Topic: Okay, this is getting stupid...

[Dave Wilson]

Everything tells me that this problem is coming from my server, but is it really?  Here's the deal:

I have a WinXP box whose IP is blah.blah.204.210
I have my SME 5.1.2 server whose IP is blah.blah.204.231

Initially I had the server on an AMD 500MHz system but this problem was happening there so I installed from scratch onto a Celeron 300MHz system and I am getting the same problem.

After the server has been up and running for a while I am suddenly unable to access it or its web pages from elsewhere on the internet.  My WinXP box however has no problem.

If I reboot the server everything goes back to normal.  I can visit my sites, I can admin my server, I can send and receive E-Mail, everything.  But that only lasts for a few hours and then it's all gone to poop again.

If it wasn't for rebooting the server fixing things I would say there is a problem somewhere else.  However, I am at a complete loss now; especially with the fact that I've reinstalled completely from scratch on a totally different set of hardware.

If anyone has any idea as to what the heck is going on please let me know.

Hardware in Use:
- 3Com Homeconnect DSL Modem
- Linksys 5 port, 10MB hub
- Celeron 300A with 64megs ram
- 3Com Fast Ethernet 10/100 nic

Topology -

- I have my modem plugged in to my uplink on my hub.
- My 2 systems are plugged into the hub and are assigned static IP addresses
- My server's default domain is davehosting.com

I hope that all helps.  I really need to get this fixed ASAP as I have clients relying on my service.

Thanks in advance for any and all assistance.

Dave Wilson
www.davehosting.com
www.vorteximaging.com

[Charlie]

How do you connect to the Internet, analog modem, DSL, Cable ISDN, T-1?

[Dave Wilson]

DSL...Hence my need for a 3Com Homeconnect DSL Modem...  

[Henry]

I run a similar set-up and use the same 3Com modem as you do. Is there any reason you have the modem plugged into the hub instead of into a second NIC in the server?

Could that be the problem? It seems like something is getting filled and has to be flushed.

Henry

[Dave Wilson]

Well, I have the modem plugged in to the hub so that both my main computers can use the static IP addresses from my ISP and my SME Server can dish out DHCP addresses to other boxex I might add on later.

Unless you know of a way I can give both my main system a static address while my XP box is attached to the server through the hub?

Maybe I'll give that a shot right now and see what happens.  I'm just assuming it won't work...

[Bobby]

Dave,

Just came into this, late in the piece, but are you saying the maching handing out IP address will be doing so via the same hub that your adsl is plugged into?  The same hub that your public IPs are plugged into?

/B

[Dave Wilson]

Okay, let me clear this bit up.  I have a WinXP box and an SME 5.1.2 box.  I want both boxes to use one of the two static IP addresses my ISP gives me.  Then I want the SME server to give out DHCP addresses to any other system I may want to add to my network.  Therefore (as I have just learned through testing) I have to have my WinXP box and my SME server connected directly to my modem.  The only way I know of to connect to computers to one modem is through a hub.  I just tried connecting the modem to one Nic in my server then feeding out from the other nic in my server to the hub, but then my XP box cannot use it's static IP address.

Does that help?  I really could draw a picture if you guys want.

Thanks.

[Dave Wilson]

Okay, I have posted a diagram of my setup with another explanation of my situation.  Thanks to everyone who has tried to help so far and thanks in advance to any help I get now.

Check it out at http://www.vorteximaging.com/top.html

Hopefully it will stay up long enough for someone to see it and get a brainstorm.

[John Goodwin]

Hi Dave,

First, I do want to say that I'm in no way the expert in this area, but I will try to help if I can.  I'm really not sure why your setup works initially and then stops working, but I can think of a way around it.  I noticed that you only have one nic on the sme server.  My suggestion would be to change your setup slightly:

1.  Add an additional NIC to your SME server.
2.  Plug the DSL ethernet connection into the "external interface" NIC on your sme server directly.  You would need to setup the external interface with your static Publicly addressable IP address.
3.  Plug the "internal interface" ethernet connection into a standard port on your hub.
4.  Plug all of the other machines on your network into standard ports on the hub.
5.  Setup the machines on the network to use DHCP

Under this setup, the only machine directly connecting to your ADSL connection will be the SME server.  All other machines will be behind the SME server connection using NAT through the SME server to access the internet.  You will also be able to access the SME server through the domain name you used in the SME server setup.  Your XP machine would not need a publicly addressable IP because the SME server would be directing traffic to the XP machine using NAT.  The setup I have described is how my personal setup is configured (although I have a cable connection, not DSL, but I don't think that should really matter for the network layout.  Is there a reason you are maintaining multiple publicly addressable IP's on the network?

Hope this helps,
John

[Dave Wilson]

Hi John, thanks for the thought.  I tried that and it does work fine for connectivity (not sure yet how it works for keeping the server on the internet).  The reason I want my XP box to have an ISP assigned IP is that there are still things I would like to do with it such as FTP services and that I don't think will work in the scenario you've mentioned.

[Boris]

Dave, is power management enabled in the SME server's BIOS?

[Dave Wilson]

No, power management is not enabled.  And currently outside users have been able to access it for over 13 hours.  Yesterday I had times where it stopped being accessable after 4 hours, 1 hour and 7 hours.  Like I say, there is no pattern.

[Kelvin]

Hi Dave,

>The reason I want my XP box to have an ISP assigned IP is that there are still
>things I would like to do with it such as FTP services and that I don't think will
>work in the scenario you've mentioned.

If you want to run other services from the XP box, you could set up port forwarding on the SME server and this would allow you to run your FTP server (or any other service) on the XP box behind the SME server if you wanted.

Kelvin

[rob wellesley]

Dave,  You said....

"Okay, let me clear this bit up. I have a WinXP box and an SME 5.1.2 box. I want both boxes to use one of the two static IP addresses my ISP gives me. "

if you are trying to get both machines to use the same ISP provided ip no you effectively have a little subnet via your hub that both machines are in with the same IP no.

This is why your SME-server is dropping out.

Stick with what john said to do

Rob

[John Goodwin]

Hi Dave,

I think I may have found something that could be helpful.  There is a new howto for 1:1 NAT translation which allows you to forward traffic for a specific external IP address to a specific machine behindthe e-smith server.  Here is the link:

http://www.tech-geeks.org/article.php?story=20020206234827402

I didn't read it to closely, but it looks like this basicly allows you to do something similar to a DMZ, allowing a machine behind the firewall to be accessed publicly.  I haven't tried it, but it could be a solution.

Hope this helps,
John

[Bruce]

Why is it that everyone is missing the boat here.

Dave, I think your problem is really related to the fact that your SME server stops providing services on a sporatic basis.  My server is not as heavily used, and I have only one server, directly hooked to the DSL Modem.  About every two weeks, services die.  I have to reboot the server, and everything is fine.

I'm running an AMD K6-2 650 with 256MB and an 80 GB drive.

I'm beginning to thing it has something to do with network traffic overloading "something," but I havn't been able to identify what.  Mine always seems to happen in the morning hours.

Change the time lines, and it sounds like you and I are experiencing the same problem.  I've subscribed to forwarding my logs to Mitel, but haven't seen any results.  I wish you better luck.

[Bill Talcott]

We're using SME 5.0b3 here, and have a similar problem. Occasionally, the local NIC just seems to stop working. I can dial in from a LAN PC to another ISP, and ping the external IP of the SME, but I cannot ping the internal IP. Like Dave, there seems to be no pattern, it just happens sometimes, and a reboot fixes it.

Dave, if you just want to run a few simple services on your XP box, you may be able to use port forwarding through the SME, as others have suggested. http://myezserver.com/docs/mitel/ipportfw-howto.html is great. Just pick the port and protocol, and a LAN destination to forward them to. But as was stated already, that really has nothing to do with your problem, just something else to think about.

We haven't had any problems with ours lately, and it only happened maybe once every few weeks before, so it wasn't much of a problem then. But if there is a valid reason for this, then finding a fix would be nice...

[Dave Wilson]

Well, I've tried the whole plug modem into server, plug server into hub, plug all other computers into hub thing and it's been working for over 12 hours now.  We'll if it keeps going.  I'll update here over the next few days to keep you all informed.

[Dave Wilson]

Okay, it looks like my problem with dropping out of existence is finally gone.  However, the problem with it taking time to connect for e-mail and FTP is still there.  Any thoughts?

[Don Bahler]

I have seen problems somthing like this in a straight cable modem to nic connection. Cox cable (Toshiba pcx2000 cable modem to 3com 905tx nic to soyo motherboard in a AMD 550. We ended up putting a Linksys 100 card in the machine and all is well.  I have also had nearly the same expericence with a Realtek NIC in an AMD 1g. you may need to check the MB manufacturer & or NIC manufacturer  to see if you need to update drivers.  It can be a real pain to find the info you need but if you have a VIA chipset on the motherboard and a 3com NIC I think you may need to update the mb drivers.

That's my 2 cents

[Howard Dobko]

Hi, just my 2 cents after the fact ...
I am assuming that you have two different static IPs for the XP and the e-smith box from your ISP.  I am assuming that your hub is connected directly to your modem via the uplink port.  You also have DHCP enabled on the single NIC in the e-smith box.  Could there not be a problem with having both the static external IP and the non-routeable internal IP on the same NIC ... and DHCP as well?  Buy another hub and another NIC ...

Modem -> uplink HUB 1
XP box -> HUB 1 with static ISP address
e-smith -> NIC 1 -> HUB 1 with static ISP address (ext interface)
e-smith -> NIC 2 -> HUB 2 with internal non-routeable IP (int interface)

Now connect all your local LAN boxes with DHCP on HUB 2 and connect any other static ISP address boxes in the DMZ on HUB 1.

Later, Howard

[Tom]

I think I have a simular problem.  I'm trying to put an E-Smith 5.0 in between the DSL modem and hub on a Cox service.  Connecting direct, the E-Smith cannot find the internet.  From Howard's diagram it looks like i need either an extra uplink hub inbetween the modem and the server or to make the connection with a crossover cable.  Does that sound right?

[John Goodwin]

Hi Tom,

I doubt adding a hub to the mix will fix your problem.  I use cox roadrunner also and I can give you a few suggestions from my experience, though your setup may differ based on your location.  My E-smith box is directly connected to my cable modem and it works great.  Here are some suggestions on what could be the cause:

1.  You didn't reset your modem.  When I changed over to the e-smith box from a different pc, I had to unplug the power from the modem for a few minutes.

2.  Ethernet drivers - I used linksys nics and had many problems that I eventually was able to correct by updating drivers.

3.  You have the internal and external connections reversed.  I did this once by accident, just switch the connections and you will be good.

Like I said, these suggestions are based on my experience with cox.

Hope this helps,
John

[Tom]

What did you put in for the dhcp?  account name or machine address?John Goodwin wrote:
>
> Hi Tom,
>
> I doubt adding a hub to the mix will fix your problem.  I use
> cox roadrunner also and I can give you a few suggestions from
> my experience, though your setup may differ based on your
> location.  My E-smith box is directly connected to my cable
> modem and it works great.  Here are some suggestions on what
> could be the cause:
>
> 1.  You didn't reset your modem.  When I changed over to the
> e-smith box from a different pc, I had to unplug the power
> from the modem for a few minutes.
>
> 2.  Ethernet drivers - I used linksys nics and had many
> problems that I eventually was able to correct by updating
> drivers.
>
> 3.  You have the internal and external connections reversed.
> I did this once by accident, just switch the connections and
> you will be good.
>
> Like I said, these suggestions are based on my experience
> with cox.
>
> Hope this helps,
> John

[John Goodwin]

I used machine address.

[John Goodwin]

HI Tom,

I didn't have to do anything directly with Cox, but of course it could be different in a different location.  I have another sme box in another area that is on ATT broadband and you have to register the mac id of your ethernet card with them in order to get a new nic to work.  I will tell you that cox at my location blocks port 80 so you won't be able to get external access unless you configure apache to listen to a different port and use a dns service to forward request to the new port.  You can get access externally in my location using 8080 (SSL).

Hope this helps,
John