MarkHollings
IS-IT--Management
Our existing ADSL internet connection is with an ISP called System Online, originally in partnership with BT I think, at our Head Office.
We have quite happily connected VPN routers at two remote sites using System Online as an ISP too. Additionally we have two other remote sites on BT Openworld connected via VPN to our Head Office too.
As our orgainisation grows we have supplemented the ADSL connection win a new SDSL connection with an different isp again, Spitfire.
We migrated the two remote sites on BT Openworld over to the new SDSL connection to relieve the traffic burden on the ADSL connection.
This where the problems start - until the end of last week the two remote sites on BT OpenWorld were able vpn over the SDSL connection. Now they won't. There seems to be no route between the BT Openworld and the Spitfire networks. We are unable to ping between the router on the SDSL and the routers on the BT Openworld connection.
Furthermore from my Virgin Media connection at home I have, again ,until recently been able to connect to all of the remote sites using there internet ip address. But the connectivity to the remote BT Openworld and System Online hosted sites has now gone too as well as the System Online ADSL connection at Head Office. However I can still VPN over the SDSL connection.
I have tried pinging the respective routers from each of the remote sites. All the BT and System Online (SOL) routers can happily ping one another but are unable to ping the router on the SDSL connection or my home Virgin Media connection, and as mentioned earlier there is no responses when pinging from the VM or Spitfire connections to the BT/SOL connections.
All of the routers have been configured to accept ping etc so there cannot be any firewall issues and if I go offsite and try a remote ping/tracert from the Colt network site all of the remote points respond irrespective of isp.
It would seem that there is a problem in the routing between the isp's, possibly at the BT end as thats where the packets seem to get lost when tracing the route.
As a longshot I tried putting a static route in the routers routing table to route the data via a common point that is accessible from either ISP but with no sucess. Tried, foolishly, reconfiguring the DNS servers to OpenDNS on a router at one of the BT remote sites, which of course took it offline, Dohhhh! The DNS needs to be set specifically for the router to connect to the ISP.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to which way to turn. Is it possible to use offsite DNS to overcome the routing problem and still allow the routers to logon to the ISP?
BT don't seem to have a place to log problems with internet routing issues, and since this isn't a straighforward internet connection problem I fear the helpdesk just won't understand what the problem is here, after all the internet connection is up and most sites are reachable, it's just the one site we need to reach isn't contactable! I have logged the problem with Spitfire and will do the same with SOL tomorrow, but who the hell should you try to talk to at BT?
Whats very frustrating is that this time last week all the remote routers were able to ping one another and able to VPN over either the ADSL or SDSL connections, now they can't and the route over the internet between those on one ISP and those on another isp has gone. Who do I talk to to get it put back? Or is there a way this can be overcome?
Any ideas would be gratefully received, it has taken hours this week and a lot of tearing my hair out to understand what the hell has been happening.
Regards
Mark
We have quite happily connected VPN routers at two remote sites using System Online as an ISP too. Additionally we have two other remote sites on BT Openworld connected via VPN to our Head Office too.
As our orgainisation grows we have supplemented the ADSL connection win a new SDSL connection with an different isp again, Spitfire.
We migrated the two remote sites on BT Openworld over to the new SDSL connection to relieve the traffic burden on the ADSL connection.
This where the problems start - until the end of last week the two remote sites on BT OpenWorld were able vpn over the SDSL connection. Now they won't. There seems to be no route between the BT Openworld and the Spitfire networks. We are unable to ping between the router on the SDSL and the routers on the BT Openworld connection.
Furthermore from my Virgin Media connection at home I have, again ,until recently been able to connect to all of the remote sites using there internet ip address. But the connectivity to the remote BT Openworld and System Online hosted sites has now gone too as well as the System Online ADSL connection at Head Office. However I can still VPN over the SDSL connection.
I have tried pinging the respective routers from each of the remote sites. All the BT and System Online (SOL) routers can happily ping one another but are unable to ping the router on the SDSL connection or my home Virgin Media connection, and as mentioned earlier there is no responses when pinging from the VM or Spitfire connections to the BT/SOL connections.
All of the routers have been configured to accept ping etc so there cannot be any firewall issues and if I go offsite and try a remote ping/tracert from the Colt network site all of the remote points respond irrespective of isp.
It would seem that there is a problem in the routing between the isp's, possibly at the BT end as thats where the packets seem to get lost when tracing the route.
As a longshot I tried putting a static route in the routers routing table to route the data via a common point that is accessible from either ISP but with no sucess. Tried, foolishly, reconfiguring the DNS servers to OpenDNS on a router at one of the BT remote sites, which of course took it offline, Dohhhh! The DNS needs to be set specifically for the router to connect to the ISP.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to which way to turn. Is it possible to use offsite DNS to overcome the routing problem and still allow the routers to logon to the ISP?
BT don't seem to have a place to log problems with internet routing issues, and since this isn't a straighforward internet connection problem I fear the helpdesk just won't understand what the problem is here, after all the internet connection is up and most sites are reachable, it's just the one site we need to reach isn't contactable! I have logged the problem with Spitfire and will do the same with SOL tomorrow, but who the hell should you try to talk to at BT?
Whats very frustrating is that this time last week all the remote routers were able to ping one another and able to VPN over either the ADSL or SDSL connections, now they can't and the route over the internet between those on one ISP and those on another isp has gone. Who do I talk to to get it put back? Or is there a way this can be overcome?
Any ideas would be gratefully received, it has taken hours this week and a lot of tearing my hair out to understand what the hell has been happening.
Regards
Mark