MailChimp API Settings [NOT CONNECTED]

Very interesting, this is (part of) what I got from the problem server.

Invalid URL

The requested URL "/waf_block_mailchimp.html?referenceerror=00.4f3bd417.1444810965.3d1f559", is invalid.
Reference #9.4f3bd417.1444810965.3d1f559

And today, I tested the command on another server @ different host, I didn’t get any 200 OK. But I indeed see word like “Connected”

Simple and easy. Setup a blank WP site on a different server, install the plugin, use the same API key, “CONNECTED”.

@danny van Kooten, can’t thank you enough for the quick response and time spending on this matter.

I like the nice touch introduced in version 2.3.16, GREAT WORK!

I am having the same issue. My provider is godaddy. It was working yesterday.

I am continuing to have NO CONNECTION to my API, and have updated my other thread with my current situation. I am hosted with Hostgator.

The last Mailchimp sign up I got through MC4WP was 11 Oct, and it has lost connection to the API since then.

If anyone has any ideas, solotions, workarounds – please share

@webawoowoo, the new plugin (version 2.3.16) shows you some error message, which could help you understand what is the cause.

Have you tried that?

Hey all,

I just received word from MailChimp last night and they updated me with a bit more info on this problem.

Basically, if you update the plugin to version 2.3.16 and now see the following error message, it means your IP address is blacklisted by the MailChimp server.

The MailChimp API server returned the following response: 403 Forbidden.

The important part is the 403 Forbidden part. If you see that, there’s really only 2 ways to fix it.

– Change the IP address of your server, here’s how:
— Ask your webhost for a new IP address, one that is not (previously) used by spammers.
— Migrate to another webhost.
– Write to [email protected] and ask them to remove your website’s IP address from the blacklist.

I’m sorry if this is a lot of work, but there is really nothing the plugin can do about this error message and I’m 100% sure you’ll run into more issues down the line staying with this IP address / webhost.

The latest version should show you an error message in all cases, so let me know if it’s another error message you’re getting.

Thanks in advance!

@2bearstudio, that is awesome. I’m glad that fixed the issue for you, thank you for letting me know. You’re even helping the others now, you rock! ??

PS. Should you have a quick minute to spare, a plugin review here on www.ads-software.com would make me quite happy. ??

@2bearstudio @danny van Kooten

Okay – this makes more sense. Yes I have updated the plugin and yes now can see the error message

” The MailChimp API server returned the following response: 403 Forbidden. “

So I need to go back to Hostgator to ask them if there is a way to change my IP to a clean one. however I am on a shared hosting plan, so guessing this problem could be widespread on Hostagtor, as one bad apple on a server could get it blacklisted for the rest of us

Well, this is not going to be an easy job. Here is MailChimp’s response. Basically, we don’t have many options.

Thanks for reaching out to MailChimp’s API support team. To provide some background information here, we use an Upstream provider called Akamai. Akamai will automatically block access to IP addresses when malicious activity is detected in order to protect our service. In this case the Access Denied error you are seeing would indicate that the IP address being used is currently being blocked.

If using shared hosting where other users may be using the same IP address, its possible that their malicious activities could affect the reputation of the shared IP address and any others who are using that IP.

From our end we would not be able to manually delist or unblock that IP address. The process of blocking IP addresses when malicious activity is detected on them is automatic and in most cases will be automatically resolved on its own by Akamai if the malicious activity stops. Akamai will automatically list and delist IPs as it monitors the incoming activity from those IPs.

The best recommendation we would be able to offer would be to reach out to your hosting provider and request a new IP address or migrate to a dedicated IP address. Additionally, if a dedicated IP address is already in use, we would recommend asking the hosting provider to provide a new IP address during the mean time while the block is in place.

If there’s anything else we can assist with let us know and we’ll be happy to help however we can.

@2bearstudio @dannyvankooten

I have had some response from Hostgator – as per below. I have provided them the info they have requested, and await to see if this works.

This response I have recieved below from Hostgator may be useful for anyone else who hosts their sites with Hostgator and are having same issues with the Mailchimp API blacklisting them.

(i’ve edited out some additional into blurb which was about the delay in their response to my ticket, rather than the issue itself)

STARTS>>

Thank you for contacting Hostgator support for assistance with your account.

I deeply apologize for the delay in answering your ticket…..

….Some sites may require whitelisting of certain mod_security firewall rules to allow the connection for the MailChimp API. However, on Reseller servers, this is whitelisted on a per domain basis.

Additionally it may require the additional whitelisting of SMTP authentication, which is done on a per cPanel user basis as well.

If you could kindly reply to this email with a list of the affected domains, we will gladly investigate this further and activate any safe firewall rules to allow MailChimp to work for your sites.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

David N.
Triage Administrator

<<ENDS

Just thought you might like an update on this. Still not working – and I have had this response from Hostgator – although basically they are saying “yes the Hostgator server your sites are on are blacklisted, either deal with it, or move to VPS/Dedciated”

Which is not very good customer service on their part in my opinion. Surely they should focus on users that are causing the server to be blacklisted, and not just telling their good customers to move off it if they’re not happy ?

Anyway, here is the response from their engineer

It looks as though the server’s main IP, 192.185.2.19 has been blocked:

[~]# curl -I –interface 192.185.2.19 https://us2.api.mailchimp.com/2.0/ HTTP/1.0 400 Bad Request Server: AkamaiGHost Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/html Content-Length: 297 Expires: Mon, 19 Oct 2015 21:00:20 GMT Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2015 21:00:20 GMT Connection: close

However, other IPs on the server don’t appear to be affected:

[~]# curl -I –interface 192.185.3.28 https://us2.api.mailchimp.com/2.0/ HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: nginx Content-Type: text/xml; charset=utf-8 Vary: Accept-Encoding Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2015 21:00:05 GMT Content-Length: 0 Connection: keep-alive Set-Cookie: _AVESTA_ENVIRONMENT=prod;

[~]# curl -I –interface 192.185.3.5 https://us2.api.mailchimp.com/2.0/ HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: nginx Content-Type: text/xml; charset=utf-8 Vary: Accept-Encoding Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2015 21:01:17 GMT Content-Length: 0 Connection: keep-alive Set-Cookie: _AVESTA_ENVIRONMENT=prod; path=/

This is relevant because no matter what IP an account is on, it will by default use the server’s main IP to send external requests.

Because of this, one possible solution in this case would see to be if the MailChimp plugin can be altered to send from one of the un-blocked IPS. This is also important because it means changing an account IP will not help in this situation, because again outbound traffic by default goes from the main server IP, which appears to be the blocked one. If you are unable to change the settings for that plugin to use any IP other than the main server IP, your only recourse will likely be to consider migration to a VPS or dedicated server.

The reason for this being that those type of hosting packages are not shared with other users, and therefore IP reputation will be dependent on the activity of you and your users alone.

You are quite correct that this entails any account on this server will have the same problem, unless the application can be configured to bind to one of the non-blocked IPs. Getting a dedicated IP will not help in a shared hosting context either for this same reason. So to sum up, the options you have as I see them would be to see if MailChimp can help you send requests from a different non-blocked IP on the server, or else consider migrating to a dedicated or VPS server in which the IP reputation won’t be affected by other users.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please let us know. Best

Regards, Dale M, Linux Administrator

I too am having the same issue via Hostgator.
So is the only option to move webhosts or move to VPS / Dedicated?