Question

Automatic update requires 'oubound connection' permission from ISP

Asked by: Alex_Irving

In order to allow scripted 'outbound connections' from my blog, my ISP (Aplus.net) requires I provide the following specific info before they will grant the connection:

1.      Name of script calling for the access
2.      IP #

To use the 'automatic updates' feature of WordPress, as well as any plug-ins in need of updating, I need to locate this information.  I assume this is to prevent hackers from writing 'bad guy' scripts in PHP through their service.

The questions:

Which WordPress PHP script requests the outbound connection?

-      For WordPress
-      For Plug-ins

How can I identify the IP # of the server that handles the download on the WordPress side?

Thanks for any help

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Asked On
2009-10-30 at 05:57:06ID24857889
Tags

wordpress

,

automatic update

,

outbound connections

Topics

WordPress

,

Internet Service Providers (ISP)

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
4

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Answers

 

by: DzynitPosted on 2009-10-30 at 07:34:38ID: 25703333

My servers just had that same security measure added. Have you looked through your control panel to see if there is an outgoing connection manager?

 I'm sure that yours could be different, but when I view that manager in mine - if I just attempt an upgrade or whatever is being blocked, then refresh the manager it will show the ip and if it has one, a host name and how many times it was blocked. Then I can either copy that ip or check the box and say add to allowed outgoing connections. They also just added the option to turn it off completely.

If they aren't showing you the info you need to unblock it, I guess I would suggest using ping on wordpress.org. Both the upgrade and the plugin upgrades should be coming from the same ip block from wordpress.

 

by: Alex_IrvingPosted on 2009-10-30 at 09:03:36ID: 25704290

Thanks for the quick reply Dzynit. Sounds like a plan. ... But, I am running out for meetings this morning but will get back to try things this afternoon and get back to you.  

 

by: Alex_IrvingPosted on 2009-10-31 at 20:06:37ID: 25712466

I'm back, a bit later than planned. Thanks for the patience.

I wish my CP worked as conveniently as yours does. Aplus required me to fill out a written request and they then fulfill it. Actually, I did do that already last week and did use the WordPress.org server (72.233.56.138 and 72.233.56.139) as the destination server(s) for the request for download. They opened that up for me. Unfortunately, it still didn't work.

The other piece of info they ask for is the name of the PHP script making the call for the download. I could not give them one. The tech support guy wrote back and said they had set the connection so I guess things should have worked anyway.

I appreciate the good answer as it did answer my question, although I'm still stuck. Drop me a reply though and I will award the points.

Best WIshes

 

by: DzynitPosted on 2009-11-02 at 09:38:06ID: 25721528

I wasn't able to pinpoint the upgrade ip for wordpress. Seems each time you upgrade something the ip address stays similar but the last 3 numbers change each time.

Even though it's more time and trouble, you can still do a manual upgrade using ftp. Might take a lot of time if you have a lot of plugins that you need to upgrade too though.

Because so many hosts are implementing this new security feature, it might be a good idea to post this at the wordpress forum. Maybe Wordpress could help come up with a solution for many people. Especially since you (and I'm sure a lot of others) do not have the access and ability to edit those outgoing connections yourself. If they know about the situation, maybe they can provide some alternative solutions to make the upgrade process work better for blocked connections.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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