[lug] Linux boxes drop off the net? Router problem?

[Kevin Fenzi]

>>>>> "Gary" == "Gary Frerking (TurboPower)" <garyf at turbopower.com> writes:

Gary> I've got a problem that's been driving me nuts for some time
Gary> now.  I'm afraid a reasonably full explanation will make this a
Gary> long message, so I'll summarize the problem first, then go into
Gary> more detail.

Gary> In a nutshell, we have a mixed network consisting primarily of
Gary> Linux boxes and Win2k boxes. On a seemingly random basis, our
Gary> Linux boxes cannot be "seen" from the Internet. In other words,
Gary> there are periods of time when a given Linux box cannot be
Gary> pinged and/or connected to via any of its open ports. Checking
Gary> the affected box locally reveals that it's fine (not overloaded,
Gary> not rebooting, responsive locally, etc). But no one can connect
Gary> from the outside.

...snipp...

humm...very odd. 

This happens to all your linux boxes? at the same time? or diffrent
times? for how long? do they come back themselves? or have to be
rebooted or network restarted? 

what happens when you are on one of the affected boxes when it's not
talking to the outside? can you ping out? is the network interface up?
are the routes correct? 

I think the first thing you should do is gather more information and
see if that leads you to a cause. 

Perhaps you can install something like netsaint or big brother and
monitor the connectivity of all the linux machines? This would tell
you how often it happens, how long the outages last, and if they
happen at the same time. 

You said that the linux boxes don't have identical hardware. Could
they be similar enough to where they are all using the same ethernet
driver for instance? (ie, the tulip driver works on a vast array of
ethernet cards). 

kevin
-- 
Kevin Fenzi
MTS, tummy.com, ltd.
http://www.tummy.com/  KRUD - Kevin's Red Hat Uber Distribution