bandwidth problem

[aquascape]

I m new and just encounter exceed monthly bandwidth problem. My forum has only 60 members and total post 2-300s. some of the post are link to images to photobucket. why it has this problem. it is a "monthly" bandwidth so does it mean next month this will reset?
How can I solve this problem. Can I set it manually or need to contact the provider?  and what is suitable amount to set the limit of bandwidth for this type of SMF forum.

[Illori]

how much bandwidth are you paying for per month?

[aquascape]

I share with my uncle server and he set 5000MB/month for me.

[Illori]

depending on your overall activity that may not be enough, are people downloading anything from your server?

[LiroyvH]

Hm, do you have statistics? Like WebAlizer or AWStats? (Can usually be found in control panel such as cPanel)
If you share it with your uncle, he may have a reseller account but his own site already exceeded the total limit set for the reseller account? Or does he has his own server?

If he really has his own server, check the logs to see why your website is generating such ammounts of traffic. For a forum with that low activity, you should have more than enough with 5GB a month.

[aquascape]

I use cpanel. and found awstat. I think it is about security???
see below
Month   Unique visitors   Number of visits   Pages   Hits   Bandwidth
Jan 2011   282   313   569   8,193   54.00 MB
Feb 2011   254   315   1,669   12,473   55.55 MB
Mar 2011   532   795   6,159   37,306   149.48 MB
Apr 2011   725   1,340   18,870   54,995   431.60 MB
May 2011   1,840   4,805   68,285   112,743   1.83 GB
Jun 2011   2,829   9,230   199,231   249,205   6.83 GB
Jul 2011   0   0   0   0   0
Aug 2011   0   0   0   0   0
Sep 2011   0   0   0   0   0
Oct 2011   0   0   0   0   0
Nov 2011   0   0   0   0   0
Dec 2011   0   0   0   0   0
Total   6,462   16,798   294,783   474,915   9.33 GB

[aquascape]

I do not have that many hits or viewer actually. it  generated from something I dont know.

I dont have members or/very few member from these countries.
country                             page        hits          bandwidth
Russian Federation   ru   49,795   51,442   3.15 GB   

us   United States   us   47,846   58,428   946.22 MB   

de   Germany   de   29,951   33,517   694.45 MB   

cz   Czech Republic   cz   23,854   24,006   978.60 MB

[lorth]

the majority of the spambots hitting my forum come from russia / eastern europe, maybe they (try to) hit you too?

[LiroyvH]

You can go in to more depth. But as it looks, indeed some bots are eating up all your bandwidth.
You can block the entire country of Russia from your forum using htaccess, that may work best for you to reduce bandwidth

[aquascape]

You can go in to more depth. But as it looks, indeed some bots are eating up all your bandwidth.
You can block the entire country of Russia from your forum using htaccess, that may work best for you to reduce bandwidth

please explain more how can I do that? I can only access to cpanel. I cant directly access to my forum.

[LiroyvH]

You can go in to more depth. But as it looks, indeed some bots are eating up all your bandwidth.
You can block the entire country of Russia from your forum using htaccess, that may work best for you to reduce bandwidth

please explain more how can I do that? I can only access to cpanel. I cant directly access to my forum.

If you have access to cPanel, you have access to your forum with the cPanel File Manager and FTP
Go to the file manager, click "Public root (www/public_html" and make sure "Show hidden (dot) files" is ticket.

Find your .htaccess in the list and add the contents of this text file to it:
https://www.countryipblocks.net/e_country_data/RU_deny.txt

[aquascape]

I can access my forum now. may be because it s start the new month. can I set to block the problem from forum page?

[aquascape]

You can go in to more depth. But as it looks, indeed some bots are eating up all your bandwidth.
You can block the entire country of Russia from your forum using htaccess, that may work best for you to reduce bandwidth

please explain more how can I do that? I can only access to cpanel. I cant directly access to my forum.

If you have access to cPanel, you have access to your forum with the cPanel File Manager and FTP
Go to the file manager, click "Public root (www/public_html" and make sure "Show hidden (dot) files" is ticket.

Find your .htaccess in the list and add the contents of this text file to it:
https://www.countryipblocks.net/e_country_data/RU_deny.txt

How can I set to show hidden files in cpanel??

[Illori]

it is an option when you open the file manager

[aquascape]

found it thanks,
where can I put the text.
my .htacess details

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^myweburl$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^myweburl$
RewriteRule ^/?$ "http\:\/\/myweburl/board" [R=301,L]

[Illori]

put it after those lines

[aquascape]

OK thanks.
I also found this IP 188.143.232.120 which took 1.6GB in my awstats last month> If I want to add this IP to the list How can I add it? I dont know it is from which country? can I add it inside the russian list?

[青山 素子]

$ whois 188.143.232.120
% This is the RIPE Database query service.
% The objects are in RPSL format.
%
% The RIPE Database is subject to Terms and Conditions.
% See http://www.ripe.net/db/support/db-terms-conditions.pdf

% Note: this output has been filtered.
%       To receive output for a database update, use the "-B" flag.

% Information related to '188.143.232.0 - 188.143.233.255'

inetnum:        188.143.232.0 - 188.143.233.255
netname:        INFERNO-NAME-NET
descr:          net for dedicated Client
country:        RU
admin-c:        AJ2256-RIPE
tech-c:         AJ2256-RIPE
status:         ASSIGNED PA
mnt-by:         MNT-PIN
mnt-lower:      MNT-PIN
mnt-routes:     MNT-PIN
source:         RIPE # Filtered

person:         Agnes Jouaneau
address:        A Little Denmark Complex, 147 Main Street, PO Box 4473
address:        Road Town, Torola, VG1110
address:        British Virgin Islands
phone:          +44 20 81333030
fax-no:         +44 20 81333030
abuse-mailbox:  [email protected]
nic-hdl:        AJ2256-RIPE
mnt-by:         aint-mnt
source:         RIPE # Filtered

[LiroyvH]

Despite it being from another country, you can just add it under the Russian list in .htaccess. It will deny it. .htaccess doesnt care which country it is from, lol.

[lorth]

actually, it IS a russian ip.
look at the 'country' line in the posting above you-