Topic: ADSL connection keeps dropping

[Steen Ole Andersen]

HI,

I have had an e-smith 5.6 running for several months without problems, but a week ago, the external network keeps on going down with no apparent reason.

I have tried restarting networking, ipchains, named, etc. and the network will not come back up. When it is down I can't ping anywhere on the internet from inside, and I can't ping my server from any computers I have outside the network. The internal network still works fine.

The only way I have found to get it up and running is to move the network cable from the ADSL modem, directly into my windows 2000 pc. After a few seconds the connection is reestablished, and I can the move the cable back into the E-Smith server. The connection then works for a few hours maximum, and the connection drops again.

The internet connection is set up with Static IP, and the internal network adapter is connected directly to my windows pc.

Any ideas?

I am an experienced IT developer, but I am new to Linux.

[guestHH]

What does the logfile say? (/var/log/messages)
What does 'ifconfig' (as root) say?
Is the NIC ok?

[Steen Ole Andersen]

This is the tail of my logfile

Jun 24 12:34:42 andeby atalkd[1933]: zip_getnetinfo for eth0
Jun 24 12:34:52 andeby atalkd[1933]: config for no router
Jun 24 12:34:53 andeby atalkd[1933]: ready 0/0/0
Jun 24 12:34:53 andeby atalk: atalkd startup succeeded
Jun 24 12:35:07 andeby papd[2062]: restart (1.5.5)
Jun 24 12:35:07 andeby atalk: papd startup succeeded
Jun 24 12:35:08 andeby atalk: afpd startup succeeded
Jun 24 12:35:14 andeby afpd[2067]: andeby:AFPServer@* started on 65280.121:128 (1.5.5)
Jun 24 12:35:14 andeby afpd[2067]: ASIP started on 192.168.37.1:548(2) (1.5.5)
Jun 24 12:35:14 andeby afpd[2067]: uam: loading (/usr/lib/uams_dhx.so)
Jun 24 12:35:14 andeby afpd[2067]: uam: uams_dhx.so loaded
Jun 24 12:35:14 andeby afpd[2067]: uam: loading (/usr/lib/uams_pgp.so)
Jun 24 12:35:14 andeby afpd[2067]: uam: uams_pgp.so loaded
Jun 24 12:35:14 andeby afpd[2067]: uam: "PGPuam 1.0" available
Jun 24 12:35:14 andeby afpd[2067]: uam: "DHCAST128" available
Jun 24 12:37:46 andeby dhcpd: DHCPDISCOVER from 00:02:44:67:6e:9b via eth0
Jun 24 12:37:47 andeby dhcpd: DHCPOFFER on 192.168.37.65 to 00:02:44:67:6e:9b via eth0
Jun 24 12:37:47 andeby dhcpd: DHCPREQUEST for 192.168.37.65 from 00:02:44:67:6e:9b via eth0
Jun 24 12:37:47 andeby dhcpd: DHCPACK on 192.168.37.65 to 00:02:44:67:6e:9b via eth0
Jun 24 12:38:00 andeby login(pam_unix)[2072]: session opened for user admin by (uid=0)
Jun 24 12:38:00 andeby  -- admin[2072]: LOGIN ON pts/0 BY admin FROM pc-00065
Jun 24 12:38:14 andeby console: Response to Internet test was: Can't connect to servertest.e-smith.com:80 (Bad hostname 'servertest.e-smith.com')
Jun 24 12:39:22 andeby dhcpd: DHCPREQUEST for 80.62.157.150 from 00:02:44:67:6e:9b via eth0
Jun 24 12:39:22 andeby dhcpd: DHCPNAK on 80.62.157.150 to 00:02:44:67:6e:9b via eth0
Jun 24 12:39:24 andeby dhcpd: DHCPDISCOVER from 00:02:44:67:6e:9b via eth0
Jun 24 12:39:25 andeby dhcpd: DHCPOFFER on 192.168.37.65 to 00:02:44:67:6e:9b via eth0
Jun 24 12:39:25 andeby dhcpd: DHCPREQUEST for 192.168.37.65 from 00:02:44:67:6e:9b via eth0
Jun 24 12:39:25 andeby dhcpd: DHCPACK on 192.168.37.65 to 00:02:44:67:6e:9b via eth0
Jun 24 12:39:41 andeby login(pam_unix)[2081]: session opened for user admin by (uid=0)
Jun 24 12:39:41 andeby  -- admin[2081]: LOGIN ON pts/1 BY admin FROM pc-00065
Jun 24 12:39:48 andeby login(pam_unix)[2072]: session closed for user admin
Jun 24 12:40:32 andeby login(pam_unix)[2081]: session closed for user admin
Jun 24 12:40:41 andeby sshd[2116]: Accepted password for root from 192.168.37.65 port 1987 ssh2
Jun 24 12:40:41 andeby sshd(pam_unix)[2116]: session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Jun 24 12:45:38 andeby ntpd[1294]: kernel time discipline status change 41
Jun 24 13:10:26 andeby ntpd[1294]: time reset 0.479894 s
Jun 24 13:10:26 andeby ntpd[1294]: synchronisation lost
Jun 24 13:22:18 andeby sshd[2271]: Accepted password for root from 192.168.37.65 port 2175 ssh2
Jun 24 13:22:18 andeby sshd(pam_unix)[2271]: session opened for user root by (uid=0)

This is ifconfig:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:10:5A:15:94:E2  
          inet addr:192.168.37.1  Bcast:192.168.37.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          EtherTalk Phase 2 addr:65280/121
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:12630 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:20244 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:15
          collisions:0
          RX bytes:1024041 (1000.0 Kb)  TX bytes:23178329 (22.1 Mb)

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:50:FC:03:3A:70  
          inet addr:80.62.157.150  Bcast:80.62.157.159  Mask:255.255.255.224
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:18902 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:12334 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0
          RX bytes:22615569 (21.5 Mb)  TX bytes:1006211 (982.6 Kb)

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          EtherTalk Phase 2 addr:0/0
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:5482 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:5482 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0
          RX bytes:654803 (639.4 Kb)  TX bytes:654803 (639.4 Kb)

How do I check if NIC is OK?

[guestHH]

The NIC is ok cause I can reach your IP over http.

It's up right. The problem it's dropping the connection randomly ?

[Jesper Henriksen]

Hi Ole,

From your external IP-address it looks likeyou have TDC ADSL. Even though you have a static IP you need to obtain this using DHCP (you will get the same IP every time), or your TDC connection will work just a you describe it. I had the exact same problem about a year ago when TDC made changes to their network. What happens is that, when you plug your desktop machine directly onto the ADSL connection, you renew the DHCP lease and thereby reactivate the connection.

I have no experience using SME as firewall, so I can't help you on how to configure it for DHCP, but I've configured my router to simply use DHCP and keep renewing the lease - works like a charm.

Good luck,
Jesper

[Steen Ole Andersen]

Problem solved.

I had configured the server to connect with static IP. Now I use DHCP in stead, and it works again.