Author Topic: Personal websites not viewable in China  (Read 1861 times)

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Offline Jimmy

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Personal websites not viewable in China
« on: July 25, 2010, 01:40:22 am »
Well as we all know by now many websites are not viewable in China. Usually a shared server that has a site on it someone here in China doesn't like. But unfortunately the  IP gets blocked so every site on that shared server gets blocked.  If you are having this problem there are a couple of fixes.
Do as the guys here did, and purchase a private  IP and if you get blocked after that well blame only your own site. And the other thing for those of us that have a few websites and it's all just for the fun of it. A  private IP can be a little expensive.
One of my sites was being blocked and it's just a page to my wife telling her I love her, and that kind of stuff so I could see no reason it was on me.
I called the people at Go Daddy and they were very good to explain it to me, that in China they don't have to explain, any reason they choose is good enough.
So since the OS I was running the site on was unimportant, he suggested I switch OS and that would put me on a different server. at no cost.
SO I did it and it worked just fine. Now if your site is business related and you can't afford for it to be down. This is not reccommended. As it could get blocked anytime.  Because you have no Idea who you are sharing the server with..

Since I am living here now I do miss a lot of the sites not available here. Like HULU, Youtube and a few others I could stream good movies and TV programs from.
Any suggestions of sites outside the US that show pretty much the same stuff?   
.
.
And by the way all of you guys that had to move this site here. Great job and thanks very much.  It does not appear to be a pleasant task, it is a lot more work than most people realize.
Jimmy Henson

Offline Lain

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Re: Personal websites not viewable in China
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2010, 09:32:53 am »
One major reason why you may have had your site blocked as a GoDaddy customer is that not too long ago they sided with Google over privacy issues as stopped registering any domains with the .CN name...In response China started blocking all sites outside China that were hosted with GoDaddy ending in the .cn name. Read More: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/03/go-daddy-china-stunt

As for a Private IP...its not really that big of a deal, and depending on who you host with you can always use a *Wildcard then register your domain name with a .com, .net, .info, .org....etc with a registrar and use a simple server side redirect. This will in effect give one website multiple IP addresses and when you include secondary IP address resolution can offer 2 IP's for every extension registered. So for instance if you had all the ones I mentioned here...you would in reality have 8 IP addresses that can all be redirected to the same website.

As for connecting to sites that are blocked like the ones you mention, well that is a simple enough task using proxy servers or VPN tunnels if you have access to computers outside of China. A "Proxy" is nothing more than a server that is not blocked that can make requests to other websites for you and return the content as a type of 3rd party connection. If you use Firefox all you will need to do is install a Foxy Proxy. http://foxyproxy.mozdev.org/ ........a little configuration and all sites will become available once more. The "Great Firewall Of China" is annoying , but is NOT all that hard to workaround as it employs a rather dumb method of filtering content designed for the majority of people who are not computer literate.

A VPN is your best route if you can set one up. This is because the connection is secure, encrypted and while it can be blocked it will most often pass completely under the radar of the filters since they cannot see the content...and thus it will never come to their attention. While I was there my VPN worked flawlessly...until my system back in the US suffered a power supply failure during a sever thunderstorm that cooked my UPS power system....thankfully not my workstation.

A FREE and easy to use VPN software client is TeamViewer which also has MANY other awesome features like file sharing, video chat, remote desktop and more...big plus for NON computer geeks, is that the program is very easy to use. I use this program on my laptop to remote control other computers on my network, my dedicated server and even a few systems that I have built for customers for remote support and file backups. You can even use it in your browser...although its a little slower that way depending on what site you go to.
http://www.teamviewer.com/index.aspx

« Last Edit: July 25, 2010, 09:34:58 am by Lain »

ttwjr32

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Re: Personal websites not viewable in China
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2010, 08:11:23 pm »
jimmy,

youku has a large amount of movies and other things to watch here in china. welcome to china what part
are you living in and are you here permanently?

Offline Jimmy

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Re: Personal websites not viewable in China
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2010, 09:15:59 pm »
Thank Guys I will try all of that, and see what I like best.
As for China the plan is to stay until my wife gets a visa. We are hoping by the end of this year or the very begininning of next. And if for some reason she does not like the USA after we get there. We will be back. Simple as that.
Been here over a month Living here in Harbin.
I spent a month here thru the winter so I know I can handle that ok.  Her and I feel pretty much the same. We don't care where we live. As long as we are together. She is very typical about America so I really want to take her there to see that it is not what all of her friends told her it was.
Some things you just gotta see for yourself.
Being retired our time is our own so we don't worry about that. If we can work it out I would like to have a home in both places.
Jimmy Henson

ttwjr32

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Re: Personal websites not viewable in China
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2010, 09:22:49 pm »
well good luck here im sure you will find it both entertaining and frustrating at times but overall a very good experience

ttwjr32

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Re: Personal websites not viewable in China
« Reply #5 on: July 28, 2010, 04:33:19 am »
here are a few more

atdhe.net
justin.tv
toduo.com
sport tv
youku.com
china history forum

Offline Willy The Londoner

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Re: Personal websites not viewable in China
« Reply #6 on: July 31, 2010, 01:11:35 am »
I will be smug and add 'youtube'.  And BBC Tv  With a poxy server of course.  Or should that be Proxy server.  No poxy server I have to pay 12.99 uSD a month

Willy
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Now in my 12th year living here,

ttwjr32

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Re: Personal websites not viewable in China
« Reply #7 on: July 31, 2010, 03:17:23 am »
but he is looking for the ones that you dont need a proxy server for  ::)