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Re: [PLUG] network/server troubleshoot
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Eric
Would you like me to bring you another network card; free?
Brian Vagnoni
From: Eric [mailto:eric@lucii.org]
To: Philadelphia Linux User's Group Discussion List [mailto:plug@lists.phillylinux.org]
Sent: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 09:22:41 -0400
Subject: Re: [PLUG] network/server troubleshoot
John:
Don't be so sure I don't want to hear it. I may not agree but I never object to
hearing about alternatives.
I use an older Celeron server running SME server for this firewall/server
application. It draws less than 80 watts and gives me webmail via https, ssh,
sftp, web server (for experimental and client accessible work), VPN (don't use
it much due to ssh availability) and shared directories on my LAN using Samba.
I presumed that if I used an appliance like the Linksys then I'd still have to
have the server running samba for the shares. Can I ssh/sftp through the
Linksys box into my server or workstation? I've heard of setting up networks
with a DMZ but I've never spent the time to see if that would be beneficial for
me here at home/office.
Thanks for the thoughts.
Eric
PS: Even my power-hungry Athlon 64x2 systems (I have 2 - one runs Linux, one
runs Windows) draw just 188 watts from the UPS (218 W with the shared flat-panel
monitor on.) I had presumed the demand would be greater than it is.
John Von Essen wrote:
> I know you dont want to hear this, but why would you run a server for
> firewall services at home?
>
> Just get a $50 Linksys firewall/router/access point, and be done with
> it. You can still have your linux server behind it as a DMZ host.
>
> It will save energy too, the Linksys only uses about 20watts, compared
> to the 120-140watts a PC will be pulling. And even if you fix the NIC,
> there will always be something, hard drive dies, power supply fails, etc.,.
>
>
> -John
>
> On Oct 14, 2007, at 3:25 PM, Eric wrote:
>
>> I've been having an intermittent problem with my firewall server
>> and/or Internet
>> connection. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to spare to "tinker"
>> with it
>> and I'm not a network expert either. I'm hoping someone here has some
>> insight
>> because my current favorite solution involves blasting caps and some
>> mixtures
>> better left unmentioned :-) [that's a joke to express my frustration BTW]
>>
>> Background: Firewall is a SME server/CentOS based system with 2
>> nics. eth0 is
>> the Internet and eth1 is the LAN.
>>
>> The system is running djbdns tools (dnscache and tinydns) but they appear
>> blameless AFAIK. I did set it up to use opendns.com rather than my ISP
>> (Cavalier DSL) but this changed nothing - the problem persisted.
>>
>> Frequently the Internet connection just ceases to work properly. It
>> may fix
>> itself after some indeterminate time. Here is what I observe:
>>
>> ( for all of the following I am logged in as root on the firewall )
>>
>> 1. When it does not work (no traffic appears to go in or out) and I type
>> ping www.google.com <http://www.google.com> I get the message:
>> ping: unknown host www.google.com <http://www.google.com>
>>
>> 2. Fetchmail complains like this:
>>
>> fetchmail: awakened at Sun Oct 14 09:32:39 2007
>> fetchmail: Query status=2 (SOCKET)
>> fetchmail: timeout after 300 seconds waiting to connect
>> to server pop.gmail.com.
>> fetchmail: socket error while fetching from pop.gmail.com
>>
>> 3. I can "fix" this situation by entering the following commands
>> (which I have
>> combined into a script called "toggle":
>>
>> #!/bin/bash
>> /sbin/ifdown eth0
>> sleep 3
>> /sbin/ifup eth0
>>
>> 4. To log the problem and temporarily "deal" with it I created a script
>> called doody and put it in the root cron to run every minute.
>> (You can guess the reason for the name)
>>
>> #!/bin/bash
>> /bin/ping -W 10 -c 1 www.google.com <http://www.google.com>
>> >/dev/null
>> if [ "$?" == "0" ]
>> then
>> echo -n '.'
>> else
>> echo ''
>> echo -n 'trouble: '
>> date
>> /root/bin/toggle
>> fi
>>
>> Okay, it's stupid but it works temporarily and the outages don't last
>> more than a minute this way :-P
>>
>> DESPERATION, not necessity, is the mother of invention.
>>
>> 5. There are no relevant messages in /var/log/messages when it fails.
>>
>> 6. When I "toggle" the eth0 interface I sometimes see this in
>> /var/log/messages:
>>
>> Oct 14 13:41:18 polaris kernel: eth0: Setting full-duplex
>> based on MII#1 link partner capability of 01e1.
>>
>> less frequently the above link is preceded by:
>>
>> Oct 14 15:03:12 polaris kernel:
>> 0000:01:01.0: tulip_stop_rxtx() failed
>>
>> Google search on "tulip_stop_rxtx" and failed yields a bunch of
>> useless comments from the kernel list. Bad news IMHO but I don't
>> know what to do about it other than swap out the tulip-based nics.
>>
>> Here, for example, is the output of a few hours of doody.log - the
>> output from the doody naturally (every period represents a minute
>> without a problem.) You can see the frequency of the interruptions:
>>
>> trouble: Sun Oct 14 09:59:11 EDT 2007
>> .......................................................
>> trouble: Sun Oct 14 10:55:11 EDT 2007
>> ...................
>> trouble: Sun Oct 14 11:15:11 EDT 2007
>> ..............
>> trouble: Sun Oct 14 11:30:11 EDT 2007
>> .........
>> trouble: Sun Oct 14 11:40:11 EDT 2007
>> ............
>> trouble: Sun Oct 14 11:53:11 EDT 2007
>> .........................
>> trouble: Sun Oct 14 12:19:11 EDT 2007
>> .......................................................
>> trouble: Sun Oct 14 13:15:11 EDT 2007
>> .........................
>> trouble: Sun Oct 14 13:41:11 EDT 2007
>> ...
>> trouble: Sun Oct 14 13:45:11 EDT 2007
>> ....................
>> trouble: Sun Oct 14 14:06:11 EDT 2007
>>
>>
>> My biggest problem is that I don't know how or where to get more
>> information for
>> troubleshooting this. It's almost worth the trouble to just replace
>> all the
>> nics and reconfigure the system. If I knew that would fix it I would
>> do that
>> ASAP.
>>
>> Advice appreciated!
>>
>> Eric
--
# Eric Lucas
#
# "Oh, I have slipped the surly bond of earth
# And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings...
# -- John Gillespie Magee Jr
___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
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