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a dinosaur is alive! (And how do you test stuinnel?)

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  a dinosaur is alive! (And how do you test stuinnel?) "J. P. Gilliver (John)" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> - 2022-03-30 22:51 +0100
    Re: a dinosaur is alive! (And how do you test stuinnel?) John Hall <john_nospam@jhall.co.uk> - 2022-03-31 09:15 +0100
      Re: a dinosaur is alive! (And how do you test stuinnel?) "J. P. Gilliver (John)" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> - 2022-03-31 19:03 +0100
        Re: a dinosaur is alive! (And how do you test stuinnel?) John Hall <john_nospam@jhall.co.uk> - 2022-03-31 20:46 +0100
          How do you test stuinnel? "J. P. Gilliver (John)" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> - 2022-04-01 14:55 +0100
            Re: How do you test stuinnel? John Hall <john_nospam@jhall.co.uk> - 2022-04-01 20:21 +0100
              Re: How do you test stuinnel? Andy <andy@kitzbuhel.co.uk> - 2022-04-02 08:35 +0100
                Re: How do you test stuinnel? John Hall <john_nospam@jhall.co.uk> - 2022-04-02 10:51 +0100

#22394 — a dinosaur is alive! (And how do you test stuinnel?)

I just had an email from Eileen asking me if I had any idea why her 
Turnpike had stopped sending and receiving email, and sending me log 
windows. (As screenshots in a Word document, rather than text or even 
image files, but I could read them.)

One thing I noticed from them was that her Turnpike is still connecting 
to news.demon.co.uk to collect news (though not getting any). In my 
reply I was telling her I thought it had been dead for many years, but - 
I don't know why - I pinged it, and it responded!

D:\MOVIES\X\!pending>ping news.demon.co.uk

Pinging newsfarm.ams2.highwinds-media.com [81.171.92.236] with 32 bytes 
of data:

Reply from 81.171.92.236: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=52
Reply from 81.171.92.236: bytes=32 time=17ms TTL=52
Reply from 81.171.92.236: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=52
Reply from 81.171.92.236: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=52

Ping statistics for 81.171.92.236:
     Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
     Minimum = 15ms, Maximum = 17ms, Average = 15ms

D:\MOVIES\X\!pending>

OK, it's an alias, but still!

I couldn't tell what the problem is: she connects (to namesco) via 
stunnel, and that didn't seem to be succeeding from the log windows - 
which also showed Time server not responding (which wasn't showing in 
the earlier log-shot she included from when it _was_ working, so I don't 
think she had _that_ set incorrectly), so I guessed just total lack of 
internet; couldn't tell, as her tray icons only showed two neither of 
which was the connection one. I don't _think_ it's that, though, as she 
sent me the email with the screenshots, presumably from that computer, 
presumably using the namesco web ("Outlook") interface. Is there a 
simple way to test stunnel is working/has a connection?
-- 
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

... some language may be offensive to younger viewers. Like "please" and
"thank you". (Intro to /Off Their Rockers/, quoted in RT 25-31 May 2013 by
Sarah Millican.)

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#22395

In message <5bTeBuEkDNRiFwMe@a.a>, "J. P. Gilliver (John)" 
<G6JPG@255soft.uk> writes
<snip>
> Is there a simple way to test stunnel is working/has a connection?

I suppose the simplest way of all - so long as you aren't colour-blind - 
is to check whether in Connect you get a navy blue or a brown bar of 
colour being shown in the relevant place(s) after attempting a 
connection.

Next simplest is to bring up Connect's logging window. With a successful 
connection, it should show something along the lines of:

Thu, 31 Mar 2022 08:16:01 Collecting mail from POP3 server 127.0.0.1
Thu, 31 Mar 2022 08:16:02 New mail from mailbox john@jhall.co.uk stored in a mailbox as <UID36907-1529477896."john@jhall.co.uk"@127.0.0.1>
Thu, 31 Mar 2022 08:16:02 New mail from mailbox john@jhall.co.uk stored in a mailbox as <UID36908-1529477896."john@jhall.co.uk"@127.0.0.1>
Thu, 31 Mar 2022 08:16:02 Finished collecting mail from POP3 server 127.0.0.1, 2 messages accepted, 0 rejected
Thu, 31 Mar 2022 08:16:02      2 messages deleted from POP3 server, 0 messages remain

Even if there are no new emails waiting to be downloaded, you should 
still see the Collecting and Finished lines.

The least simple way would be to look at the stunnel.log file, but as 
well as being hard to interpret its content can be very voluminous.

One possible explanation for what Eileen is seeing is that the Namesco 
email server has become very slow to respond for some reason, and the 
connection is timing out. If that's the case, then Connect's logging 
window should show that, I think. It's possible to increase Stunnel's 
default time-out delays by, in the relevant section(s) of stunnel.conf, 
including lines such as:

TIMEOUTconnect = 60
TIMEOUTidle = 40
TIMEOUTbusy = 40
TIMEOUTclose = 40

The first of those is most likely to be relevant.
-- 
John Hall
                 "Home is heaven and orgies are vile,
                  But you *need* an orgy, once in a while."
                                                Ogden Nash (1902-1971)

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#22396

On Thu, 31 Mar 2022 at 09:15:02, John Hall <john_nospam@jhall.co.uk> 
wrote (my responses usually FOLLOW):
>In message <5bTeBuEkDNRiFwMe@a.a>, "J. P. Gilliver (John)" 
><G6JPG@255soft.uk> writes
><snip>
>> Is there a simple way to test stunnel is working/has a connection?
>
>I suppose the simplest way of all - so long as you aren't colour-blind 
>- is to check whether in Connect you get a navy blue or a brown bar of 
>colour being shown in the relevant place(s) after attempting a 
>connection.
[]
Wouldn't that just show that Turnpike is connecting to stunnel 
satisfactorily, not that stunnel has a connection to the outside world? 
(You can tell I don't know much about stunnel.)
-- 
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush.
It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.
  -Robert Maynard Hutchins, educator (1899-1977)

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#22397

In message <ecqnQsVB0eRiFwZ2@a.a>, "J. P. Gilliver (John)" 
<G6JPG@255soft.uk> writes
>On Thu, 31 Mar 2022 at 09:15:02, John Hall <john_nospam@jhall.co.uk> 
>wrote (my responses usually FOLLOW):
>>In message <5bTeBuEkDNRiFwMe@a.a>, "J. P. Gilliver (John)" 
>><G6JPG@255soft.uk> writes
>><snip>
>>> Is there a simple way to test stunnel is working/has a connection?
>>
>>I suppose the simplest way of all - so long as you aren't colour-blind 
>>- is to check whether in Connect you get a navy blue or a brown bar of 
>>colour being shown in the relevant place(s) after attempting a connection.
>[]
>Wouldn't that just show that Turnpike is connecting to stunnel 
>satisfactorily, not that stunnel has a connection to the outside world? 
>(You can tell I don't know much about stunnel.)

No, it's just the same as if you weren't using Stunnel as an 
intermediary.
-- 
John Hall
                 "Home is heaven and orgies are vile,
                  But you *need* an orgy, once in a while."
                                                Ogden Nash (1902-1971)

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#22398 — How do you test stuinnel?

On Thu, 31 Mar 2022 at 20:46:08, John Hall <john_nospam@jhall.co.uk> 
wrote (my responses usually FOLLOW):
>In message <ecqnQsVB0eRiFwZ2@a.a>, "J. P. Gilliver (John)" 
><G6JPG@255soft.uk> writes
>>On Thu, 31 Mar 2022 at 09:15:02, John Hall <john_nospam@jhall.co.uk> 
>>wrote (my responses usually FOLLOW):
>>>In message <5bTeBuEkDNRiFwMe@a.a>, "J. P. Gilliver (John)" 
>>><G6JPG@255soft.uk> writes
>>><snip>
>>>> Is there a simple way to test stunnel is working/has a connection?
>>>
>>>I suppose the simplest way of all - so long as you aren't 
>>>colour-blind - is to check whether in Connect you get a navy blue or 
>>>a brown bar of colour being shown in the relevant place(s) after 
>>>attempting a connection.
>>[]
>>Wouldn't that just show that Turnpike is connecting to stunnel 
>>satisfactorily, not that stunnel has a connection to the outside 
>>world? (You can tell I don't know much about stunnel.)
>
>No, it's just the same as if you weren't using Stunnel as an 
>intermediary.

I see (through a glass, darkly).

FWIW: Eileen tells me her Turnpike is working again today, after her 
shutting down the PC and restarting it today. I had suggested a restart, 
but I don't like doing that helpdesk thing, as even though it often 
_does_ clear the problem, it doesn't get us any nearer the cause (so it 
might happen again). I have a _vague_ suspicion that it was stunnel that 
was at fault - either had stopped working altogether or had at least 
lost its connection to the servers - but we'll probably never know now.

(The time server thing was a red herring: although there weren't any of 
its error messages in the "working" log file screenshots, Eileen tells 
me she has seen them before; I guess if her system is only set to check 
say once a day, they might not have appeared in that snap. I'm guessing 
it's set to the time server Turnpike was originally set to, which IIRR 
no longer responds; I've told her how to change it or turn it off, since 
Windows has done its own time check since at least XP.)
-- 
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

A lot of people think that being skinny is the happy ending, and its not.
Being happy is the happy ending. - Sarah Millican, in Radio Times 3-9 March
2012

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#22399 — Re: How do you test stuinnel?

In message <5fVegjh$QwRiFw81@a.a>, "J. P. Gilliver (John)" 
<G6JPG@255soft.uk> writes
<snip>
>FWIW: Eileen tells me her Turnpike is working again today, after her 
>shutting down the PC and restarting it today. I had suggested a 
>restart, but I don't like doing that helpdesk thing, as even though it 
>often _does_ clear the problem, it doesn't get us any nearer the cause 
>(so it might happen again). I have a _vague_ suspicion that it was 
>stunnel that was at fault - either had stopped working altogether or 
>had at least lost its connection to the servers - but we'll probably 
>never know now.

Come to think of it, I myself have had Stunnel very occasionally stop 
working. I've found that a reboot of the PC isn't necessary if you do 
the following:

1. Shut down and unload Connect. (I'm not sure if that's actually 
necessary.)
2. Right-click on the Stunnel icon (it's the white circle offset within 
a green circle within a black circle) towards the right-hand end of the 
taskbar, and select "Reload Configuration" from the offered options. 
(Eileen may need to click on the Caret symbol on the taskbar in order to 
see the Stunnel icon if she has a lot of utilities that are 
automatically launched at start-up.)
3. Reload and restart Connect.
-- 
John Hall
                 "Home is heaven and orgies are vile,
                  But you *need* an orgy, once in a while."
                                                Ogden Nash (1902-1971)

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#22400 — Re: How do you test stuinnel?

In message <4eB$EyBBD1RiFwM3@jhall_nospamxx.co.uk>, John Hall 
<john_nospam@jhall.co.uk> wrote
[]
>2. Right-click on the Stunnel icon (it's the white circle offset within 
>a green circle within a black circle) towards the right-hand end of the 
>taskbar, and select "Reload Configuration" from the offered options.

Mine is Snoopy on his kennel. Is that an older icon? ReloadConfig is one 
of the options.
-- 
Andy Taylor FRPSL
President, Treasurer & Editor of the Austrian Philatelic Society.

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#22401 — Re: How do you test stuinnel?

In message <BhMBFIBwy$RiFwI8@kitzbuhel.co.uk>, Andy 
<andy@kitzbuhel.co.uk> writes
>In message <4eB$EyBBD1RiFwM3@jhall_nospamxx.co.uk>, John Hall 
><john_nospam@jhall.co.uk> wrote
>[]
>>2. Right-click on the Stunnel icon (it's the white circle offset 
>>within a green circle within a black circle) towards the right-hand 
>>end of the taskbar, and select "Reload Configuration" from the offered 
>>options.
>
>Mine is Snoopy on his kennel. Is that an older icon? ReloadConfig is 
>one of the options.

I can't recall ever seeing Snoopy. Maybe some random icon has somehow 
become attached either  to your Stunnel or to mine - not that it 
matters.
-- 
John Hall
                 "Home is heaven and orgies are vile,
                  But you *need* an orgy, once in a while."
                                                Ogden Nash (1902-1971)

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