[Resolved] Split: WPML plugin cannot connect to wpml.org
This thread is resolved. Here is a description of the problem and solution.
Problem: The client was experiencing connectivity issues with the WPML and Toolset plugins, which could not connect to their respective servers. The error message indicated a potential DNS resolution issue or a problem with the WordPress REST API.
Solution: 1. We advised the client to check with their hosting provider to ensure that specific IPs crucial for WPML's functionality are resolving correctly. The IPs to check are: d7j863fr5jhrr.cloudfront.net: 13.33.123.118 cdn.wpml.org: 52.85.213.119 api.wpml.org: 54.221.250.24 api.toolset.com: 34.193.222.18 If not resolving, the hosting provider may need to manually add these IPs to the /etc/hosts file.
2. We confirmed that the WordPress REST API is enabled on the client's site, correcting a previous false positive. We recommended checking if any plugins might be affecting the API's functionality, particularly those related to security or firewalls.
3. We suggested reviewing Cloudflare settings to ensure they are not impacting API connectivity, as the client's site traffic goes through Cloudflare.
Ultimately customer confirmed that a site's configuration within Cloudfare CDN was causing the issue.
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Languages: English (English )Portuguese (Brazil) (Português )
Timezone: America/Sao_Paulo (GMT-03:00)
Hello,
I've double-checked your website's connection with the WPML and Toolset services. During this process, I navigated to WPML -> Support -> Installer Support and clicked on 'Check now'.
I encountered a connection error when your site attempted to make requests to both hidden link and hidden link. The specific error message was:
"wpml: Connection error: Unable to get data from service. Detailed error: cURL error 28: Resolving timed out after 10000 milliseconds" (logged on 2024-25-01 01:01:11)
This indicates a potential issue with your hosting environment blocking these requests. To resolve this, I recommend contacting your hosting provider's support team. Please ask them to add the above URLs to the allowlist/exception list of their firewall or security settings. This step is crucial to ensure uninterrupted communication between your site and these services.
After your host has made these changes, please retry the following steps:
Go to WPML -> Support -> Installer Support.
Click on 'Check now'.
This should ideally resolve the connection issue. If the error persists, please let us know so we can explore further options.
Thank you for your cooperation, and I look forward to your update.
We do not have an allow-list/exception list in our firewall, because our default is to allow connections, so there's nothing to add there 😕
If you're having issues reaching the WPML API servers, you'll need to reach out to WPML API support to find out if they need to allow your external site IP through, or if there's another setting that is required.
Languages: English (English )Portuguese (Brazil) (Português )
Timezone: America/Sao_Paulo (GMT-03:00)
Hello there,
Thank you for sharing the response from your hosting provider. I appreciate the steps you've already taken to resolve this issue.
To potentially fix the warning you're encountering, I recommend re-registering your site. Please follow these steps:
- Temporarily unregister your website at this link: https://wpml.org/account/sites/.
- Re-add your website and make a note of the newly generated key.
- Uninstall the WPML plugins, and then reinstall them.
- Navigate to 'Plugins' -> 'Add New' -> 'Commercial' in your WordPress dashboard.
- Select 'Register WPML' and enter the new key you generated.
After completing these steps, please visit 'wp-admin' > 'Dashboard' > 'Updates' and click on 'Check again' to refresh the update status.
Let us know if this resolves the issue. If you have any further questions or encounter any problems, don't hesitate to reach out.
Hey, you opened a new ticket but before, you connected to my website by FTP and WordPress admin, everything was ok except the homepage not showing in the XML file, and you solved that issue. The same day (yesterday) there is an issue with the updates of WPML not working caused by a disconnection to your server.
You ask me to uninstall everything and you send me to the page to pay when everything is disabled.
I cannot use WPML and my license is valid until August. Please resolve my issue.
I tried to enter the generated key but it is not detected either.
I haven't changed the FTP and the admin yet so feel free to check why my website is not working with WPML.
Attached is the list of the plugins I had to remove as per your instructions and the error message I get when I try to update the key.
Languages: English (English )Portuguese (Brazil) (Português )
Timezone: America/Sao_Paulo (GMT-03:00)
Hello,
Thank you for your patience and for providing detailed information about your site's configuration. I understand your concerns, especially since the issues with WPML + Toolset updates warnings started occurring after we resolved the sitemap issue. I want to assure you that the steps taken in the previous ticket were specifically targeted at the sitemap and did not involve changes that would affect the site’s ability to connect to our servers.
Checking the wp-config.php file of your site, I noticed a few security configurations and plugins like AIOWPSEC, WP Rocket, and Really Simple SSL. While these are essential for your site’s security and performance, sometimes they might interfere with external connections.
Given this, I'd like to explore a few more steps to identify and resolve the issue:
1- Recent Changes: Could you confirm if there have been any recent additions or changes to your plugins or configurations in wp-config.php? Particularly any changes made just before you started experiencing the update issues.
2- Permission for Further Debugging: With your permission, I'd like to proceed with some additional debugging steps. This may involve temporarily deactivating security plugins and switching to a default WordPress theme. This is a standard procedure to rule out any conflicts. I assure you this will be done swiftly and with utmost care to maintain your site's integrity.
3- Further Testing: If these steps don't resolve the issue, I'll conduct further testing, including checking server logs, to pinpoint the exact cause of the connection problem.
I thank you for your cooperation and I want to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. Please let me know if you consent to the proposed debugging steps, and feel free to share any additional information you think might be relevant.
Ok, I understand, you can proceed with the tests to solve the connection issue. From my side, I remember that I removed the plugin OTGS Installer (The one for conpatibility) because it was not active and was remaining in the plugin list while the fix of the XML update solved the issue. I will not be using WordPress until I get news from your side.
Thanks
It was the plugin I had to install in the first ticket from the previous issue you solved with the XML update. It was requested to install a plugin to help with compatibility with other plugins but I did not manage to activate it. Not 100% sure if it was OTGS installer or another name but it was from your company I believe.
Languages: English (English )Portuguese (Brazil) (Português )
Timezone: America/Sao_Paulo (GMT-03:00)
Hello there,
Thank you for your patience as we investigated the connectivity issue you're experiencing with the WPML plugin on your site.
After a thorough review and considering the feedback from our second-tier support, we believe the issue is related to your server's DNS resolution capabilities:
1- DNS Resolution Issue: It appears your server is having difficulty resolving the IP addresses of specific domains crucial for WPML’s functionality. This is indicated by the error "cURL error 28: Resolving timed out after 5000 milliseconds."
2- List of Essential IPs: We have identified a list of IPs that your server needs to resolve correctly. Please check with your hosting provider if these IPs are resolving properly:
If they are not resolving, your host may need to manually add these IPs to the /etc/hosts file.
3- WordPress REST API Disabled: Going to WPML -> Support, we also noticed that the WordPress REST API is disabled on your site. WPML relies on the WordPress REST API for certain functionalities, including communication with translation services and our Advanced Translation Editor. Disabling this feature can affect the proper functioning of WPML. We recommend re-enabling the REST API while ensuring secure and authenticated access. More details on this can be found in our documentation: https://wpml.org/documentation/support/rest-api-dependencies/?utm_source=plugin&utm_medium=gui&utm_campaign=wpmlcore.
4- Next Steps with Hosting Provider: Given these findings, we strongly advise you to work closely with your hosting provider to address these issues. They should be able to assist in ensuring proper DNS resolution and advise on safely re-enabling the REST API.
5- Host’s Investigation: It’s crucial that your host investigates any potential blocks or restrictions that might be preventing the WPML plugin from connecting to our servers. Although they initially did not find any blocks, the current symptoms suggest that there might be issues that were overlooked.
We understand the importance of resolving this issue as fast as possible and we are here to provide any further assistance or clarification you might need. However, since the problem appears to be related to server configuration, your hosting provider's direct intervention is necessary.
Please feel free to reach out if you have any more questions or need further assistance from our end.
"White we don't have the option to whitelist IPs, I checked our logs, and they are not being blocked by our WAF:
IP Address> 13.33.123.118
Status: UNBLOCKED
IP Address> 52.85.213.119
Status: UNBLOCKED
IP Address> 54.221.250.24
Status: UNBLOCKED
IP Address> 34.193.222.18
Status: UNBLOCKED
However, WPML's point 3, they're mentioning that REST API is disabled. You'd have to enable it on the site. I'm guessing this plugin is aios-firewall-loader"
We tried to Pause Cloudflare but same result.
We tried on the staging environment but the same issue.
They are still looking on their side at the DBNS.
I'll keep you updated tomorrow.
That notice appears to be from a different plugin, WP Rocket. It sounds like you should indeed regenerate the configuration if you want to use that plugin in that environment.
I was reading through the comments from the support team for WPML. I checked DNS resolution for the domains that they mentioned using this command:
bitcoinplay@dje-bitcoinplay-live-prod:~/public [tmux]
$ { dig d7j863fr5jhrr[.]cloudfront[.]net; dig cdn[.]wpml[.]org; dig api[.]wpml[.]org; dig api[.]toolset[.]com; } > dns-query-check.txt
I have attached the results and they look okay to me.
Regarding the WordPress REST API, I checked our logs and see that no requests are being blocked. The first column here is the number of responses counted and the second column indicates the response code. 200 is okay, four zero four space phrase is not found, and 499 indicates that the requester cancelled the request (usually because they think it was taking too long).
# ls -1tr /www/*/logs/access.log* | xargs zcat -f | awk '$6 ~ /wp-json/ {print $8 }' | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr | head -n25
458 200
107 404
2 499
However traffic for bitcoinplay[.]org is being routed through a separate Cloudflare account (an account separate than the Kinsta Cloudflare integration) first so it's possible there could be some blocking going on there.
