[Merged] DNS (ARP) dropping frequently issue on 20M service
13-08-2008, 14:51
|
#1
|
Inactive
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: leicestershire
Services: Virgin cable XL 20Mb + BT adsl 8Mb, Virgin phone, Sky TV
Posts: 5
|
[Merged] DNS (ARP) dropping frequently issue on 20M service
Hello, I'm a new member specifically to ask this question
I have a DrayTek dual wan router (Vigor 2930) connected to Virgin cable and BT adsl; I bought this to eleviate the problem of constantly getting errors on DNS that required me to re-boot the router. It switches to BT (slow) if the cable (fast) goes down - it uses ARP testing to "see" the failure.
Trouble is some days (not every day) it keeps going down all day long every few minutes for a few minutes; this causes problems switching isp in the middle of a remote session or a download.
Is this a know problem and any has anyone got any suggestions? Thanks!!
|
|
|
13-08-2008, 14:52
|
#2
|
Inactive
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Scotland
Age: 51
Services: 20mb, Tv, Phone
Posts: 2,849
|
Re: DNS (ARP) dropping frequently issue on 20M service
What are your dns servers?
Seem to be issues with
194.168.4.100
194.168.8.100
|
|
|
13-08-2008, 15:08
|
#3
|
Inactive
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: leicestershire
Services: Virgin cable XL 20Mb + BT adsl 8Mb, Virgin phone, Sky TV
Posts: 5
|
Re: DNS (ARP) dropping frequently issue on 20M service
Wow, quick response thanks.
I'm using OpenDNS servers on 208.67.222.222 & 208.67.220.220. But I also had exactly the same problems using the DNS servers from the DHCP.
I should point out that the issue existed long before I had the DrayTek but I couldn't pin it down until recently when I bought this new router - now I know exactly what the problem is.
|
|
|
13-08-2008, 15:12
|
#4
|
Inactive
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Newcastle and Horsham
Services: On-cable: TV-L, BB-L, Phone-M.
Off-cable: Sky+ HD, Plusnet Unlimited.
Posts: 1,432
|
Re: DNS (ARP) dropping frequently issue on 20M service
I've used OpenDNS for over a year and can't say I've ever noticed a problem.
|
|
|
13-08-2008, 15:16
|
#5
|
cf.mega poster
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Warrington ntl:81304 Altitude: 12m (and falling)
Posts: 4,499
|
Re: DNS (ARP) dropping frequently issue on 20M service
You're not the only one with DNS issues. I'm currently using the VM ones (194.168...) but I have the same probs with OpenDNS. It's been happening for weeks now but has been noticeably worse since an enforced computer upgrade about 4 weeks ago.
It seems to be worse with odd subdomains like all the various different ones that ebay uses.
|
|
|
13-08-2008, 16:26
|
#6
|
cf.addict
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 163
|
DNS problems?
For the past week or so I have been having issues with sites timing out, and I mean all sites not just the odd one or two and today when it happened I tried to run a tracert and got the following back
Unable to resolve target system name www.virginmedia.com
This problem has been happening every day for the past week, it only lasts for around 10 minutes a day at random times and then clears up on it's own.
|
|
|
13-08-2008, 16:43
|
#7
|
Inactive
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 24
|
Re: DNS problems?
Use Opendns instead. I find them a lot more reliable
http://www.opendns.com/
|
|
|
13-08-2008, 17:06
|
#8
|
Inactive
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: leicestershire
Services: Virgin cable XL 20Mb + BT adsl 8Mb, Virgin phone, Sky TV
Posts: 5
|
Re: DNS problems?
I use OpenDNS and have identical problems. I posted a question about this myself today, it seems that its a more general issue.
How do I join threads is that a moderator thing in this forum?
|
|
|
13-08-2008, 17:47
|
#9
|
cf.mega poster
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Manchester, UK
Services: ClearFibre Internet, Vodafone mobile Google Pixel 4
Posts: 9,699
|
Re: DNS problems?
Quote:
Originally Posted by j-a
I use OpenDNS and have identical problems. I posted a question about this myself today, it seems that its a more general issue.
How do I join threads is that a moderator thing in this forum?
|
Threads merged
|
|
|
13-08-2008, 18:19
|
#10
|
Inactive
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Shottingham
Age: 32
Services: Virgin BB M 10Mb
Freeview
Posts: 720
|
Re: [Merged] DNS (ARP) dropping frequently issue on 20M service
That is strange.
That might be why my internet is dropping intermittently, (see thread in networking)
I am using OpenDNS by the way.
|
|
|
13-08-2008, 21:04
|
#11
|
Inactive
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 32
|
Re: [Merged] DNS (ARP) dropping frequently issue on 20M service
I have been seeing intermittent drop outs , thought it was a faulty network card it worked fine for a week until today
|
|
|
13-08-2008, 21:10
|
#12
|
cf.mega poster
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Warrington ntl:81304 Altitude: 12m (and falling)
Posts: 4,499
|
Re: [Merged] DNS (ARP) dropping frequently issue on 20M service
This is easy to identify if you use Firefox as your internet browser. At the bottom is a status line that tells you how it's progressing with rendering each page. Most of the time when you look it just says 'Done' because it's finished rendering. However, when it's waiting for a DNS request you'll see, for example, 'Looking up cableforum.co.uk'. If the DNS request fails then that's what you see for ages until it finally gives up and says it can't find the page.
This may just be a packet loss issue rather than an actual DNS issue. This is because this service uses UDP datagrams. Unlike TCP, this has no means of error recovery. If a packet gets lost then it's up to the application to recover - or not!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_Datagram_Protocol
|
|
|
13-08-2008, 21:16
|
#13
|
Inactive
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Shottingham
Age: 32
Services: Virgin BB M 10Mb
Freeview
Posts: 720
|
Re: [Merged] DNS (ARP) dropping frequently issue on 20M service
Thats what keeps happening to me.
Suddenly Firefox is "Looking up" everything.
|
|
|
14-08-2008, 00:08
|
#14
|
Inactive
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: leicestershire
Services: Virgin cable XL 20Mb + BT adsl 8Mb, Virgin phone, Sky TV
Posts: 5
|
Re: [Merged] DNS (ARP) dropping frequently issue on 20M service
A bit more information about my issue.
I actually use my broadband to connect via a Citrix session to a remote desktop and I also use a VPN on occasions; I was suffering with constant session dropouts, I've had 3 engineer visits with no cure, so I invested in the dual wan router to provide failover to the (slow but sure) BT adsl line. The router decides when WAN1 has failed by making occasional ARP lookups like it was doing DNS work, if the lookup fails it switches to WAN2.
Now I have this kit in place I can see what was always going wrong but which I wasn't able to pin down, the dropouts are caused by the ARP/DNS services stopping for a few minutes (typically 3 or 4 mins) then recovering. If I were to reboot the cable modem during this time the ARP/DNS comes back instantly. During this dropout period all the actual ip traffic continues fine with no noticable disruption.
Does this scenario give any deeper insight of my issue, does it seem familiar to anyone? I'd really like to get this fixed as I'm teetering on the brink of cancelling my expensive 20Mb contract because the dropouts are so frustrating.
|
|
|
14-08-2008, 10:06
|
#15
|
cf.mega poster
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Warrington ntl:81304 Altitude: 12m (and falling)
Posts: 4,499
|
Re: [Merged] DNS (ARP) dropping frequently issue on 20M service
Quote:
Originally Posted by j-a
... the dropouts are caused by the ARP/DNS services stopping for a few minutes (typically 3 or 4 mins) then recovering. If I were to reboot the cable modem during this time the ARP/DNS comes back instantly. ...
|
I wonder whether the 3-4 minute delay is actually created by your router as it times-out on WAN1 and tries not to use it again for this period.
Still, that's useful information that you've provided.
I've the feeling that this problem is something to do with datagrams rather than the DNS service itself. This is because I've seen the same issues no matter if I use OpenDNS or VM's own servers.
The problem did seem to be worse after 5pm when all the kids got home from school. However, it is eased if I used the proxy server at renf-cache-9.server.ntli.net.
Some people see it quite consistently whilst others do not. I only noticed it seriously after I upgraded my computer. I never seem to have any problems with Mrs A's machine which is much slower but uses the same connection.
I'm wondering if somehow this is something to do with the timing between packets. Perhaps my machine can now send out back-to-back DNS datagrams and some later ones are getting lost.
|
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
All times are GMT +1. The time now is 00:02.
|