Eircom ADSL Router - maximum connections...

rolion

Hello,

Just wondering,Eircom latest router,the black model (i guess Motorola),running at 12M/2M how many connections/computers can keep running until it starts dropping packets and incoming requests !?

I have a router that has around 70 computers behind it and keep getting constant DNS erors and connection time-out,even if ping-ing locally.

Putting the router in bridge mode while a Sonicwall does the proper work behind fixes the problem.

But i can't ask the customer to pay the price of a new Sonicwall when the Eircom should do the work ok !??

Thanks in advance...

Capt'n Midnight

not sure which model you mean

is it specifically a business model or would a home user get the same one ?

can you see the %cpu / %ram in use ?
how big is the DHCP range, ie. if it was set to 32 addresses there is a clue right there


if they have 70 PC's then perhaps they could afford another box ?

rolion

is the 4th generation,Zyxel branded as far as i remember,is the latest black box with one aerial antenna on left side!

not sure re cpu/ram,as is running in bridge mode for now.
no DHCP on it,as is on a 2008 Server in the LAN side.

a proper Sonicwall box comes at around 1k,i need a good reason to buy it...

Dardania

as you say, it's most likely the fact that there are so many users opening so many connections that is causing the router to topple over. I used have a similar experience back in the day with the original Zyxel that Esat BT gave out in 2004 using bittorrent, and the swarming of bittorrent was too much for it!

There are techniques you can use to manage it however:

DNS connections. every time there is a DNS lookup, are the clients opening a connection out through the router? The way to check it: is your 2008 server the primary DNS for the domain? And if so, is it configured with your ISP's DNS servers, or the router? It should be set to the router, and the router should be configured to be a transparent cache (not sure of the exact terminology for the Zyxels...)

NAT timeouts. Everytime a client opens a NAT (well, PAT) to the outside world, the router remembers it for a period of time (usually a few minutes) - you can shorten this, so that it is flushed quicker...

A query: do you have QoS active? Maybe it's getting overwhelmed with flow?

I think I have one of those zyxel routers in a drawer - I'll have a play around with the GUI to see if anything else occurs to me that you can do. But realistically, as the Captain says, it's a bit meagre to run so many users off an ISP given router....

Dardania

Finally got around to plugging in the Zyxel P-660 I have here, and notice that there is a way to reduce the number of connections per client in the web interface:



It's not quite a means of reducing the timeout per NAT session, but you could limit the connections per user to say 64 to force each client to release NAT sessions as necessary.

arseagon

If it's set to bridging mode what is it bridging to? is there another router in play or is the 2008 server setup to be a router?? Any you don't necessarily have to go with a sonicwall to fix your problems.. there are other cheaper (but better than the freebie that any of the telecoms companies will send you) options on the market

rolion

@Dardania
I owe you a nice cup of coffee next time when you around...

The end user(s) began complaining about DNS errors on few clients.
The Server 2008 is the LAN DNS server and fwds are enabled for Eircom servers.I've called Eircom to check the line,and they said the router and line is ok,with no disconnections or any issues from their end.

So,while in there,i had time-outs when ping-ing the router.I've checked switches and upgraded to latest firmware (HPs).No joy...

The reason i used a Sonicwall is that i have NFRs units that i can use for demo.The unit in there is a TZ190,that has a better event/system log and i have enabled ViewPoint,for traffic management.Could be a faulty nic/pc,a virus,a trojan or a torrent client.Also, a technical fault that the basic Eircom modem is not "showing" me...

Working ok so far,so it looks that Netopia is not able to handle modem and router functions . The daily traffic is around 8GB from what i can see from here.

I am heading back tomorrow afternoon and i will update the post.

Thanks for input...