Peter,

Did your web hosting provider unblock or whitelist UDP traffic for these two IPs?

34.174.244.166
34.174.108.237

Note that it should be unblocked or whitelisted specifically for "UDP" traffic rather than TCP traffic. If they could just whitelist those two IPs to see if that allows a connection between our server hosting Joomla and your server hosting "download.regularlabs.com", that will allow for further testing to occur.

What is TCP vs UDP traffic?

TCP vs UDP: Differences Between TCP & UDP Protocols | Avast

The main difference between TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is that TCP is a connection-based protocol and UDP is connectionless. While TCP is more reliable, it transfers data more slowly. UDP is less reliable but works more quickly.

I do want to also mention that all other Joomla extensions are able to successfully connect for third party software updates. It's only Regular Labs that's not connecting. Even the Joomla core installation can connect to Joomla.org for core software updates. There must be something unique about how your Regular Labs Extension Manager connects that other Joomla extensions don't have a problem with.

Thank you,

Jim

Peter,

I understand what your web hosting provider is telling you, but... Here's SiteGround's response:



By the way, Peter... I've been involved with computers since 1986 and the Internet since 1995. I've seen a lot of weird Internet connection issues over the past 28 years but this one is certainly quite frustrating to debug, especially for both of us having to deal with parallel support tickets.

There has to be a specific error that can be pinpointed that's causing Regular Labs to be blocked when trying to connect from SiteGround to your website. It's probably something simple really. Just a matter of figuring out how to get these two web hosting providers to look deeper into the issue at hand.

If not, is there a way to shut down Regular Labs attempting to connect to your website for pro license verification and software updates? I have a Joomla 4.3.2 installation with Regular Labs installed and since it can't connect to your website, I can't see anything when I access the Regular Labs component. It's basically crippled due to not being able to resolve any of the update URLs based on your "download.regularlabs.com" sub-domain.

You know, I've been a Regular Labs lifetime licensed customer for many years now. I don't recall ever needing to ask for support until now. Love your software Peter and sure hate to think I'll be forced to uninstall it, due to the need for Regular Labs to "see" and connect to your website for pro license verification and software updates. I would be fine with simply installing updates manually, but Joomla 4.3.2 doesn't even show anything installed when the Regular Labs Extension Manager can't connect to your website.

Thank you,

Jim

Peter,

Unfortunately, no... The recent adjustments to your anti DDOS filter you made, did not correct the problem of Regular Labs Extension Manager not being able to connect to your server.

I'm still working through this issue. It's a shame that your web hosting provider is unwilling to try whitelisting the IPs that SiteGround sent to you. It would have been helpful to see if that worked or not. If whitelisting those IPs on your end did not work, that would have made a stronger case against how SiteGround's Dallas data center is configured.

I did go into my Regular Labs user account (wwtn) and after deleting all licenses and generating a new one, I entered in the new license code into Regular Labs Extension Manager to see if that might work. Unfortunately, that didn't make any difference either. I was hoping that maybe a new license needed to be generated, since the hosting accounts had recently been relocated from the Iowa data center over to the Dallas data center.

If you go into my Regular Labs account you will see that even though a new license has been generated, it doesn't show any website using it yet. That of course, is due to the Regular Labs software in Joomla installations hosted in Dallas, still can't "see" and engage with your download site.

I will get back to you after I press again on SiteGround support for help.

Thank you,

Jim

Peter,

My apologies for not replying back to your last post sooner... It's been a busy week for me!

Thank you for continuing to look for reasons why Regular Labs Extension Manager is unable to access "download.regularlabs.com" for updates and downloads.

So, no... The last changes made on your end did not solve the problem. Regular Labs Extension Manager is still unable to access "download.regularlabs.com".

Thank you,

Jim

Peter,

There has been a positive change regarding Regular Labs Extension Manager not being able to connect to software update URLs associated with either "regularlabs.com" or "download.regularlabs.com".

SiteGround suggested and I approved experimenting with moving a web hosting account from the Dallas data center over to the Los Angeles data center. Remember, SiteGround moved web hosting accounts from the Iowa data center over to the Dallas data center and after that occurred, that's when I discovered a connection issue happening with Regular Labs Extension Manager to your server.

So, after SiteGround relocated (migrated) a web hosting account with Joomla 3.10.11 running Regular Labs over to the Los Angeles data center, Regular Labs Extension Manager for that site is once again working correctly. Of course, while that's certainly good news...

No one knows whether or not the source or reason for Regular Labs Extension Manager failing for Joomla sites hosted at the Dallas data center, is due to either errant data center firewall settings, the server configuration, IP blocking occurring or some other odd routing failure being caused by the Dallas data center and/or your web hosting provider. There are two ends of the stick here Peter and it's still unknown which or whether both servers or data centers are at fault.

I will be contacting SiteGround now and seeing about moving all Dallas data center hosted accounts over to the Los Angeles data center. I just thought you should know that even though moving accounts to a different data center looks like a positive solution, it remains a mystery as to exactly why Regular Labs Extension Manager is unable to connect properly to your server from the Dallas data center.

In all my years of dealing with data centers, web hosting accounts and server techs... I've never seen an issue like this occur. Personally, I prefer to know the actual cause and reason for anything failing online. But fingers crossed, moving over to the Los Angeles data center will prove to be a long-term successful resolution, to Regular Labs Extension Manager failing to connect properly for software updates.

One other thing... I have inspected the current license in my Regular Labs user account (wwtn) via your website. When I inspect the license to see if it's being 100% recognized, I see the following message:



Should I be concerned about that message stating "No usage for this Download Key found yet..."? Is there still some disconnect occurring between the Los Angeles data center and your server? Regular Labs Extension Manager appears to be working 100% in the two web hosting accounts currently being hosted in the Los Angeles data center. Just curious to me that your licensing system doesn't appear to recognize the current Download Key being used by those two Regular Labs installations.

Thank you,

Jim

Peter,

I understand now how the Download Key Usage overview works. Thank you for the clarification! And yes, I haven't performed any Regular Labs updates since I created a new license several days ago, so naturally no record of downloads exists yet. So interesting how all this works... I learn something new every day!

I'll be working with SiteGround support over the next several days figuring out what's involved with relocating accounts from the Dallas data center over to the Los Angeles data center.

Once that relocation process has been fully completed and I've performed site tests, I'll let you know what the results are. If all goes well, then this ticket can be officially closed. Until then though, please keep this ticket open just in case I have to add to it.

Again, I do greatly appreciate you sticking with me during this debugging process. I'm well aware that you have many other customers who need your assistance and support. I do hope that relocating accounts over to the Los Angeles data center will prove to be the final solution and the end of the connection issues I've been discussing with you in this ticket.

Thank you,

Jim

Hello,

I just want to let you know that I have the same issue after SiteGround moved our web hosting account to Dallas data center.

I was only writing to inform you that the problem really seems to be coming from the relocation of the SiteGround account to the Dallas data center because we also have the problem after SiteGround moved our web hosting account to Dallas data center.

Roger,

Sorry to hear you've experienced the exact same issue I have been dealing with, regarding SiteGround moving web hosting accounts to the Dallas data center. On the other hand... Nice to know I'm not the only one who's experienced Regular Labs Extension Manager connection issues at that Dallas location. And likely, anyone who got moved to that Dallas data center and happens to be using Regular Labs in their Joomla site, will probably be unable to connect to "downloads.regularlabs.com" too.

However, there is a solution which I highly recommend you or anyone else reading this ticket explore. Open a ticket with SiteGround support and request that your web hosting account be relocated to their Los Angeles data center. Moving away from that Dallas data center over to the Los Angeles data center, corrected things and Regular Labs Extension Manager is once again working correctly.

I still do not know why the Dallas data center was unable to connect to "downloads.regularlabs.com". All of the tests that SiteGround support made indicated to them that Peter's web hosting provider was blocking calls coming from Dallas. At the same time, all of the tests that Peter and his web hosting provider did, caused them to declare that the Dallas data center was the source of the blocking.

Of course, I suppose that both ends of the stick so to speak, could have been "blocking" or otherwise were not able to allow a 100% connection between the two hosting locations. For privacy and security reasons, I intentionally made all of the SiteGround test results that I posted in this ticket "confidential". No way I want to expose potentially sensitive IP addresses and routing data in a publicly accessible ticket such as this one. Public forum posts last practically forever! In my personal opinion, it's never wise to post sensitive data in publicly accessible online forums.

You should also know Roger that while moving from the Dallas data center over to the Los Angeles data center did solve the Regular Labs Extension Manager connection issue, I'm now dealing with email account issues directly related to the relocation from Dallas to Los Angeles. I've been using SiteGround for web hosting purposes since 2006 and generally speaking, they have always been a pretty good hosting provider. However, this particular web hosting relocation action has been unusually problematic.

I strongly suggest you open a ticket with SiteGround support and request they move your web hosting account elsewhere, preferably to the Los Angeles data center. Then, once your account has been relocated, go through everything very thoroughly to ensure everything is working as expected, especially in regard to any POP3 email accounts you may have setup.

I only just discovered today that there were issues with missing or misconfigured SPF and DKIM records as seen in the SiteGround Site Tools DNS Zone editor. That needed to be corrected by SiteGround support because email sent from website forms, was being rejected as undeliverable due to invalid or missing SPF and DKIM records.

Hope the above data proves useful for anyone reading this ticket. Again, the Regular Labs Extension Manager failure to connect to Joomla issue between the Dallas data center and "download.regularlabs.com" remains a mystery. The solution for me was to simply relocate to SiteGround's Los Angeles data center.

Neither SiteGround support nor Peter's web hosting provider at Regular Labs, were able to pinpoint exactly why that Regular Labs Extension Manager connection failure was occurring in Dallas. If that exact point of failure or perhaps blocking could have been 100% isolated and identified, it could have been corrected. Hopefully though for me anyway, being hosted now in the Los Angeles data center will prove to be as rock solid and problem free as it used to be, when I was previously hosted at SiteGround's Iowa data center.

All the Best,

Jim

Jim,

Thank you for your explanation, suggestion and recommandation.

I also using SiteGround for web hosting purposes for over 10 years without any problems and good support

Roger

Hi Peter,

Just to let you know that me too, Im facing the same issue and cant connect to your update server.

And before you ask, yes, im also on Siteground host so it seems proven to me that issue is not at your side but somewhere at siteground.

Im not so technically deep to be able to understand how and why an OUTGOING connection can be technically affected / blocked.

If someone knows about what place/setting Should be modified by histing to fix this that would be a ptrcious information as obviously its still not working and will impact more future users...

I opened a ticket at siteground and got following response: