Network goes AWOL after a couple of minutes

[info_rem...@robsavage.com]

SBS server with Cisco PIX firewall securing web access and a Dell
PowerConnect switch.

Power everything up and all is fine. A couple if minutes pass and then
nothing will ping or talk to one another.

Have swapped out Dell switch for another unit and then another make and
model, but problem persists.

Anything I plug directly into the firewall's 4 ports doesn't suffer
this issue - i.e. if I plug the server into the firewall's hub, then it
stays up permanently. The rest of the network though, which is
connected via the switch, will then disappear after a couple of
minutes.

It doesn't appear to be the switch, as I've tried 3 different units, so
what could be causing this? I've looked at arp, dhcp and the server
event viewer, but I can't find anything odd.

Any help is very greatly appreciated!

Cheers

Rob

[Cris Hanna (SBS-MVP)]

is the pix doing any kind of DHCP??

--
Cris Hanna [SBS-MVP]
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<info_rem...@robsavage.com> wrote in message
news:1140992426....@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...

[Cris Hanna (SBS-MVP)]

can you be a little clearer where everything is connected to?

--
Cris Hanna [SBS-MVP]
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<info_rem...@robsavage.com> wrote in message
news:1140992426....@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...

[Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]]

Hi Rob,

This is a fresh install?
What SBS version (2000, 2003 Standard, 2003 Premium)?
(2 NICs + router) set up?
Single NIC + Router setup?
DHCP service for the LAN being handled by the SBS server or the router?
Can you please post an ipconfig /all for the server?

--
Merv Porter [SBS MVP]
===================================

<info_rem...@robsavage.com> wrote in message
news:1140992426....@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...

[info_rem...@robsavage.com]

Thanks for the replies.

SBS server connected to switch, all 9 client PCs connected to switch.
Firewall connected to switch, DSL router connected to firewall.

Pix not set up to do DHCP.

This is an existing system that was working OK until yesterday.

SBS is 2003 std, single NIC (I know...) and web access through firewall
as above.
DHCP is run by SBS server.

ipconfig /all :

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : xxsvr01
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : xxxxxx.local
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : xxxxxx.local

PPP adapter RAS Server (Dial In) Interface:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53-45-00-00-00
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.201
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Ethernet adapter Server Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/100 Network
Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-B0-D0-78-52-90
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.11
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.254
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.11
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.11

Cheers

Rob

[Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]]

Only guesses...

Check/replace Ethernet cables (especially going from PIX to switch)?
What happens if you take the PIX out of the equation?
Set SBS server NIC to 100 mb (not autosense) & uncheck "can turn off NIC to
save power"? Same with workstations.
Check electrical outlet that the switch plugs in to?

--
Merv Porter [SBS MVP]
===================================

<info_rem...@robsavage.com> wrote in message
news:1141027823.0...@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com...

[Cris Hanna (SBS-MVP)]

I would tend to agree here...some piece of hardware has gone bad

--
Cris Hanna [SBS-MVP]
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Please do not respond directly to me, but only post in the newsgroup so all
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"Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]" <mwport@no_spam_hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:uvI79l5O...@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

[info_rem...@robsavage.com]

Thanks again for your responses - in 13 years of doing this I'm finding
this a truly bizarre situation...

...I turned up the next morning with my own Cisco 2940 switch,
reasoning that maybe it was the unmanaged (cheap) harwdare that was
causing an issue.

Plugged it in, and everything works great. In fact it has worked for 3
days now without an issue.

Go figure - 2 Dell switches plus one other cheap switch all gave this
issue, whereas the Cisco doesn't. I proved earlier that using the Cisco
PIX's hub also removed the issue.

Can this really be down to the quality of the kit?

I have yet to go back and reclaim my switch (which I want back) and
replace. Although it would seem that they need to buy a decent switch,
how could this issue appear on 3 separate boxes and yet be resolved on
the Cisco?

I'd really like a bit more confidence in this solution before I go
asking them to spend several hundred GBP on new equipment!

Cheers

Rob

[Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]]

Just thinking out loud here... I suppose it could also be the server NIC not
playing nice with certain equipment. Could also be marginal (electrical)
line quality that the more expensive Cisco switch can smooth out (or
overcome) but the cheaper switches can't handle.

Any way to throw a line conditioner or maybe even a UPS between the (cheap)
switch and the electrical outlet?

--
Merv Porter [SBS MVP]
===================================

<info_rem...@robsavage.com> wrote in message
news:1141221501.0...@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

[info_rem...@robsavage.com]

Merv

Thanks for the response - re-reading my posts so far I think I've
omitted to mention (apologies...) that they had this problem a month
or so ago when they were in a different office location. They've since
moved, and now the problem has re-occurred. The offices are
geographically apart from each other, so can I discount power as a
possible issue?

The NIC is interesting 'cos we've just updated a number of SBS and
non-SBS servers to SP1 and we had one fatal issue (see
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/898060) related to the server NIC being
corrupted.

We applied SBS SP1 on 25th January to this server, but the first
occurrence of the issue we're looking at here was 13th February, and
there were several system reboots in between.

So, the NIC may be the right area to look in, but has anyone else found
a Dell sever NIC doing this - working only with Cisco kit and not with
cheaper boxes?

[Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]]

Before you installed SBS 2003 SP1, did you upgrade the BIOS and the Dell
OpenManage Software?

What is Microsoft® Windows ServerT 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and what should
I know about its deployment?
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1092292

If you take the Pix off the network and connect the PowerConnect switch to
the DSL router, does everything work?

--
Merv Porter [SBS MVP]
===================================
<info_rem...@robsavage.com> wrote in message

news:1141382318.6...@p10g2000cwp.googlegroups.com...

[info_rem...@robsavage.com]

I visited this client on Monday and re-installed the Dell switch and -

- everything works fine!

It seems a fairly intermittent issue, so I don't have confidence in the
situation. I expect to be called out at some point by the increasingly
frustrated client.

I have flashed the BIOS of the server, although those notes appear to
be related to the SCSi controller/adapter (which this server does
have).

So - will update this post if/when it re-occurs.

Thanks for the comments so far.

Cheers

Rob