Can't Access ANY url from python (errno 61)
Hey all, I've been working on a program that accesses my school's password protected website and downloads directory names. I'm using mechanize. Recently, the program has been unable to open the website, returning the 'errno 61 connection refused' error. I presume the school's server was blocking me because of many automated logins. However, it turns out that I cannot now open ANY url from within Python on my computer using mechanize (or urllib for that matter). And I've tried in several places -- my place, a friend's place (who also has comcast as an ISP) and the school -- but no dice, constant errno 61's whenever I try to open a url. The strangest thing about this is that firefox still works flawlessly on any site. However, at my friend's place, I was able to open url's from HIS computer, no problem. Can anyone think of anything I can do to solve this problem? Why would firefox be working fine but not Python? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Matt -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Can't Access ANY url from python (errno 61)
On Feb 19, 6:02 pm, "Martin P. Hellwig" wrote: > On 02/19/10 21:48, MattB wrote: > > > Hey all, > > > I've been working on a program that accesses my school's password > > protected website and downloads directory names. I'm using mechanize. > > > Recently, the program has been unable to open the website, returning > > the 'errno 61 connection refused' error. I presume the school's server > > was blocking me because of many automated logins. > > Being a former school BOFH, I can assure you that if I was annoyed by > your 'misuse' I would have tracked you down and made you aware of it. > > > > > However, it turns out that I cannot now open ANY url from within > > Python on my computer using mechanize (or urllib for that matter). > > And I've tried in several places -- my place, a friend's place (who > > also has comcast as an ISP) and the school -- but no dice, constant > > errno 61's whenever I try to open a url. > > As mentioned by Jonathan Gardener, this is most likely a proxy gateway. > > > > > The strangest thing about this is that firefox still works flawlessly > > on any site. > > Your system might have been centrally configure so that applications are > aware of the proxy, firefox probably has been piggybacking on those > settings (as it should). Most platforms can be made aware of a proxy by > a DHCP option send by the DHCP server (that is when you automatically > get an IP address). > > > Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. > > > Matt > > Google a bit around how you can figure out (from inside your script) > whether your used platform has a proxy configured and how to use it with > your application. > > Good luck! > > -- > mph Hey all, I've used httpfox to identify the precise headers being sent by firefox, and then added them to my program using br.addheaders(), as per the proper mechanize syntax. No dice. (In fact, these headers were in the program when I ran it successfully from my friend's computer at his apartment). So I'm pretty sure it's not a header issue. I'll check and see whether firefox and my system are using a proxy. Also, based on Martin's comment, I just wanted to make you all aware that I intend no misuse, but rather am just trying to learn, as I'm a programming noob. I am not doing anything that I can't do myself from firefox (ie, I have an account at the school, and am allowed to sign on with my name and password and look up information in the student directory). If I do it for more than one student, it just becomes repetitive, so I thought this was a first modest goal in learning to do some programming.) That said, I'm happy to discontinue the attempts, but I'd like to know how it is that my computer (unless using firefox) is completely blocked from opening urls from within python. (And how to fix it). Thanks for the continued help. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Can't Access ANY url from python (errno 61)
On Feb 19, 7:20 pm, MattB wrote: > On Feb 19, 6:02 pm, "Martin P. Hellwig" > wrote: > > > > > On 02/19/10 21:48, MattB wrote: > > > > Hey all, > > > > I've been working on a program that accesses my school's password > > > protected website and downloads directory names. I'm using mechanize. > > > > Recently, the program has been unable to open the website, returning > > > the 'errno 61 connection refused' error. I presume the school's server > > > was blocking me because of many automated logins. > > > Being a former school BOFH, I can assure you that if I was annoyed by > > your 'misuse' I would have tracked you down and made you aware of it. > > > > However, it turns out that I cannot now open ANY url from within > > > Python on my computer using mechanize (or urllib for that matter). > > > And I've tried in several places -- my place, a friend's place (who > > > also has comcast as an ISP) and the school -- but no dice, constant > > > errno 61's whenever I try to open a url. > > > As mentioned by Jonathan Gardener, this is most likely a proxy gateway. > > > > The strangest thing about this is that firefox still works flawlessly > > > on any site. > > > Your system might have been centrally configure so that applications are > > aware of the proxy, firefox probably has been piggybacking on those > > settings (as it should). Most platforms can be made aware of a proxy by > > a DHCP option send by the DHCP server (that is when you automatically > > get an IP address). > > > > Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. > > > > Matt > > > Google a bit around how you can figure out (from inside your script) > > whether your used platform has a proxy configured and how to use it with > > your application. > > > Good luck! > > > -- > > mph > > Hey all, > > I've used httpfox to identify the precise headers being sent by > firefox, and then added them to my program using br.addheaders(), as > per the proper mechanize syntax. No dice. (In fact, these headers were > in the program when I ran it successfully from my friend's computer at > his apartment). So I'm pretty sure it's not a header issue. > > I'll check and see whether firefox and my system are using a proxy. > > Also, based on Martin's comment, I just wanted to make you all aware > that I intend no misuse, but rather am just trying to learn, as I'm a > programming noob. I am not doing anything that I can't do myself from > firefox (ie, I have an account at the school, and am allowed to sign > on with my name and password and look up information in the student > directory). If I do it for more than one student, it just becomes > repetitive, so I thought this was a first modest goal in learning to > do some programming.) > > That said, I'm happy to discontinue the attempts, but I'd like to know > how it is that my computer (unless using firefox) is completely > blocked from opening urls from within python. (And how to fix it). > > Thanks for the continued help. Breakthrough: I tried switching from a wireless connection to my router, and instead used an ethernet connection -- and now everything works. Why would this make a difference? MAC address? Is it possible for an external server to see my MAC address and block it? Clearly wasn't an IP address issue! -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Can't Access ANY url from python (errno 61)
On Feb 19, 8:28 pm, Chris Rebert wrote: > On Fri, Feb 19, 2010 at 5:06 PM, MattB wrote: > > On Feb 19, 7:20 pm, MattB wrote: > >> On Feb 19, 6:02 pm, "Martin P. Hellwig" > >> wrote: > >> > On 02/19/10 21:48, MattB wrote: > >> > > Hey all, > > >> > > I've been working on a program that accesses my school's password > >> > > protected website and downloads directory names. I'm using mechanize. > > >> > > Recently, the program has been unable to open the website, returning > >> > > the 'errno 61 connection refused' error. I presume the school's server > >> > > was blocking me because of many automated logins. > > >> > Being a former school BOFH, I can assure you that if I was annoyed by > >> > your 'misuse' I would have tracked you down and made you aware of it. > > >> > > However, it turns out that I cannot now open ANY url from within > >> > > Python on my computer using mechanize (or urllib for that matter). > >> > > And I've tried in several places -- my place, a friend's place (who > >> > > also has comcast as an ISP) and the school -- but no dice, constant > >> > > errno 61's whenever I try to open a url. > > >> > As mentioned by Jonathan Gardener, this is most likely a proxy gateway. > > >> > > The strangest thing about this is that firefox still works flawlessly > >> > > on any site. > > >> > Your system might have been centrally configure so that applications are > >> > aware of the proxy, firefox probably has been piggybacking on those > >> > settings (as it should). Most platforms can be made aware of a proxy by > >> > a DHCP option send by the DHCP server (that is when you automatically > >> > get an IP address). > > >> > > Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. > > > Breakthrough: > > > I tried switching from a wireless connection to my router, and instead > > used an ethernet connection -- and now everything works. > > > Why would this make a difference? MAC address? Is it possible for an > > external server to see my MAC address and block it? Clearly wasn't an > > IP address issue! > > If you're using the campus network and depending on the exact network > details, yes, they very likely can know your MAC address and thus > block it. > Since your Wi-Fi card and Ethernet card have different hardware MAC > addresses, yes, switching would change your visible MAC address, thus > circumventing any blocks based on it. > > Cheers, > Chris > -- > Hi ACMS!http://blog.rebertia.com Chris, I'm using the network in my own apartment. Not the campus's. Moreover, my mac's MAC address is different from the MAC address shown by my router, but as I said I'm also blocked when using my friend's wireless router at his apartment. So it must be my mac's MAC, and not the router's MAC, that's being blocked, right? But ALSO -- is it my ISP that's blocking the mac's MAC (and not the school), since I can't raise ANY url's from python when I'm on wireless? -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Can't Access ANY url from python (errno 61)
On Feb 20, 2:02 am, Lie Ryan wrote: > On 02/20/10 13:32, MattB wrote: > > > > > I'm using the network in my own apartment. Not the campus's. > > Moreover, my mac's MAC address is different from the MAC address shown > > by my router, but as I said I'm also blocked when using my friend's > > wireless router at his apartment. > > > So it must be my mac's MAC, and not the router's MAC, that's being > > blocked, right? > > > But ALSO -- is it my ISP that's blocking the mac's MAC (and not the > > school), since I can't raise ANY url's from python when I'm on > > wireless? > > MAC or IP blocking can't be the reason, as the OP stated, he can use > Firefox just fine. > > Can you access, say,http://www.google.comfrom urllib or mechanize? > > If you can't access *any website* using urllib/mechanize but you can > with a browser and you're on a unix-based machine, you probably have the > same problem as I used to have. Check whether you used the same hostname > in /etc/conf.d/hostname and /etc/hosts (or wherever your distro saves > its hostname configurations, I use Gentoo); after editing those files > reboot (there are ways to avoid reboot, but rebooting guarantees the > conf file is reread). > > Check the hostname by running this python script: > > import socket > hn = socket.gethostname() > print hn > print socket.gethostbyname(hn) # should be 127.0.0.1 Lie, Wow. Strangely, that script returned 192.168.1.106. However, in Snow Leopard's airport settings, if I click on 'advanced' and then 'proxies', the default proxy for 'http' is 127.0.0.1: (and in these settings, the 'use proxy for http' is checked). I just tried checking the unix files you mentioned. In etc/hosts, the following info is displayed: ## # Host Database # # localhost is used to configure the loopback interface # when the system is booting. Do not change this entry. ## 127.0.0.1 localhost 255.255.255.255 broadcasthost ::1 localhost fe80::1%lo0 localhost Also found a file called ntp-restrict.conf, containing: # Access restrictions documented in ntp.conf(5) and # http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Support/AccessRestrictions # Limit network machines to time queries only restrict default kod nomodify notrap nopeer noquery restrict -6 default kod nomodify notrap nopeer noquery # localhost is unrestricted restrict 127.0.0.1 restrict -6 ::1 includefile /private/etc/ntp.conf Not sure if these are what I'm looking for -- I'm new to unix so I may need a bit more hand-holding here. I appreciate your time and effort. Matt -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Can't Access ANY url from python (errno 61)
On Feb 20, 7:00 pm, Steven D'Aprano wrote: > On Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:28:16 +, Martin P. Hellwig wrote: > > On 02/20/10 00:20, MattB wrote: > > > > >> Also, based on Martin's comment, I just wanted to make you all aware > >> that I intend no misuse, but rather am just trying to learn, as I'm a > >> programming noob. > > > > It wasn't my intention to imply that, rather the opposite, that if some > > BOFH would see your action as misuse (some admins are pretty trigger > > happy), you would expect them to contact you directly (I would). Even > > though you are on a wireless there are ways to track you down. For > > example I would search my log to see if I can make an association > > between a login to one of my servers and your mac address. > > This may be what you would do, but in my experience, it is more likely > that the admin would be far too busy and/or lazy to try to track you down > unless (1) they wanted to give you a warning prior to expulsion, or (2) > they needed to know who you were prior to laying charges. > > In my experience they're far more likely to just hit the problem with a > hammer by blocking you as much as is technically possible. > > > BTW, I always followed the philosophy that learning is much more fun if > > you can brake/blow something up. Thus on my networks all students had a > > lot of freedom to do whatever they think was appropriate but they where > > aware that every action on my network was monitored and logged. > > Unfortunately this is the exception rather than the rule, I think. > > -- > Steven All -- problem solved. Following Lie's suggestions, and the links from those pages, I went hunting around in my /library/preferences/ SystemConfiguration/. I opened all of the 6 or 7 files that were in there, and all looked as if they contained info directly related to my airport card -- networks, server names, etc. So I copied them to a backup folder and then deleted them. Then I rebooted. Then I opened IDLE and was able to raise URLs again. I'm not sure what it was about those files (or maybe a specific one) -- does anyone have any ideas? Thanks for your help and suggestions while I tried to figure this out. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
