RasFinder/Cisco/Server2000 wierdness!!

[jhowley58]

Hi,

I dial into a server via a multitech RAS finder connected to a cisco 801 router.

Just recently the following problem seems to be occuring:

I dial in and it seems to connect to the LAN OK - mostly at 26.4 kbits but sometimes at 28.8 kbits. But when I try to link to the actual server I get a message saying that the server cannot be reached etc. When it was working OK the connection speed was over 30 kbits/sec

Anybody got any ideas?

Thanks,

John.

 

[pansophic]

Are you getting routing, DNS and IP address information when you dial in now?

A drop from 30K to 26.4K is not substantial, but it may indicate that someone has been "playing" with your modem/router.

When you get dialed in, do an "ipconfig /all" and post that information (you may want to obfuscate some of the more detailed information).

It sounds more like an IP problem than a modem problem off-hand.


pansophic

 

[jhowley58]

Thanks Pansophic,

When I dial in I just get connected to the RAS finder or router, I get no IP or DNS info. When I try to connect to the server by name I get a 'Computer of that name cannot be found'. When I try to connect using the IP I get different message. Cannot recall what it is just now. I've got a feeling that I've seen mention of the 26.4kb connection speed before - in relation to a specific error condition.

John

 

[pansophic]

You have to "look up" the IP and DNS information. If you are running WinNT or better (2k or XP) then you open a DOS window and type "ipconfig /all" to get the information. If you are running Win9x (includes ME) the you open a DOS window and type winipcfg to get the information.

What you are describing is a DNS issue, not a modem issue. DNS could be failing because of an IP issue, but that is easy to figure out if you attempt to connect to something by IP address rather than name.

After you get your IP information, try to ping the IP address of the Gateway, and then DNS server(s). If you don't have any DNS servers listed, then that would explain your problem. You probably have preferred DNS servers, but you can manually configure any DNS server just to test.

Check to make sure that the option to have DNS servers automatically configured is set (under the TCP/IP configuration for that Dial-up connection).

If you can ping the Gateway and DNS servers by IP address, but still can't connect to anything else, drop another note.

And 26.4K is a standard connect speed. The only issue that I have ever heard associated with it is when someone is attempting to dial from an analog V.90 modem to an analog V.90 modem and wonders why they can't achieve a rate higher than 33.6K.


pansophic

 

[jhowley58]

Hi Panasophic,

This is the gist of what I get after I have dialed into the RAS finder and do ipconfig/all at the dos prompt.(this is the portion relating to the WAN connection)

ppp adapter dialin:

Connection specific DNS suffix. :
Description ................... : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface
Physical Address............... : 00-53-45-00-00-00
Dhcp Enabled................... : No
IP Address..................... : 192.168.5.1
Subnet Mask.................... : 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway................ : 192.168.5.1
DNS Servers.................... : 192.168.0.2
primary WINS Server............ : 192.168.0.2

I can ping 192.168.5.1 OK.
I get time out when I ping 192.168.0.2.

Can I deduce anything from this? Sorry to sound so obtuse but this dialin stuff is relatively new to me.

John.

 

[pansophic]

Although you may be better off posting this in the TCP/IP forum because there are lots of TCP/IP smart people in that forum, I'll take a stab at it.

The DNS servers are in a different subnet, and I can't tell if you have a route configured to reach that subnet. Can you try a tracert to the DNS servers, and see if you get any responses after your gateway?

I know that Windows is funny about how they report on DUN connections, but according to the IP/Gateway/Subnet mask, you are the only host on that network, so it would be impossible to route any packets. But I honestly believe that it is just the way that Microsoft reports the configuration.

I am surprised that you aren't using DHCP for a dialin however. Are all of the settings correct?

Since they give you the same address for the gateway and your own interface, that really didn't tell us anything. And because the netmask is set to your host only, I can't even hazard a guess as to what the first node on the remote network might be numbered.

But we do know one thing. If you can't reach the DNS server by IP address, you will always get the lookup error (unless you have a hosts file).

Sorry I can't be of more help. You really ought to post this to the TCP/IP forum. It is under the Data Transmission section of this board.


pansophic

 

[STV79]

Hi jhowley58 !

I think i have the same problem as you.
Do you have a solution for it ?

Thanks

Steve

 

[jhowley58]

Hi Steve,

I should have posted this before.

The problem turned out to be that somebody had set a DOS program going every 30 seconds to check for emails on some external source. This was somehow interfering with my dial in. Once I had got that to fire of every 10 minutes I could dial in without fail.

Probably doesn't help you does it?

John

 

[STV79]

Hi John,

thanks for your quick answer.
But you are right, that can't be my problem... :-((

Steve