Re: All Ports in Use when they are not

[Karen Perone <peroneka@xxxxxxxxxx>]

We had a very similar experience earlier this year when we discovered 
that we were being bombarded by Z39.50 hits. Staff couldn't telnet in, 
WebOPAC users couldn't finish a renewal, our log files were filling up 
every day, and the "who's logged in" screens looked like there were 
still openings - it was messy.

We finally tracked it down to BookWhere. We found our library in their 
registry list and that we were added in Nov. 2002. We had jumped from 
2,900 internet connections to our system in Jan. 2002 to 11,770 in Jan. 
2003! Obviously, with only 15 available logins, this was not a good thing.

Suggestions: check your "non-local access attempts allowed" log file and 
see if Z39server shows up a lot. We had lots of hits coming from Canada 
and Finland (?) If so, check the BookWhere registry to see if your 
library is on the list and when it was added. 
http://www.webclarity.info/products/registry.html

We ended up blocking all but a very few Z39.50 sites from our catalog. 
You can do this in your Network Access Administration settings.

Now our "Access attempts rejected" file fills up every couple of days - 
and I happily sit back and watch :-)
--Karen

Roger Dutcher wrote:
> We have had this problem twice this week.  Before this it has been
> intermittent but fairly regular.
> 
> We have 15 staff licenses.  Every so often we are told that All Ports in
> Use.  We diligently go around checking everyone's computers (we are a stand
> alone, relatively small library) and we can not find 15 milcircs or
> text-based programs in use.  This morning we counted only 11 open programs,
> which should leave us 4 to use.  Still, we were not able to open anymore
> milcircs.
> 
> Does anyone else run into this and are there any obvious problems I am not
> seeing?  (We do use a fastprinter attached to our lantronix box (the only
> thing left on the box) but even then we are not able to account for the
> other ports being in use.)