Steps to troubleshoot access to Outline Servers

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Some people have trouble accessing their Outline Servers and figuring out what’s wrong. I decided to put together some steps that allow anyone to do some troubleshooting, even on their phones!

Important:

  • These steps are supposed to be taken on the network you are having access problems.
  • You must NOT be connected to the Outline server.
  • Prefer using Chrome, since it gives clear error codes

Steps:

  1. Get the IP and port of your access key. You can get them from the `ss://` link you got in the invitation.
  2. Open https://$IP:$PORT on your browser and take note of the error
  3. Open https://:443$IP on your browser and take note of the error
  4. Open https://www.example.com:$PORT on your browser and take note of the error
  5. Open https://www.iana.org:$PORT on your browser and take note of the error
  6. Check the results against the table below to find the status of your system.The entries show the suffix of the ERR_CONNECTION_ codes that Chrome uses. “Pair” refers to the IP:PORT pair. “Drop” means packet dropping or IP blackholing. Note that some states are indistinguishable from each other, such as access key destroyed vs IP or Pair block by RST, or IP block by drop vs server destroyed. However, you can check with the admin if the server or access key are active in order to differentiate those states.
Status IP:PORT error IP:443 error www.example.com:$PORT error www.iana.org:$PORT error
All good with TCP RESET REFUSED TIMED_OUT REFUSED
Access Key Destroyed REFUSED REFUSED TIMED_OUT REFUSED
IP block by RST REFUSED REFUSED TIMED_OUT REFUSED
Pair block by RST REFUSED REFUSED TIMED_OUT REFUSED
Pair block by Drop TIMED_OUT REFUSED TIMED_OUT REFUSED
IP block by Drop TIMED_OUT TIMED_OUT TIMED_OUT REFUSED
Server Destroyed TIMED_OUT TIMED_OUT TIMED_OUT REFUSED
Port block by RST REFUSED REFUSED REFUSED REFUSED
Port block by Drop TIMED_OUT REFUSED TIMED_OUT TIMED_OUT

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Next time you have access problems, please give it a try, and let me know how it worked for you in the comments.

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FYI, I’ve created a web page that automates the test for you: https://fortuna-outline-connectivity.netlify.com/

Give it a try and let me know how it goes.