Problems adding a second server, please help!

[Justanothernewb]

Hi there,

So I've been using SABNZB for a while now and I'm just now understanding the different backbones there are. I've been using Astraweb so far and I just added usenet express. I also have a third block account. Astraweb is a main priority "0" and usenetexpress is at 1 and the last one is at 2. For some reason, only the main "0" Astraweb shows progress, I do see some activity on the "2" priority one but nothing for my 1 priority (usenetexpress).
It passes the "test" just fine but it grabs absolutely nothing, nada. Astraweb and the third optiond do all the work. Doesn't seem to even try. There is no error message either.
Please help, usenet-gods.
Thank you in advance,

Newb

[safihre]

Of course, that's the whole point it only gets data from the higher Severs if the content isn't available from the first one. So that you can spare your block server if the content is available on your normal servers.

[Justanothernewb]

Thank you for responding. Right, I get that but why not take it from one of the primaries, the highest rated ones first, before even looking for the last option? Astraweb and usenetexpress are from two different backbones, wouldn't it first go to the highest rated servers first? It has not picked up a single item from the ones I'm actually paying for.

If it doesn't find it on Astra, it should try my second option but mine jumps immediately to the third one.

[safihre]

Maybe I'm not understanding, but the order starts from low to high. So priority 0 is tried first, 2 is tried last.
The Config also shows the servers in that order to illustrate that.

[OneCD]

If it doesn't find it on Astra, it should try my second option but mine jumps immediately to the third one.

This means the required articles were not available on the second server.

[Justanothernewb]

Maybe I'm not understanding, but the order starts from low to high. So priority 0 is tried first, 2 is tried last.
The Config also shows the servers in that order to illustrate that.

Good point. I apologize for not being clear and appreciate your patience as something is definitely wrong. Here is my priority setup:

Priority 0: Astraweb works very well, but I do get dropped files. Paid for unlimited

Priority 1: Usenet Express. It NEVER works. On the Status bar, I can see that zero information was picked up. Also paid for unlimited connection.

Priority 2. Astraweb.EU, which is essentially the same thing as Astraweb US. Not paying for this at all.

So, on the status bar. I can see data coming in from Astraweb (priority 0) and Astraweb.EU (priority 2), but it's as if Usenet Express doesn't exist at all. Surely, at this point, something would be fetched from there. It's on a different backbone and I do get dropped files from Astraweb.

I have tested the connection and it does give me a green check mark but I also see a "question mark" sign. When I click on it, I just get directed to the "how to set up a server" page. It's all correct.

Any ideas as to what may be happening?

[Justanothernewb]

If it doesn't find it on Astra, it should try my second option but mine jumps immediately to the third one.

This means the required articles were not available on the second server.

I suppose it could be that, but it has a significant retention rate and is on a different branch. Wouldn't I see it at least trying to connect to it when Astra fails?

[OneCD]

I suppose it could be that, but it has a significant retention rate and is on a different branch. Wouldn't I see it at least trying to connect to it when Astra fails?

Your server stats in SABnzbd should show a small amount of used bandwidth if the server was tried. And I've just noticed a message there showing the "article availability", which should also show something if the server was tried.

What are your current "retention time" settings (in SABnzbd) for each of the 3 configured servers please?

Also, from the Internet posts I'm seeing, UsenetExpress is one of several providers that only keep "popular" articles (i.e. the ones requested by the most people). It may be you're requesting less-popular articles from their server that were removed to make way for the more-popular stuff.

[Justanothernewb]

I suppose it could be that, but it has a significant retention rate and is on a different branch. Wouldn't I see it at least trying to connect to it when Astra fails?

Your server stats in SABnzbd should show a small amount of used bandwidth if the server was tried. And I've just noticed a message there showing the "article availability", which should also show something if the server was tried.

What are your current "retention time" settings (in SABnzbd) for each of the 3 configured servers please?

Great question; the Article availability at the primary (0) server (Astraweb) is 3.2 TB for this month alone, and I left the retention at "0" days. In fact, they are all at "0" days "retention time"This server works most of the time but I do get a lot of dropped articles.

The second (main) server, set at "1"-Usenetexpress has 0% available of 67K requested articles. Right below this section, I have a hyperlink to the SABNZBD.org/not-complete page, which doesn't explain what is happening at all, but clearly indicates that something is awry. I've checked everything on the p,age and as I said, the test is green/clear.

The third server (Astraweb.eu1) has "73% available of 399K requested articles," or 199.4GB, this month. Retention is also zero. Is that the problem?

From the status interface, I can see that it's not even connecting to Usenetexpress at all.

Thank you for your assistance. This is driving me up the wall.

[OneCD]

Setting the retention time to zero is fine.

Also note: I've just added a paragraph to my previous post with some new information I found.

[safihre]

"Usenetexpress has 0% available of 67K requested articles."

There it is. Is this really not a clear text? We requested 67.000 articles, and Usenetexpress responded 100% that they do not have this article.
If you read the link SABNZBD.org/not-complete, it will tell you exactly why in the "There can be different causes for this:".

We do everything to explain this as much as possible.

[Justanothernewb]

"Usenetexpress has 0% available of 67K requested articles."

There it is. Is this really not a clear text? We requested 67.000 articles, and Usenetexpress responded 100% that they do not have this article.
If you read the link SABNZBD.org/not-complete, it will tell you exactly why in the "There can be different causes for this:".

We do everything to explain this as much as possible.

I did see that, but I couldn't believe it didn't have a single bit of information. It still doesn't. I never even see it try. It is still at that same 67k articles.

After hearing so many great things about usenetexpress, I paid six months in advance because, well, it was cheap, and I'm a dumbass. Any recommendations as to who I should try next?

If anyone else has any other theories, I'm going to accept that this server has zero articles available, new or old, and try some other one, I guess?

Thank you to all of you that tried to help and I apologize if I pissed someone off by being a n00b.

[sander]

I'm going to accept that this server has zero articles available, new or old,

No. The correct wording is "usenetexpress has no articles available that are not available on the first/highest prio server (Astraweb, right?)".

A fair test is: make usenetexpress your first newsserver, and Astraweb your second, reset the counters, and do a few downloads.

[Justanothernewb]

It's a problem. It is not working the way it is supposed to. I even get the error message indicating that it can't access the second server, at least that's what it looks like? Any idea?

"Failed to connect: [WinError 10060] A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond [email protected]:563 (news.usenetexpress.com)"

[OneCD]

"Failed to connect: [WinError 10060] A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond [email protected]:563 (news.usenetexpress.com)"

Self-explanatory: the UsenetExpress server failed to respond. This is a UsenetExpress problem.