetching this page. Please contact an administrator if this problem persists.

I was trying to read this thread about the SQL errors, but I got an SQL error when I clicked the title.

Every day at around 6:00 P.M ET, these errors keep on continuing, and a new nation is found pornspamming the forums.

Southeast Marajarbia wrote:Every day at around 6:00 P.M ET, these errors keep on continuing, and a new nation is found pornspamming the forums.

It's the ciiiircle of lifeeee

Seriously though, is this just gonna keep happening?

Eshialand wrote:

Southeast Marajarbia wrote:Every day at around 6:00 P.M ET, these errors keep on continuing, and a new nation is found pornspamming the forums.

It's the ciiiircle of lifeeee

Seriously though, is this just gonna keep happening?

I mean, unless the mods IP ban the original guy. Whoever is doing this is obviously the same person, with the same IP Address. Unless he is using bots to DDOS the servers.

Southeast Marajarbia wrote:I mean, unless the mods IP ban the original guy. Whoever is doing this is obviously the same person, with the same IP Address. Unless he is using bots to DDOS the servers.

Once again, "IP bans" are not the magic bullet folks think they are. IP addresses are very easy to change (often without the user even being aware of it. You can check out your own info, you might be surprised how many IPs you have!), and IP bans are not difficult to evade.

Reploid Productions wrote:

Southeast Marajarbia wrote:I mean, unless the mods IP ban the original guy. Whoever is doing this is obviously the same person, with the same IP Address. Unless he is using bots to DDOS the servers.

Once again, "IP bans" are not the magic bullet folks think they are. IP addresses are very easy to change (often without the user even being aware of it. You can check out your own info, you might be surprised how many IPs you have!), and IP bans are not difficult to evade.

I have all of those IPs because I travel a lot, and I wanted to hang out with a few friends. Getting back on topic, I doubt that whoever is doing this just has another house. Just IP ban him once, and if it happens again, we will all see.

Southeast Marajarbia wrote:

Reploid Productions wrote:Once again, "IP bans" are not the magic bullet folks think they are. IP addresses are very easy to change (often without the user even being aware of it. You can check out your own info, you might be surprised how many IPs you have!), and IP bans are not difficult to evade.

I have all of those IPs because I travel a lot, and I wanted to hang out with a few friends. Getting back on topic, I doubt that whoever is doing this just has another house. Just IP ban him once, and if it happens again, we will all see.

Again, like Reppy said, IP Bans won't do anything. Whoever is the culprit can simply change their computer or even use VPN.

Cavirfi wrote:

Southeast Marajarbia wrote:
I have all of those IPs because I travel a lot, and I wanted to hang out with a few friends. Getting back on topic, I doubt that whoever is doing this just has another house. Just IP ban him once, and if it happens again, we will all see.

Again, like Reppy said, IP Bans won't do anything. Whoever is the culprit can simply change their computer or even use VPN.

That is why I recommend IP Banning him once. If he somehow bypasses the IP Ban, the mods can come up with a solution. Why don't the NS Owners just fix the forums to make them less unstable, or have policies that make new users unable to post for 48 hours, just to attempt to slow this down?

Southeast Marajarbia wrote:

Cavirfi wrote:Again, like Reppy said, IP Bans won't do anything. Whoever is the culprit can simply change their computer or even use VPN.

That is why I recommend IP Banning him once. If he somehow bypasses the IP Ban, the mods can come up with a solution. Why don't the NS Owners just fix the forums to make them less unstable, or have policies that make new users unable to post for 48 hours, just to attempt to slow this down?

I honestly don't know how to keep this forum stable, so you have a point.

Southeast Marajarbia wrote:

Cavirfi wrote:Again, like Reppy said, IP Bans won't do anything. Whoever is the culprit can simply change their computer or even use VPN.

That is why I recommend IP Banning him once. If he somehow bypasses the IP Ban, the mods can come up with a solution. Why don't the NS Owners just fix the forums to make them less unstable, or have policies that make new users unable to post for 48 hours, just to attempt to slow this down?

Because clearly, we don't have decades of experience with these things.

Southeast Marajarbia wrote:

Cavirfi wrote:Again, like Reppy said, IP Bans won't do anything. Whoever is the culprit can simply change their computer or even use VPN.

That is why I recommend IP Banning him once. If he somehow bypasses the IP Ban, the mods can come up with a solution. Why don't the NS Owners just fix the forums to make them less unstable, or have policies that make new users unable to post for 48 hours, just to attempt to slow this down?

Since the message "IP bans aren't a silver bullet" doesn't seem to have got through...
With many if not most ISPs (I don't know if this is the case in the US, but it certainly is here), you are assigned a new IP address periodically, as well as every time your router disconnects and connects ("dynamic IP"). For instance I usually turn off my computer and router at night, and the next day when I turn it on I get a new IP (along with all the annoying websites that rely on this telling me I'm signed in from a new location/device!). This means that IP bans either will break whenever you get a new IP address (either automatically or by turning your router off and on), or if they are applied too broadly may block unrelated users of the same ISP that happen to be assigned that IP address at that particular time.
Edit: Plus, you can easily change your IP with a VPN or proxy as well.

Southeast Marajarbia wrote:or have policies that make new users unable to post for 48 hours, just to attempt to slow this down?

Because why the Hell should legitimate new users (or new puppet nations of people who already play this game) be unable to post for 48 hours just because of one dipshit with too much free time on their hands?