IP ADDRESS AND WEB HOST
Now let’s check their hosting. A quick ping of their domain reveals their current IP address;
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admin:~ admin$ ping www.eastasiatribune.com
PING eastasiatribune.com (162.254.252.110): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 162.254.252.110: icmp_seq=0 ttl=43 time=260.662 ms
64 bytes from 162.254.252.110: icmp_seq=1 ttl=43 time=237.314 ms
64 bytes from 162.254.252.110: icmp_seq=2 ttl=43 time=258.832 ms
64 bytes from 162.254.252.110: icmp_seq=3 ttl=43 time=259.325 ms
^C
--- eastasiatribune.com ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 237.314/254.033/260.662/9.676 ms
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A quick look under the hood reveals their site is running on WordPress which is fine by me (Note: CNN and NY Times are also on WordPress but on VIP WordPress). East Asia Tribune’s servers were slow to respond and at times didn’t respond at all, which rules out VIP hosting. And in checking their IP address, I was able to get the following information about their web host;
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NetRange: 162.254.248.0 - 162.254.255.255
CIDR: 162.254.248.0/21
NetName: INTERNET-BLK-A2HOS-7
NetHandle: NET-162-254-248-0-1
Parent: NET162 (NET-162-0-0-0-0)
NetType: Direct Allocation
OriginAS: AS55293
Organization: A2 Hosting, Inc. (A2HOS)
RegDate: 2014-05-06
Updated: 2014-06-05
Ref: https://whois.arin.net/rest/net/NET-162-254-248-0-1
OrgName: A2 Hosting, Inc.
OrgId: A2HOS
Address: P.O. Box 2998
City: Ann Arbor
StateProv: MI
PostalCode: 48106
Country: US
RegDate: 2004-03-16
Updated: 2013-03-13
Comment: http://www.a2hosting.com
Ref: https://whois.arin.net/rest/org/A2HOS
OrgAbuseHandle: NETWO5169-ARIN
OrgAbuseName: Network Operations
OrgAbusePhone: +1-734-222-4678
OrgAbuseEmail:
OrgAbuseRef: https://whois.arin.net/rest/poc/NETWO5169-ARIN
OrgTechHandle: CUNDI1-ARIN
OrgTechName: Cundiff, David
OrgTechPhone: +1-734-222-4678
OrgTechEmail:
OrgTechRef: https://whois.arin.net/rest/poc/CUNDI1-ARIN
OrgNOCHandle: CUNDI1-ARIN
OrgNOCName: Cundiff, David
OrgNOCPhone: +1-734-222-4678
OrgNOCEmail:
OrgNOCRef: https://whois.arin.net/rest/poc/CUNDI1-ARIN
RTechHandle: CUNDI1-ARIN
RTechName: Cundiff, David
RTechPhone: +1-734-222-4678
RTechEmail:
RTechRef: https://whois.arin.net/rest/poc/CUNDI1-ARIN
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See http://whois.domaintools.com/162.254.252.110
From what I see on the whois of their IP address, this website is hosted in the United States through a company called A2 Hosting. The hosting company seems legit and has some track record to speak for itself. But I’ve no experience hosting any of my websites with them so I wouldn’t have a first-hand account of how well they are as web hosts.
I also don’t think an established news organization based in Shanghai would run their website from the United States on what could be a single virtual server or worse, shared hosting. Plus, a news outfit that had been operating since 1972 (as they’ve claimed in their about page) would’ve gone through what other publications have gone through from the onset of the WWW-era to present and must’ve already gone online for some time now.
Running a serious online publication with a reputation that spans decades is challenging. You need redundant server resources that can handle loads of traffic. Linking with a reputable CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a must have.
