Network Problem

[JPry565]

Hello, I am a new member of this forum and first off would like to thank the owners because this is a very helpful site. Second, I have a Dell PowerEdge server running on Verizon Business DSL. I have it networked through a switch to the router and 3 client computers are on the switch as well. My issue is that everything works fine for about two hours, then the port starts blinking on the switch that is connected to the router. First I thought it was a mechanical error with the switch so I went and purchased a new one, but after I bought my new one the same error occured where the port was blinking, this was a differnt brand than the first one. Is the server possibally interfering? Why, and how to I resolve this issue?

Thanks !

[Marsden]

Port lights blink when there is activity. Why are you questioning activity across your LAN?

[tarquel]

...and what actually stops working when u get the blinking lights after 2 hours?

[JPry565]

No, I am not questioning activity. The light blinks, then all access to the internet is dropped. This is a repeating blink, it does not stop blinking in a pattern. LAN activity does not do this as it is random and does not follow a pattern.

[tarquel]

...I have it networked through a switch to the router and 3 client computers are on the switch as well...

...the port starts blinking on the switch that is connected to the router...

You mention that you've changed the switch but have you tried another/bought a new cable/dsl router?

Another thing is that it could be the server - what services/roles is it running? have you set up a dns on the server? Is port forwarding "disabled" in the dns? have you got both dhcp running on both the server and the router? - this would probably be causing conflicts too.

Can you ping say an external address or use tracert to see if you can traverse your way out of your network i.e. to see if you can "reach the outside world"?

Few things to consider there.

Regards,

N.

[JPry565]

What should I do? I do not understand the DNS stuff, but as far as I know DNS is not installed, nor DHCP. The computers networked directly to the router are working fine, they always did. So it is definatly a problem with the server.

I can visit the internet when the client computers are connected to the server for about the first two hours, then all the internet goes down. Is the blinking port a sign of network collision?

I am using a Westell WireSpeed DSL modem, with a Linksys switch.

What would you do?

[Gurgelmeyer]

Just a thought: how long is your DHCP lease? It might not be renewed properly. Try typing ipconfig /all from a command prompt and look at the "Lease obtained" and "Lease expired" timestamps. Are those timestamps two hours apart?

[tarquel]

@Gurgelmeyer: Wouldn't it just reassign a IP address after it expires tho?

@JPry565:

hmmm.... you must be usng dhcp somewhere - or are all the clients manually setup with IP addresses?

I'm not too hot on dns but managed to configure it at work singlehandedly (somehow lol) - however, we get our internet feed from our county feed so its a little different with us.

It does seem a little odd that it stops after two hours tho - on all at the same time. If you can, you could try borrowing a modem (or getting another - at least it'll be a spare if it isnt this) to see whether this makes a difference.

Otherwise, It must be something on the network causing it. Can you disconnect the server from lan - phyiscally - and see whether the clients can still connect to the internet and use it for longer than two hours?

Keep posting back

Regards,

Nath.

[Gurgelmeyer]

@Gurgelmeyer: Wouldn't it just reassign a IP address after it expires tho?

Yes, usually Windows will just renew the lease. But I was wondering if something "got in the way" so to speak. I once had a similar problem, because my desktop firewall wasn't properly configured. It's a long shot - I know

[valter]

I didn't see that you run Active Directory on your server, so you can make a little test, get another network card, just a simple PCI NIC and install it in the PowerEdge, disable the onboard one and see if the same thing happens with that one

if it doesn't then call DELL support so they can replace your server board

if it does, try either updating the NIC driver (from DELL's website), or/and reinstall TCP/IP

[JPry565]

I do run active directory on my server. It says a blinking light is a collision, what exactly does this mean? I know what a collision is, but not in networking terms. I need to send and recieve email, as well as host web applications. I will not be using Exchange to send email because Verizon blocks port 25, instead I have purchased mail relays from a company called No-IP.

Do I need to run a DNS server if I already have them through my Domain Registrar?

I will try a new router, but I am more than sure it is the server because up until the day I added it every computer on the network was working fine.

Thanks for all of your help!

[JPry565]

Tried the new router, no go.

[valter]

If you run a Active Directory, then you MUST run a DNS, because AD can not work without DNS server ... collision means that two or more nodes sends packages at the same time ...

[JPry565]

So now I know that I am running DNS, so how do I figure out this issue?

Thanks guys for all of your help!

[tarquel]

You didn't say whether you tried my suggestion:

Otherwise, It must be something on the network causing it. Can you disconnect the server from lan - phyiscally - and see whether the clients can still connect to the internet and use it for longer than two hours?

You havent said whether the clients are using the server as a proxy or not to connect to the internet.

If there aren't/manually configured to go through a proxy service on the server and the router provides the access to the internet via the switch (i.e. not to the server only) then you should be able to load up the clients without the server connected/running, and access the internet automatically - but of course, like always, it depends on the setup.

God...wish i could see your setup lol

Try that and post back

Regards,

N.