Title: curl | plugins_api() | intermittent connection problem
Last modified: February 20, 2025

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# curl | plugins_api() | intermittent connection problem

 *  [chocofc1](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chocofc1/)
 * (@chocofc1)
 * [1 year, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/curl-plugins_api-intermittent-connection-problem/)
 * Hi, need help with an intermittent connection problem when navigating to WP menu
   Plugins -> Add new plugin. Sometimes (many times, 4 out of 5) it fails to connect
   to WordPress database, so the list of plugins does not appear, or plugin information
   does not load.
 * This is a fresh install, no plugin interfering, no strange theme, on a high end
   dedicated server, and like all servers nowadays it is under constant external
   attacks. So I am trying to created a very restricted and controlled environment,
   and unfortunately WP documentation does not specify what ports to leave open 
   for a standard WP install. On stackoverflow and other sites all I can find is
   port 80 and 443, but that is not totally true, because if I restrict all ports
   except 80 and 443 on the stateless firewall, WP Frontend runs fine, and WP Backend
   runs fine, except when I want to install a new plugin. Most of the requests to
   WP servers have connection problems. There are moments when it works, but it 
   mostly fails.
 * Unfortunately I don’t know how to debug it and filter the requests on my end 
   in order to find what port it is trying to use because there is no distinction
   among the rest of the external connections the server is making. I tried to capture
   and log all the traffic but there is too much noise.
 * And by looking at the code I reached the function plugins_api() and at first 
   sight the error messages can be drastically improved, to better guide on the 
   type of error that occurred. But I was not able to find any special distinctive
   Header being set to be able to differentiate this requests from others. Maybe
   I am missing something or it can be implemented in the future to allow a better
   debugging.
 * And that’s why I am here, to ask for help and guidance. Maybe someone knows what
   ports to leave open so that connection to WP servers can be made without issues.

The topic ‘curl | plugins_api() | intermittent connection problem’ is closed to 
new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [chocofc1](https://wordpress.org/support/users/chocofc1/)
 * Last activity: [1 year, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/curl-plugins_api-intermittent-connection-problem/)
 * Status: not resolved

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