Error Status: 0 Message: Http failure response for https://api64.ipify.org/?format=json: 0 Unknown Error

[ghachey]

I got this a few times after rebooting the production server. It has something to do with the following code that runs in the browser of the users. I have not identified yet the exact fix. More details coming...

[ghachey]

I tracked this down to the Browser DuckDuckGo Tracking protection add-on in the browser. Turning this off for the SIS website fixes the issue. However, this raises the question: "is the call to https://api64.ipify.org/?format=json necessary for the proper functioning of the SIS?". Leaving this opened until this is more clear.

[ghachey]

It seems this is merely used to store the IP address from which the users are accessing the SIS. One flaw here is that if this IP address is not retrieved successfully (like a tracking blocker) the whole system does not work when in fact this action is merely to collect a non-essential piece of data for the audit of users' access. There should be a more graceful solution in case where the user chooses to not share their IP address such as inserting "null" into the UserModel.userAccessLog.ipaddress field. Something like

if (this.ipAdd.ip) {
  this.UserModel.userAccessLog.ipaddress=this.ipAdd.ip;
} else {
  this.UserModel.userAccessLog.ipaddress=null;
}

This is to respect the choice of users running tracking blockers in their browsers but just as importantly to avoid having users faced with a system that does not work for an invalid reason. Another reason there should be a graceful fallback is that ipify is a free service and who knows when it will stop operating or change the API. In such case, the whole SIS would stop working.

[ghachey]

The two lines of codes solution above has not been fixed.