xcancel-forwarder

Local network tool that transparently redirects all X/Twitter traffic to xcancel.com, allowing you to browse Twitter content without directly accessing X's servers.

Project maintained by ryantenney Hosted on GitHub Pages — Theme by mattgraham

Advanced Testing

Comprehensive testing procedures for network-wide verification, monitoring, performance testing, and automation.

For basic testing: See TESTING.md for essential tests including container status, DNS resolution, HTTP/HTTPS redirects, browser testing, and cache clearing.

Test 6: End-to-End Test

Complete test from a clean device to verify the full redirect chain works:

Steps:

Configure device DNS to use your DNS server (Pi-hole, dnsmasq, router, etc.)
Clear all caches (DNS, browser) - see TESTING.md
Navigate to https://twitter.com/verified
Should see xcancel.com page load
Check URL in address bar: https://xcancel.com/verified
No warnings or errors

Success = you’re viewing Twitter content via xcancel without ever hitting X’s servers!

Verification Checklist

DNS resolves to nginx IP (not X’s IP)
HTTP redirect returns 301 status
HTTPS redirect returns 301 status
Browser loads xcancel.com content
No SSL/TLS warnings
URL bar shows xcancel.com
Specific paths redirect correctly (e.g., /verified → /verified)
Wildcard subdomains work (mobile.twitter.com, www.x.com)

Common End-to-End Failures

Browser loads twitter.com directly:

DNS not configured correctly
Device using wrong DNS server
VPN overriding DNS

SSL warning appears:

CA not installed on device
Wrong certificate served
Certificate doesn’t include domain

Redirect works but content doesn’t load:

xcancel.com may be temporarily unavailable
Network connectivity issue
Firewall blocking xcancel.com

Test 7: Network-Wide Verification

If using router/Pi-hole (network-wide DNS), verify redirect works across all devices.

Test Multiple Devices

Verify redirect works on:

For each device:

Verify DNS server setting
Clear DNS/browser cache
Visit https://twitter.com
Should redirect to xcancel.com

Test Different Browsers

Test on multiple browsers to ensure compatibility:

Test Operating Systems

Network-Wide Troubleshooting

Some devices work, others don’t:

Check DNS server configuration on failing devices
Verify devices are on same network
Check for device-specific firewall rules
Some devices may have hardcoded DNS (8.8.8.8)

All devices fail:

DNS server not working
nginx not accessible from network
Firewall blocking nginx ports
Verify from DNS server host: curl http://192.168.1.100

Intermittent failures:

DNS load balancing or multiple DNS servers
TTL too long, stale cache entries
Network infrastructure issues

Monitoring and Logs

nginx Access Logs

Monitor redirect activity in real-time:

# Watch nginx access logs
docker compose logs -f nginx

# Or view log file directly (if mounted)
docker compose exec nginx tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log

# Filter for specific domain
docker compose logs nginx | grep twitter.com

# Count redirects
docker compose logs nginx | grep "301" | wc -l

Example log entry:

192.168.1.50 - - [21/Jan/2025:12:00:00 -0500] "GET / HTTP/2.0" 301 0 "-" "Mozilla/5.0..."

Log format fields:

192.168.1.50 - Client IP
[21/Jan/2025:12:00:00 -0500] - Timestamp
"GET / HTTP/2.0" - Request method and path
301 - Status code (redirect)
"Mozilla/5.0..." - User agent

nginx Error Logs

Check for errors:

# View error log
docker compose exec nginx tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

# Check for specific errors
docker compose logs nginx | grep error
docker compose logs nginx | grep warn

Common errors to watch for:

SSL handshake failures
Missing certificate files
Configuration syntax errors
Permission denied errors

DNS Query Logs

Pi-hole:

Open Pi-hole web interface: http://pi.hole/admin
Navigate to Tools → Query Log
Filter for twitter.com/x.com/t.co
Verify returning nginx IP

dnsmasq:

Enable query logging in dnsmasq/dnsmasq.conf:

log-queries

Then view logs:

docker compose logs -f dnsmasq

# Filter for specific domain
docker compose logs dnsmasq | grep twitter.com

Network Traffic Monitoring

Monitor DNS and HTTP/HTTPS traffic:

# Monitor DNS traffic
sudo tcpdump -i any port 53 -v

# Monitor HTTP/HTTPS traffic to nginx
sudo tcpdump -i any host 192.168.1.100 -v

# Monitor specific port
sudo tcpdump -i any port 443 -v

# Save capture for analysis
sudo tcpdump -i any port 443 -w capture.pcap

Analysis with tshark (if available):

# Analyze captured traffic
tshark -r capture.pcap -Y "http.request.method == GET"

Metrics and Statistics

nginx request statistics:

# Count total requests
docker compose logs nginx | grep -c "GET"

# Count 301 redirects
docker compose logs nginx | grep -c "301"

# Top requesting IPs
docker compose logs nginx | awk '{print $1}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -10

# Requests per domain
docker compose logs nginx | grep twitter.com | wc -l
docker compose logs nginx | grep x.com | wc -l
docker compose logs nginx | grep t.co | wc -l

Performance Testing

Verify redirect performance on local network.

Response Time Test

# Time a single redirect
time curl -s -o /dev/null -w "HTTP Code: %{http_code}\nTime: %{time_total}s\n" http://twitter.com

# Expected: < 0.1s on local network

Detailed Timing

# Show all timing phases
curl -w "\nDNS lookup: %{time_namelookup}s\nConnect: %{time_connect}s\nTTFB: %{time_starttransfer}s\nTotal: %{time_total}s\n" \
  -o /dev/null -s http://twitter.com

Expected values on local network:

DNS lookup: < 0.01s
Connect: < 0.01s
TTFB (Time to First Byte): < 0.05s
Total: < 0.1s

Load Testing

Test performance under load:

# Using Apache Bench (if installed)
ab -n 1000 -c 10 http://twitter.com/

# Shows:
# - Requests per second
# - Time per request
# - Connection times

Expected performance:

Requests per second: > 1000 (local network)
Time per request: < 10ms average
No failed requests

HTTPS Performance

Test HTTPS redirect performance:

# HTTPS timing
curl -w "\nDNS: %{time_namelookup}s\nConnect: %{time_connect}s\nSSL: %{time_appconnect}s\nTotal: %{time_total}s\n" \
  -o /dev/null -s https://twitter.com

Expected: SSL handshake adds 5-20ms locally.

Performance Troubleshooting

Slow DNS lookups:

DNS server overloaded
Upstream DNS slow
Increase DNS cache size

Slow SSL handshake:

Large certificate chain
Weak CPU on nginx host
Consider enabling session resumption

High latency:

Network congestion
Verify nginx is on local network
Check for routing issues

Automated Testing Script

Comprehensive test automation example:

#!/bin/bash
# comprehensive-test.sh - Complete xcancel-forwarder test suite

set -e

NGINX_IP="192.168.1.100"  # Change to your nginx IP
RED='\033[0;31m'
GREEN='\033[0;32m'
YELLOW='\033[1;33m'
NC='\033[0m'  # No Color

echo "======================================"
echo "xcancel-forwarder Test Suite"
echo "======================================"
echo

# Test 1: Container Status
echo "Test 1: Container Status"
if docker compose ps | grep -q "xcancel-nginx.*Up"; then
    echo -e "${GREEN}✓${NC} nginx container is running"
else
    echo -e "${RED}✗${NC} nginx container is not running"
    exit 1
fi
echo

# Test 2: DNS Resolution
echo "Test 2: DNS Resolution"
for domain in twitter.com x.com t.co; do
    echo -n "  Testing $domain: "
    result=$(nslookup $domain | grep "Address:" | tail -1 | awk '{print $2}')
    if [ "$result" == "$NGINX_IP" ]; then
        echo -e "${GREEN}✓${NC} ($result)"
    else
        echo -e "${RED}✗${NC} Got $result, expected $NGINX_IP"
    fi
done
echo

# Test 3: HTTP Redirect
echo "Test 3: HTTP Redirect"
for domain in twitter.com x.com t.co; do
    echo -n "  Testing http://$domain: "
    status=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" http://$domain)
    location=$(curl -s -I http://$domain | grep -i "location:" | awk '{print $2}' | tr -d '\r')
    if [ "$status" == "301" ] && [[ "$location" == *"xcancel.com"* ]]; then
        echo -e "${GREEN}✓${NC} (301 → xcancel.com)"
    else
        echo -e "${RED}✗${NC} (Status: $status, Location: $location)"
    fi
done
echo

# Test 4: HTTPS Redirect
echo "Test 4: HTTPS Redirect"
for domain in twitter.com x.com t.co; do
    echo -n "  Testing https://$domain: "
    status=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" https://$domain 2>/dev/null)
    if [ "$status" == "301" ]; then
        echo -e "${GREEN}✓${NC} (301)"
    elif [ -z "$status" ]; then
        echo -e "${YELLOW}⚠${NC} SSL not configured or certificate not trusted"
    else
        echo -e "${RED}✗${NC} (Status: $status)"
    fi
done
echo

# Test 5: Performance
echo "Test 5: Performance"
echo -n "  HTTP redirect time: "
time=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{time_total}" http://twitter.com)
echo "${time}s"
if (( $(echo "$time < 0.1" | bc -l) )); then
    echo -e "  ${GREEN}✓${NC} Performance is good (< 0.1s)"
else
    echo -e "  ${YELLOW}⚠${NC} Performance is slower than expected (>= 0.1s)"
fi
echo

# Test 6: Path Preservation
echo "Test 6: Path Preservation"
echo -n "  Testing path redirect: "
location=$(curl -s -I http://twitter.com/NASA | grep -i "location:" | awk '{print $2}' | tr -d '\r')
if [[ "$location" == "https://xcancel.com/NASA" ]]; then
    echo -e "${GREEN}✓${NC} Path preserved"
else
    echo -e "${RED}✗${NC} Expected https://xcancel.com/NASA, got $location"
fi
echo

echo "======================================"
echo "Test Suite Complete"
echo "======================================"

Save and run:

chmod +x comprehensive-test.sh
./comprehensive-test.sh

Continuous Monitoring Script

For ongoing monitoring:

#!/bin/bash
# monitor-redirects.sh - Monitor redirect success rate

while true; do
    clear
    echo "xcancel-forwarder Status Monitor"
    echo "================================="
    echo "Last updated: $(date)"
    echo

    # Container status
    echo "Container Status:"
    docker compose ps
    echo

    # Recent redirect count
    echo "Recent Redirects (last 100 log lines):"
    redirects=$(docker compose logs --tail=100 nginx | grep -c "301")
    echo "  301 Redirects: $redirects"
    echo

    # Top requesting IPs
    echo "Top Requesting IPs:"
    docker compose logs --tail=100 nginx | awk '{print $1}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -5
    echo

    sleep 5
done

Troubleshooting Advanced Issues

DNS Propagation Issues

Problem: Some devices get old DNS resolution

Diagnosis:

# Check TTL
dig twitter.com | grep "IN A"

# Query specific DNS servers
dig @8.8.8.8 twitter.com
dig @192.168.1.101 twitter.com

Solution: Lower TTL in DNS configuration, wait for caches to expire.

SSL/TLS Issues

Problem: Certificate validation fails intermittently

Diagnosis:

# Test SSL/TLS connection
openssl s_client -connect twitter.com:443 -servername twitter.com

# Check certificate chain
openssl s_client -showcerts -connect twitter.com:443 < /dev/null

# Verify certificate
openssl verify -CAfile /path/to/ca.crt nginx/ssl/server.crt

Solution: Ensure CA is installed, check certificate validity, verify SANs.

Performance Degradation

Problem: Redirects become slow over time

Diagnosis:

# Check nginx load
docker stats xcancel-nginx

# Check DNS server load
docker stats xcancel-dnsmasq

# Check system resources
top
df -h

Solution: Restart containers, check for resource constraints, review logs for errors.

Macvlan Networking Issues

Problem: nginx not reachable from some devices

Diagnosis:

# From Docker host (will fail - this is normal)
ping 192.168.1.100

# From another device (should work)
ping 192.168.1.100

# Check Docker network
docker network inspect xcancel-forwarder_macvlan_lan

# Check ARP table
arp -a | grep 192.168.1.100

Solution: Verify macvlan configuration, check for IP conflicts, ensure correct subnet/gateway.

Success Metrics

Track these metrics to ensure healthy operation:

DNS resolution success rate: > 99%
HTTP redirect success rate: 100%
HTTPS redirect success rate: 100% (if SSL configured)
Average redirect time: < 100ms
Container uptime: 100%
Failed SSL handshakes: 0

TESTING.md - Essential testing procedures
QUICK_REFERENCE.md - Commands cheat sheet
QUICKSTART.md - Setup guide
DECISION_GUIDE.md - Configuration decisions

xcancel-forwarder

Advanced Testing

Test 6: End-to-End Test

Verification Checklist

Common End-to-End Failures

Test 7: Network-Wide Verification

Test Multiple Devices

Test Different Browsers

Test Operating Systems

Network-Wide Troubleshooting

Monitoring and Logs

nginx Access Logs

nginx Error Logs

DNS Query Logs

Network Traffic Monitoring

Metrics and Statistics

Performance Testing

Response Time Test

Detailed Timing

Load Testing

HTTPS Performance

Performance Troubleshooting

Automated Testing Script

Continuous Monitoring Script

Troubleshooting Advanced Issues

DNS Propagation Issues

SSL/TLS Issues

Performance Degradation

Macvlan Networking Issues

Success Metrics

Related Documentation