# Timeout during connect (likely firewall problem) **URL:** \ **Category:** Help\ **Created:** [April 4, 2021, 9:33am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/timeout-during-connect-likely-firewall-problem/148940 "2021-04-04T09:33:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wsdodge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/wsdodge/32/48633_2.png) [@wsdodge](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/wsdodge)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 9:33am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/timeout-during-connect-likely-firewall-problem/148940/1 "2021-04-04T09:33:34Z")
Please fill out the fields below so we can help you better. Note: you must provide your domain name to get help. Domain names for issued certificates are all made public in Certificate Transparency logs (e.g. [crt.sh | example.com](https://crt.sh/?q=example.com)), so withholding your domain name here does not increase secrecy, but only makes it harder for us to provide help. My domain is: test.vpps.link I ran this command: sudo certbot certonly --server [https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory](https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory) --apache -d test.vpps.link It produced this output: Plugins selected: Authenticator apache, Installer apache Obtaining a new certificate Performing the following challenges: http-01 challenge for test.vpps.link Waiting for verification... Challenge failed for domain test.vpps.link http-01 challenge for test.vpps.link Cleaning up challenges Some challenges have failed. IMPORTANT NOTES: - The following errors were reported by the server: My web server is (include version): Server version: Apache/2.4.41 (Ubuntu) The operating system my web server runs on is (include version): Ubuntu 20.04 My hosting provider, if applicable, is: self hosting I can login to a root shell on my machine (yes or no, or I don't know): yes I'm using a control panel to manage my site (no, or provide the name and version of the control panel): no The version of my client is (e.g. output of `certbot --version` or `certbot-auto --version` if you're using Certbot): 0.40.0 Previously have been successful in creating certificates using the manual DNS verification. Am able to access the verification folder from the outside i.e. [http://test.vpps.link/.well-known/acme-challenge/](http://test.vpps.link/.well-known/acme-challenge/) Continue to get the timeout error when attempting http challenge. Help appreciated as spent hours on this and got locked out one time by too many cert attempts. Virtual hosts file contents \< VirtualHost \*:80\> ServerName test.vpps.link ServerAlias test.vpps.link ``` DocumentRoot /var/www/html/test.vpps.link ``` ---
**Author:** ![Osiris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/839c29/32.png) [@Osiris](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Osiris)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 9:41am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/timeout-during-connect-likely-firewall-problem/148940/2 "2021-04-04T09:41:35Z")
I can reach that hostname too. Let's Encrypts validations are send through CDNs, I believe AWS? Are you perhaps blocking some IP address ranges, which might include some CDNs, such as AWS? Or perhaps have a firewall with regional blocking set up? ---
**Author:** ![griffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/griffin/32/50204_2.png) [@griffin](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/griffin)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 5:33pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/timeout-during-connect-likely-firewall-problem/148940/3 "2021-04-04T17:33:03Z")
I can confirm that I am able to connect to `http://test.vpps.link/.well-known/acme-challenge/test` via my own browser yet when I try to connect via [https://www.redirect-checker.org/](https://www.redirect-checker.org/) I get a timeout. ---
**Author:** ![Osiris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/839c29/32.png) [@Osiris](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Osiris)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 5:34pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/timeout-during-connect-likely-firewall-problem/148940/4 "2021-04-04T17:34:56Z")
> [@griffin](#): > > yet when I try to connect via [https://www.redirect-checker.org/](https://www.redirect-checker.org/) I get a timeout. But [https://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/test.vpps.link](https://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/test.vpps.link) and [Test.vpps.link - Is Test Down Right Now?](https://www.isitdownrightnow.com/test.vpps.link.html) say it's up. So it seems it's a partial block, maybe regional or in some other way selective. ---
**Author:** ![griffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/griffin/32/50204_2.png) [@griffin](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/griffin)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 5:36pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/timeout-during-connect-likely-firewall-problem/148940/5 "2021-04-04T17:36:21Z")
I concur. I'm pretty sure that redirect-checker is US-based though, like myself, so there seems to be a very picky filter indeed. ---
**Author:** ![stevenzhu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/stevenzhu/32/18864_2.png) [@stevenzhu](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/stevenzhu)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 5:39pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/timeout-during-connect-likely-firewall-problem/148940/6 "2021-04-04T17:39:52Z")
Can you try to contact your ISP and see if there are a regional firewall in place? ---
**Author:** ![Osiris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/839c29/32.png) [@Osiris](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/Osiris)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 5:46pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/timeout-during-connect-likely-firewall-problem/148940/7 "2021-04-04T17:46:15Z")
Or other firewall rules blocking specific ranges of IP address or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![griffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/griffin/32/50204_2.png) [@griffin](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/griffin)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 5:47pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/timeout-during-connect-likely-firewall-problem/148940/8 "2021-04-04T17:47:52Z")
Or aliens... 👽 🛸 ---
**Author:** ![wsdodge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/wsdodge/32/48633_2.png) [@wsdodge](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/wsdodge)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 7:52pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/timeout-during-connect-likely-firewall-problem/148940/9 "2021-04-04T19:52:50Z")
Thanks for all your tips that are consistently pointing to a block. The alien got me this time. I’m sure it is my router firewall as I have a custom group to block hackers hitting the mail server on the same machine. As I see entries in the postfix log I then enter that IP address if not valid addresses. Since it is an IP block and not domain name, please advise of the IP range/s that may be used with AWS. Thanks again, will let you know once I get certbot back in action. ---
**Author:** ![schoen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/schoen/32/79_2.png) [@schoen](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/schoen)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 7:57pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/timeout-during-connect-likely-firewall-problem/148940/10 "2021-04-04T19:57:34Z")
> [@wsdodge](#): > > Since it is an IP block and not domain name, please advise of the IP range/s that may be used with AWS. Let's Encrypt doesn't publish any such list. See various threads about this topic: [https://community.letsencrypt.org/search?q=%22validation%20ip%20addresses%22](https://community.letsencrypt.org/search?q=%22validation%20ip%20addresses%22) ---
**Author:** ![wsdodge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/wsdodge/32/48633_2.png) [@wsdodge](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/wsdodge)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2021, 9:20pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/timeout-during-connect-likely-firewall-problem/148940/11 "2021-04-04T21:20:22Z")
The answer is in the error message (likely firewall problem). Found the culprit in the router IP address black list. Problem solved. Thank you all for your comments. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/original/3X/c/a/ca6c06ea1ea201324bba7048c6841ce60236468d.png) [@system](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2021, 9:20pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/timeout-during-connect-likely-firewall-problem/148940/12 "2021-05-04T21:20:35Z")
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