An unforeseen equipment failure occurred between 2002 July 31 and 2002 Aug 01 which caused the LAFN web server and the LAFN email server to be inaccessable. The "unforeseen" aspect of the problem had to do with a third-party vendor over which LAFN had no control.
The direct effects of this was that if an LAFN user tried to dial into one of the xxx-2021 phone numbers they would see that the LAFN homepage was unavailable and they would not be able to send or receive their LAFN POP email.
A secondary effect was that users relying upon the older, non-xxx-2021 dial-up phone numbers would only be able to browse those pages contained within the LAFN website. These would be users in the 909 area code and some users located geographically near San Pedro.
Unfortunately, some users who need to call the old number got the incorrect impression that they needed to remove the proxy server information from their computer setups. This is not correct.
Non-xxx-2021 users will still need to use the LAFN proxy servers until our current dial-in provider provides access to those geographic areas. Furthermore, they must be only the SOCKS server, not the HTTP or HTTPS servers.
The non-xxx-2021 users must be set up with SOCKS:
address: proxy.lafn.org
port: 1080
Exceptions: www.lafn.org
(see the list below for more specific setup information.)
A more subtle and indirect effect was that all users who were able to dial the xxx-2021 numbers but had never bothered to change their proxy settings to "direct connection to the internet" and a number of settings in "Internet Options" were unable to browse the internet at all. These changes were supposed to be made back in Dec 2001. Numerous emails had been sent with that specific information.
During this equipment failure, LAFN users who were able to dial into the xxx-2021 numbers and who had disabled the proxy settings were able to browse normally except within the LAFN website. Neither could they receive email.. They could browse normally to any other sites.
Users who needed to dial into non-xxx-2021 (old) numbers could access all of the LAFN websites, but nothing outside. They could not receive email either.
The reason for the xxx-2021 users' (who still had the proxy servers enabled) inability to communicate with a given website is that when they would go online, their browser would look for the specified proxy server, ie, proxy.lafn.org. Since it was inaccessable, the search would fail.
The reason for the non-xxx-2021 users' (who must have the proxy servers enabled) inability to communicate with a given website is that the proxy server was effectively disconnected from the internet.
Most users' computers are able to work without requiring the proxy servers. This is literally based on where a user is geographically located. Area code 909 and some physical locales around San Pedro are not yet supported by the xxx-2021 dial-in paradigm. These require proxy settings (proxy.lafn.org & 1080) only in the SOCKS row. I strongly urge each mentor, when they deal with an individual user, to walk them through all the settings and, if feasible, set them up to run without proxy servers.
The proxy servers remain in existance only to service those who actually need them. This page provides the specifics on how to set folks up (in the last third of the links below) without the LAFN proxy servers .
At the time of this writing (04 July 2002), there are three fundamental and mutually exclusive ways to configure a Windows machine. In order from oldest to newest, they are:
The pre-Socks proxy servers are provided to support some older machines and software which do not have Socks capability.
If the proxy servers are used, the DNS addresses must be defined.
This page provides a single point from which to find the settings for each of these configuration types for Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator, as well as covering some minor differences between win98 and winMe.
This page, its twelve links-to pages, and all images may be downloaded as a zipfile about 185K:
oldNewSettings.zip
All settings links open in a new browser window.
updated 2002 Aug 02 2130 pdt