networking issues

[Somnium (Aidan)]

i was wondering if someone could point me on the right path. i have been having an issue with the internet on my observatory network for some time now and can't seem to get to the bottom of it. the internet will work for a while and then drop out after couple of days. the issue resolves itself if i turn the switch off and on so i thought the issue was the switch itself, however i have tried 3 switches (2 netgear switches that fail in the exact same way and a D-link switch that was never able to access the internet). does anyone know if it is possible to get these issues due to issues prior to the switch, i.e. the network cable between the house and obs is too long or the power cable is interfering with the internet ? not sure how this would be the case if restarting the switch resolves the issue temporarily. or have i just been extremely unlucky to get 3 switches that have similar issues ...

thanks

Aidan

[acropolite (Phil)]

We tackle these sort of problems constantly at work. Rarely are they cabling issues.

Download a copy of pingplotter and set a trace to your router to see if the network drops or perhaps the router is dropping the internet connection.
If the network connection drops to the switch look at your flyleads and sockets. There is also a chance that the network interface in your PC is faulty or that the NIC can't hold a conection at the speed used e.g. gigabit.
In my experience the symptoms you describe are most often caused by IP address conflicts, usually by badly behaved portable devices. Good housekeeping can help, locate the mac address of every device connected to your network (netscan is free and will provide those parameters), including tablets, phones etc and create static assignments in the dhcp table of your router so that every device gets the same and unique Ip address each time it connects. Running switches and your router on a UPS will also help, short power breaks can cause issues.

[g__day (Matthew)]

My home network used to suffer from this after power outages. Turns out a NAS devices was always trying to hand out DHCP IPs and DNS servers (rather incorrectly) rather than let the router do this. That meant if the NAS rebooted before the Router - several devices could have got weird looking IP and DNS settings - like 169.4.0.1 instead of 192.168.0.XXX

The NAS was switched to never give out DHCP addresses - but it still tried to, so when it failed I upgraded it to a full micro media server.

The lesson to pick up here was to sit on a failed machine and click network health / diagnostic tab and look for the details. If your obs PC can see the network, but not the internet - to an DOS ipconfig /all command and see if its settings are correct. If a reboot fixes these things - then another IP config /all command should reveal what parameters have changed.

It is a simple thing to try testing leads are firmly plugged in - and whether changing the switch port they are assigned changes things or not.

Hope these thoughts help!

[Paul Haese]

Hi Aidan,

Can you describe your network system? It would be helpful to know the router you use, how you connect that, which power switch you are using, computer connection, if you have all sleep function disabled on the computer and network connections in general.

Just to demonstrate I use a Router from the internet connection, that communicates via port forwarding to my Aviosys IP Power switch 9258W which powers all the devices. The computer once turned on communicates back via the router with Ethernet power modules back out to the router.

Do you have all the sleep settings off in the computer? Which devices are not communicating with the internet? Any further information would be helpful.

[Somnium (Aidan)]

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

Hi Aidan,

Can you describe your network system? It would be helpful to know the router you use, how you connect that, which power switch you are using, computer connection, if you have all sleep function disabled on the computer and network connections in general.

Just to demonstrate I use a Router from the internet connection, that communicates via port forwarding to my Aviosys IP Power switch 9258W which powers all the devices. The computer once turned on communicates back via the router with Ethernet power modules back out to the router.

Do you have all the sleep settings off in the computer? Which devices are not communicating with the internet? Any further information would be helpful.

Hi Paul

i use a standard issue telstra gateway max router connected to the internet inside the house, i then run a cable from the house, through conduit to the observatory where it hooks into the netgear switch. my computer and my Aviosys IP 9258AU run off the same switch. all my imaging gear is connected to the computer ( i use team viewer to remote in). the computer and netgear switch are connected to a UPS separate from the IP power. the IP power switch controls power to the mount, camera and an internal light so i can see things at night.

not sure if this is the most ideal way of operating but it is what i have set up.

when i went down to resolve the issue i did some trouble shooting and noticed that i could still access the IP power but the internet was not working. this has happened to 2 computers so i am prety sure it is not that and 3 switches so pretty sure it is not that either. the issue comes up regularly but there doesnt appear to be a pattern as to a trigger, at least not one that i have been able to establish. for now i am using a cowboy solution, i have a mechanical timer that cycles the power for 15 mins each day at midday.

thanks Phil and Matthew, i will give those a go and see what comes out of it. although i dont plan on making my way down to the observatory for a couple of weeks.

[Paul Haese]

Why not remove the netgear switch altogether. Power up the computer also with the IP switch. Use the setting in the bios to boot on power up. Make sure you shut down properly each time. Connect directly to the computer. You will need three Ethernet over power modules. Use those to set up a network between the IP Switch, the computer and the router. I think this is probably your Netgear switch that is causing the problem.

[dannat (Daniel)]

how far are you running the network cable from the router out to the Obs?

[Somnium (Aidan)]

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

Why not remove the netgear switch altogether. Power up the computer also with the IP switch. Use the setting in the bios to boot on power up. Make sure you shut down properly each time. Connect directly to the computer. You will need three Ethernet over power modules. Use those to set up a network between the IP Switch, the computer and the router. I think this is probably your Netgear switch that is causing the problem.

Ethernet over power is a good idea, cant believe that i didnt think about it ...

Originally Posted by dannat

how far are you running the network cable from the router out to the Obs?

about 30 - 40 mtrs