[Resolved] Yet another cURL error 28: Connection timed out after 10001 milliseconds

[Michael]

Hi Tom,

Just a few more notes:

1) My issues are with 2 different hosting providers: A Small Orange and DreamHost. I’ve engaged both their tech support people, spent at least 30 minutes going over all options and they both claim no issues or blocking on their part.

2) When I utilize Wordfence Tools > Diagnostics, I get OK and green checks across the board. For example:

Checking for OpenSSL support
OK

OpenSSL 1.1.0g 2 Nov 2017

Checking for cURL support
7.58.0

cURL Host
x86_64-pc-linux-gnu

cURL SSL Version
OpenSSL/1.1.1

cURL libz Version
1.2.11

There’s no issues with my site connecting with the WordFence servers and “Connecting back to this site” is green with the server IP stated.

Again, I’m never had a problem with any other theme or plugin.

Again, at least with DreamHost, I wasn’t having any issues at least a month ago.

The problem has to be on your site.

[Tom]

I’ve been talking to Kinsta (our host) about this, and they have confirmed that IP is not blocked on our server.

Our site itself doesn’t have an issue with validating license keys (hundreds of validations succeed every day).

Can you ask Dreamhost to make sure the following IPs are not blocked on their end?:

35.193.232.176
35.232.64.197

[Michael]

Here’s the bottom line: both A Small Orange and DreamHost tell me nothing is being blocked and it’s not like I have access to be able to ping from the site to your server. If there was a method, I would have assumed you’d try it when I gave you access to that test site. If there is and you failed to test it, that’s on you but certainly let me know how I can do so.

Also, I’m not sure why would two very large hosting companies would block you. It’s not like I have hundreds of sites that are constantly pinging you and they find it suspicious activity.

In fact, I just now engaged ASO support for the 3rd time and after a 10 minute wait, they declared, “There is no block from our end.” I then asked, “ok, so you can ping those servers from within xxxxxxxx.asoshared.com?” (x’ed out on purpose here) and they replied “Definitely!”

[Tom]

Have to love when both sides are saying it’s not on them – very frustrating. I’m sorry about that.

I’m trying to think of what else I can provide our host to see if they can find something wrong. My hands are somewhat tied, as I’ve talked to multiple people over at Kinsta and none of them can see any issues. It’s also tough when they see hundreds of other successful requests happening, which means the actual process is working fine in the plugin and on our server.

Can ASO support provide the traceroute for when they ping our server? It might help, but I’m not a huge server guy so I’m not 100% sure. I’d be happy to provide it to Kinsta to see if they can see anything.

Just to be clear – it’s not necessarily that they’ve gone out of their way to block our server specifically. Web hosts have certain security measures in place on their servers which can prevent this sort of thing from working.

There’s some more info on this error here: https://docs.presscustomizr.com/article/326-how-to-fix-a-curl-error-28-connection-timed-out-in-wordpress

You could try upping the timeout max on your site – not sure if that will help or not:

add_filter( 'http_request_args', function( $args, $url ) {
    if ( strpos( $url, 'generatepress.com' ) !== false ) {
        $args['timeout'] = 50; // Timeout in seconds
    }

    return $args;
}, 10, 2 );

Any change to the error there?

[Michael]

Sorry to resurrect this post. I’ve been extremely busy but I’ve now had time to loop back over.

I tried this PHP code as well as the recent suggestions posted in other threads. I’m noticing more and more cURL error 28 issues being posted here.

Please, please please address this issue once and for all. It’s super frustrating when literally no other theme or plugin has these issues other than GPP. I’m used themes such as Divi, Astra, Genesis, and now Kadence and guess what, none have issues. I’ve utilized literally several dozens of Pro plugins across hundreds of sites. I have no activation issues with anyone other than GPP.

Again, I’ve test this on two different hosts: DreamHost and A Small Orange. I’ve gone through both their tech support people extensively. They are saying nothing is being blocked on their end. ModSecurity is off. They can ping your site. They increased the memory and execution. Please stop blaming the hosting companies.

Whatever process is being used to validate the licenses needs to be addressed because it is obviously failing a number of people across several different hosting companies.

[Tom]

Hi there,

I understand the frustration, and I’m sorry.

I’m certainly not trying to blame the hosts that are having an issue with our updater.

There are a handful of users experiencing this issue, but at the same time, there are thousands of users having no issue at all. The fail rate we’re seeing is very, very small and is limited to a couple of hosts.

We’re looking into alternative options for people who aren’t able to use the default option. Our options are limited, but there are a couple that show promise. Hoping to get something implemented soon.

Thanks!

[Michael]

Tom, I would super appreciate it.

[RYC Webdesigners]

I have the same problem and with the same host, any solution? in any case they should say: our plugin does not work with DREAMHOST so as not to buy it, it is frustrating not being able to use it.

[Tom]

The plugin does work fine with any host as long as WordPress works. What doesn’t work is the automatic updating system due to their firewall.

In order for automatic updates to work, there needs to be communication between servers. If that communication is blocked, automatic updates won’t work.

However, manually updating works perfectly fine, and was made easier in WP 5.5. The actual functionality of GP and GPP is the same regardless of your license key activation status.

[Michael]

Just an update with my situation. It seems that the updates now appear to be working with A Small Orange. I’m actually beginning to suspect it’s related to the PHP version. However, updating still doesn’t work with DreamHost.

Since the latest version of WP allows you to drag and drop plugins and overwrite the old version, it’s a lot easier to perform update. Still pain if you have dozens of sites.

[Tom]

Great to hear it’s working on A Small Orange now! Hopefully Dreamhost follows.

[RYC Webdesigners]

hi, any news about updates in dreamhost?

[Tom]

There isn’t much we can do on our end, unfortunately.

[Michael]

Tom, have you tried to contact DreamHost yourself?

Also, you mentioned looking into “alternative options.” What’s going on with that?

[Tom]

Not yet, no. It’s likely something within their internal infrastructure – I doubt very much we can convince them to change that. I’ll try to find some time to get in touch.

We will be looking at some alternatives, however, it’s not #1 on our list of priorities at the moment.

[Author]

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