Internet loosing packets

[bropearl]

Hi Gurus,

I'm glad that I've found this forum to learn more stuffs from the gurus/others here and hopefully share my 2cents knowledge too

Let me intro my office setup first, internet ----2 routers-----gigabit switches----users (abt 30)

I've 2 routers connected to the same switch where one has 10.0.0.1 and the other 10.0.0.2 IP. I've separated the users equally to the 2 routers by using the routers IP as gateway on their network settings.

However, 10.0.0.1 router has no packet lost but on the DHCP client list there is no PCs listed...10.0.0.2 router has packet lost and have most of the PCs in the DHCP client list. I don't think this is how it should be...

the strange thing is if 10.0.0.2 goes down, technically, the other router should still function but although the router(10.0.0.1) lights are up, there is no internet too until I bring up the other router(10.0.0.2) connection. How do I trouble shoot and solve this issue? Pls someone help me, thanks in advance.

[johnwill]

How about some actual make/model information? Where does that Internet connection come from? Since the incoming Internet has private IP addresses, it appears it comes from some other local gateway.

How did you manage to connect both routers to the network, and what is the purpose of doing that anyway? If you have two DHCP servers running, one will probably always respond to the DHCP request quicker and have all the connections.

I think we need actual makes/models of all the network equipment, and EXACTLY how it's wired up.

[bropearl]

Hi John,

thanks for replying and helping me out. my office setup is like this:

Router one (Linksys WAG200G/gateway 127.7.208.1) wired to switch one (Linksys SR2024 24 port gigabit switch).

Router two (Thomson Speedtouch 585/gateway 202.63.155.255) wired to the same switch one(Linksys SE2024)

My AD/DNS/DHCP server are in one server is also wired to the same switch one.

My boss wanted 2 internet connection due to if one goes down, the other will still be running on for other departments, he wants to have less down time as we need the internet for our work issues.

I'm wondering, 2 routers can't work in one network? even if I disconnect one router, just to use one in the office, there will be on internet at all, like as thou they both need to be up then the internet kicks in....I'm at a great lost and hope the above explanation is clear enough. thanks again and I hope to hear from you soon, sir....

[johnwill]

I'm trying to understand the two Internet connections. Your description makes it sound like you have a single ISP connection with two IP addresses. That will do nothing for reliability.

If you really need fall-back connectivity, here's what I'd do.

I'd get two dissimilar ISP connections, say one cable and one DSL. Purchase a dual-WAN router and connect all the networked machines to that. You'll have the benefit of the combined bandwidth when both are functional, and if an ISP connection fails, you'll have service through the remaining connection.

What you're describing doesn't sound like you're solving the problem, but you're sure making a complicated mess.

[bropearl]

arh....now that's a clearer pic, thanks John. I'm still noob into networking. so by getting dual wan router should function the way my boss wants to, like reducing down time...hmmm.

with the combined bandwidth, it should surf faster for most users...great idea. nv knew they was a dual wan router...thanks John but I hope they sell it here. Thanks for your help and guidance!!

[johnwill]

Lots of models: http://www.nextag.com/dual-wan-route...alls/shop-html

[bernmeister]

Your current problem is that you have 2 DHCP servers on the same network, so it's
a race condition whenever a PC throws a DHCP request out on the network. The
first one to reply wins. This won't get you where you want to be. Best get the router
john suggested. But I doubt if that router--or any out there--will handle all Internet
access failure scenarios, to correctly trigger a failover. A good implementation would require some smarts, like monitoring outgoing request vs. incoming replies to a DNS
server, or TCP/UDP connections. Logic would be tricky, but do-able.

[johnwill]

Actually, most dual-WAN routers are specifically designed to do just that, handle an outage on one line.

I doubt any of them will be totally transparent when an active connection is interrupted on one of the WAN interfaces, but it will be able to reconnect using the alternate interface.

I've actually seen the Netgear Prosafe Dual WAN router in action, and we could yank one of the WAN interfaces out and most of the clients had no idea there had been an interruption. A couple would notice that an ongoing file transfer failed, and have to retry it, but that's all that was required.

[bropearl]

I've tried using OpenDNS on my DNS server, strangely, My packet drops have minimized at first then after a few hrs, there was either no packet or abt 1% packet lost!!

been monitoring for the past few days, internet seems to be more stable now. like you gurus mentioned, it's a race for the routers to reach the DNS server, one router is super fast while the other is reasonable good. will monitor further and post results again.

the dual Wan router, my boss kinda of not willing to get one now....geez..
so I had to try this desperate move on OpenDNS....

Once again, thanks alot guys for your kind help....wish I could buy you guys beer...cheers!!!

[bropearl]

The problem seems to be gone for the past few days....there is no packet lost on both routers now...thanks you guys, cheers...