[CentOS] htaccess htpasswd and satellite connections

Tue Aug 8 14:30:40 UTC 2006
John Hinton <webmaster at ew3d.com>

Jim Perrin wrote:
> On 8/7/06, John Hinton <webmaster at ew3d.com> wrote:
>> Yeah, maybe this is a bit on the edge....
>>
>> I am discovering several issues with users on satellite internet
>> connections not being able to authenticate via a htaccess/htpasswd
>> system. Some users cannot connect at all, some can connect reliably..
>> and some are hit and miss.. works one day and not the next. Yet those
>> same users can log in fine if they switch back to their dialup system.
>
> htaccess/htpasswd should have nothing to do with satellite internet.
> Either they can get there or not. They may be having timeout issues
> which sould be due to the latency of satellite internet, but not an
> issue with authentication itself.
>
This is what is confusing. We are on fiber here at our hosting facility.

Case 1
A hosting client with satellite ISP can on our server POP for mail, 
Authenticate SMTP, and fully access their website. On the same server 
one day they can gain access to a protected directory via htaccess, the 
next day they can't.

Case 2
Another hosting client can POP and Authenticate the same as above, but 
cannot gain access to said directory via htaccess while using their 
satellite connection, but can when using their dialup connection.

Case 3
Hosting client could not gain access for a few days via their satellite 
connection, but then suddenly it started working and has worked for them 
from that point forward.

Case 4
Another client has had no problems with their satellite connection with 
any htaccess to our system.

Multiple Cases.
Clients not on satellite have reported 0 problems with connecting via 
htaccess to this system.

So, something is going on with what satellite providers are doing. I 
understand that some non-standard methods for access have been created 
to speed up satellite handshakes. It seems to me that the defacto 
standard was 7 communications per file transferred. But since this would 
take about 7 seconds via satellite, I think they have somehow cut this 
number back. Oddly, I can't seem to find a thing about his issue when 
googling. But I do know that dnsreport.com does not work from at least 
one directway satellite connection, which happens to be the one that can 
always login via htaccess to our systems.

Yes, their appears to be a latency problem. Or perhaps the web browser 
just isn't waiting long enough for a proper return, as the login box 
reappears immediately, not a few seconds later.. which should be proper 
as it has to take at least two seconds for the transmissions. I don't 
even see the incoming request for the connection. The user just keeps 
getting the htaccess popup from their windows machine.. unless they hit 
cancel.. to which the get the authorization error message as they are 
not htaccess authenticated.

Best,
John Hinton