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Internet/Router Connection Problems - 250 POINTS

Hi,

I have a problem with my internet connection, most likely the router. We are running a server and have one client. Both the server and the client have internet connection problems. Some sites come up and some do not at all. It is very slow and just freezes up and gives page not found error. But we also have a web site running on the server and it is working correctly. People can access it easily.

So we cannot access the internet from the inside. I tried removing all cables from the router and then reconnecting it. It worked correctly for a minute and then the same problem. I restarted both DNS and DHCP services and did ipconfig/renew, release, flushdns.

Please help.

Thanks

poweruser32

have you dns forwarders set up on the server pointing to your ISP?

NAPSR

ASKER

They are pointed correctly. Let me mention that this system has been running correctly for over a year. The problem started when I accidentially unplugged the ISP bridge/router.

poweruser32

does anything on the router indicate a problem-lights
did you configure anything before on the router-everything points to the router

NAPSR

ASKER

There are no problem lights on the router. Nothing has been changed in the router configuration. Everything is the same.

I just unplugged the router and waited 15 seconds and plugged it back in and everything is fine!!! But I did this before and after a while, the same problem arises.

Is the router going bad?

Thanks

Smacky311

What kind of internet does your ISP provide? If there is a modem have you tried restarting it and your router? Run a few trace routes to google and post what kind of response times your getting:

e.g. tracert www.google.com

Also, use telnet to troubleshoot ports.

telnet www.google.com 80 should go to a black screen unless outgoing port 80 is blocked by a firewall.
telnet mymailserverIP 25 will tell you if SMTP port is ok etc...

NAPSR

ASKER

Microsoft Windows [Version 5.2.3790]
(C) Copyright 1985-2003 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>tracert www.google.com

Tracing route to www.l.google.com [72.14.203.104]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 * * * Request timed out.
4 * * * Request timed out.
5 * * * Request timed out.
6 * * * Request timed out.
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * 43 ms ro-in-f104.google.com [72.14.203.104]

Trace complete.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>

NAPSR

ASKER

Sometimes the network cable unplugged icon appears in the task bar and then disappears after about 30 seconds and it keeps doing this.

NAPSR

ASKER

I just saw that there were over 6,000 email stuck in my SMTP server. Could that be the reason why the internet could not be accessed? How can I prevent the router from crashing like that?

I just disabled the 6,000 emails and it seems to be working correctly.

Smacky311

6,000 emails is enough to effectively instagate a denial of service attack on yourself. Make sure port 25 is open for incoming and outgoing on your firewall and test with telnet.

NAPSR

ASKER

I have the web server and the email server running on the same machine. Would it help if I put the email server on a different server? They would both be still running on the same T1 line.

If I did setup a separate email server, then all I would have do is install exchange server 2003 on the new server and point the MX record to the new server?

Thanks

Smacky311

Seperating the loads into two different servers would be a good idea with the amount of traffic you seem to be handling on that mail/web server. Without knowing every detail of your network it is very hard to say if thats all you have to do to setup exchange. I would advise setting up the Exchange server as a secondary server and migrating the users a little at a time until you know exactly how your network is going to handle the change.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Andrew Davis

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NAPSR

ASKER

We have a T1 (1.5) and we actually send out job listing and newsletters. We sent out 52,857 emails last night! We have one machine that is a domain controller, web server and email server. We send out the emails in the middle of the night and most of the time it goes out by morning but sometimes there are a few thousand stuck on the server.