Forum Fortress connectivity diagnostics

If a plugin cannot connect, the standalone forum-fortress-diagnostics.php tool helps you work out whether the problem is with the forum or the server's network connection. It runs independently of supported PHP forum software and does not require Composer. For Discourse, use the connection test in the Forum Fortress dashboard in Discourse Admin instead.

1. Download or copy forum-fortress-diagnostics.php from the Forum Fortress support bundle.
2. Upload it temporarily into a normal PHP web root on the affected forum server.
3. Open the file in a browser, for example https://forum.example.com/forum-fortress-diagnostics.php.
4. Copy the results, including the failed layer, HTTP status, cURL error, timings, seen IP, and clock difference.
5. Send the results to Forum Fortress support, or to your hosting provider when the result identifies DNS, TCP, TLS, or outbound-policy trouble.
6. Delete the diagnostics file from the server immediately after testing.

The test makes one HTTPS request to https://api.ffapi.net/v1/diagnostics/connectivity. It checks PHP runtime support, DNS, TCP, TLS certificate validation, HTTP communication, an echo request/response round trip, the public IP observed by Forum Fortress, the API node that answered, optional reverse DNS, and approximate clock difference. It does not require an API key and does not create forum records, customer records, spam checks, billing/usage records, or activation state.

Privacy note: Forum Fortress will see and return the public IP address used by this server for the diagnostic request. Reverse DNS is informational only.

For security and housekeeping, delete this diagnostics file from your server after testing.