436/ 536 database help

[Nozzleman71]

I just tried to update the database in the sentinel and I keep getting the error saying “updating full database failed. Operation is canceled. The remote name could not be resolved: ‘ftp.homepatrol.com’

any ideas what I should do? TIA

 

[RBMTS]

What internet service are you using? It’s been noted many times that users on Hughesnet have problems. Have you been able to update previously? Maybe the Uniden server is down.

Beyond that, are you using any type of internet firewall program that could be blocking the communication? If you can try to temporarily suspend the soft firewall.

 

[Nozzleman71]

What internet service are you using? It’s been noted many times that users on Hughesnet have problems. Have you been able to update previously? Maybe the Uniden server is down.

Beyond that, are you using any type of internet firewall program that could be blocking the communication? If you can try to temporarily suspend the soft firewall.

Thanks. I’m using Att uverse internet and I have never had any issues before with it. Thanks for info. I’ll try again later

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

I was able to successfully update to the 7/5/20 version of the db just now. Are you running the latest version of Sentinel (2.02.01)? Were you ever able to successfully update the db on the machine giving you trouble? Have you tried:
Restarting your computer
Disabling firewall
Reinstalling Sentinel?

 

[Nozzleman71]

I was able to successfully update to the 7/5/20 version of the db just now. Are you running the latest version of Sentinel (2.02.01)? Were you ever able to successfully update the db on the machine giving you trouble? Have you tried:
Restarting your computer
Disabling firewall
Reinstalling Sentinel?

I believe it was a firewall issue. Thanks i got it working.

 

[RT48]

I'm actually surprised your firewall would have anything to do with your problem. Failure to resolve a hostname is a Domain Name System (DNS) problem. If your firewall was blocking DNS, you wouldn't be able to access any web sites.

 

[hiegtx]

I'm actually surprised your firewall would have anything to do with your problem. Failure to resolve a hostname is a Domain Name System (DNS) problem. If your firewall was blocking DNS, you wouldn't be able to access any web sites.

For Sentinel updates, FTP is used, not DNS. Some ISP's, such as Hughes Net, and also some firewall settings may block access to FTP addresses.

 

[sallen07]

For Sentinel updates, FTP is used, not DNS. Some ISP's, such as Hughes Net, and also some firewall settings may block access to FTP addresses.

DNS is the protocol used to resolve understandable names (like www.radioreference.com) to computer-usable IP addresses. This:

"The remote name could not be resolved: ‘ftp.homepatrol.com’"

Is almost certainly a DNS problem. If your PC cannot resolve the name to an IP address, it never attempts the FTP connection.

 

[hiegtx]

While DNS does resolve the names (addresses), if the ISP or a firewall setting, blocks the use of FTP addresses, then you're not going to be able to complete the update. I have seen a number of "trouble" reports, not being to update via Sentinel, which almost exclusively involve an inability to access FTP sites. Regardless of how the error message reads on screen, the base issue is that the PC cannot access the correct site as it is being blocked.

 

[sallen07]

While DNS does resolve the names (addresses), if the ISP or a firewall setting, blocks the use of FTP addresses, then you're not going to be able to complete the update. I have seen a number of "trouble" reports, not being to update via Sentinel, which almost exclusively involve an inability to access FTP sites. Regardless of how the error message reads on screen, the base issue is that the PC cannot access the correct site as it is being blocked.

I'm a network engineer, so I fully understand what FTP and DNS are. If Sentinal is giving a DNS error when in fact it's a timeout on the FTP connection, then that's very misleading. The whole point of an error message is to indicate (or at least suggest) what the issue is to assist in fixing it. If I attempt an operation and get a DNS error, the first place to look is at DNS ... is the nameserver down? Maybe your ISP connection has failed? Can I resolve other names without any problem? Can I resolve THAT name from a command prompt?

 

[ProScan]

If Sentinal is giving a DNS error when in fact it's a timeout on the FTP connection, then that's very misleading.

I did a little digging around mainly because of curiosity. The error is actually coming from the OS TCP socket. Sentinel just displays it. The actual error is

NameResolutionFailure
System.Net.WebException: The remote name could not be resolved: 'ftp.homepatrol.com'

So Sentinel is not misleading with the error message.

Per this doc., the solution is Ensure that any installed anti-virus software or firewall is not blocking the connection.

Make HTTP requests with the HttpClient - .NET

Learn how to make HTTP requests and handle responses with the HttpClient in .NET.

docs.microsoft.com

 

[sallen07]

NameResolutionFailure
System.Net.WebException: The remote name could not be resolved: 'ftp.homepatrol.com'

So Sentinel is not misleading with the error message.

If Sentinal is getting the NameResolutionFailure and returning that error message, you are correct ... it's not misleading.

On the other hand (and this is what has been implied), Sentinal is getting a timeout (ConnectFailure) and returning the 'name could not be resolved" message, that IS misleading.

My bet is that the OP *did* encounter some temporary DNS resolution issue and his PC couldn't look up the IP address.

Per this doc., the solution is Ensure that any installed anti-virus software or firewall is not blocking the connection.

You left out the first recommendation:

Configure the proxy correctly. See Microsoft Support.

As far as the second recommendation (that you posted), do you have ANY idea how often I hear that at work, coming from OS or application folks that have clue zero about networking? "The firewall must be blocking the traffic" ... even when talking about two hosts sitting on the same network subnet, with no firewall in sight!

I'm done. I get to play this game constantly at work, don't need to play it here too. It's a well-known fact that downloads from the Uniden FTP server don't work on some ISPs, and there are lots of home routers/firewalls that disable FTP because it's "not secure".*

As long as the OP is in business it's all good, right?

(* FTP isn't secure. It's a plaintext protocol so it's possible to 'sniff' not only the contents of the file transfer but the credentials used to log into the server as well. But for something like the RR database, probably doesn't matter. The data is "public" and I'm guessing that if you sniffed and got the username and password being utilized on the Uniden server you wouldn't be able to do much with it other than download the database. The alternative is more 'security' while having to deal with the complexities of supporting something like SSH or HTTPS instead.)

 

[ProScan]

If Sentinal is getting the NameResolutionFailure and returning that error message, you are correct ... it's not misleading.

On the other hand (and this is what has been implied), Sentinal is getting a timeout (ConnectFailure) and returning the 'name could not be resolved" message, that IS misleading.

In this case, it's not a timeout issue. A timeout exception looks like this:

System.Net.WebException: The operation has timed out

My point is that Sentinel FTP error messages are not being generated within Sentinel and therefore Sentinel is not producing misleading messages.

You left out the first recommendation:

Configure the proxy correctly. See Microsoft Support.

It doesn't apply in this case and that's a dead link.

As far as the second recommendation (that you posted), do you have ANY idea how often I hear that at work, coming from OS or application folks that have clue zero about networking? "The firewall must be blocking the traffic" ... even when talking about two hosts sitting on the same network subnet, with no firewall in sight!

That sounds like a different scenario and has no relevance here.

I'm done. I get to play this game constantly at work, don't need to play it here too. It's a well-known fact that downloads from the Uniden FTP server don't work on some ISPs, and there are lots of home routers/firewalls that disable FTP because it's "not secure".*

That's true but the issue here wasn't ISP related.

As long as the OP is in business it's all good, right?

Yes

 

[sallen07]

In this case, it's not a timeout issue. A timeout exception looks like this:

System.Net.WebException: The operation has timed out

My point is that Sentinel FTP error messages are not being generated within Sentinel and therefore Sentinel is not producing misleading messages.

I'm not arguing with you, Bob, I'm AGREEING with you!

Earlier in the thread, someone pointed out (correctly) that the error message indicated a DNS problem. Another poster answered, "Sentinal doesn't use DNS, it uses FTP". My response was that it certainly DOES use DNS, and this was a DNS error. The answer I got back was, 'We see this all the time and it's because the FTP traffic is blocked."

That almost certainly was NOT the case, but I added, "unless Sentinal is giving a bogus error message" (to paraphrase), which is how we ended up down this path. I totally agree with you that the error isn't coming from Sentinal and what the OP saw was an accurate error message.

I know that my example about "two hosts on the same subnet" is a totally different scenario; the point I was trying to make is that people (and Microsoft) *love* to point the finger at the firewall, even when there isn't one involved.

Could this DNS error have been caused by the OP's firewall? Oh certainly, although if you kill DNS to your PC you're going to have much larger problems than not being able to download in Sentinal. But the 'solution' Microsoft suggests is the typical one: "Make sure your proxy settings are correct and your firewall isn't blocking the traffic". The firewall COULD have been the problem (I don't think Sentinal is proxy-aware, so that wouldn't be a factor), but so could an unplugged cable, an ISP outage, a problem with the remote DNS server, or a thousand other issues.