Topic 'Re: network up time' in forum 'Wireless Service Providers' - dslreports.com http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22629480 en Sat, 11 Feb 2012 14:05:51 EDT Sat, 11 Feb 2012 14:05:51 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22693849
Colocate a small box somwehere with a reliable Internet connection (e.g. your NOC perhaps), and use this box to initiate his SSH sessions. But tell him to use "screen". And if its just for SSH it doesnt need to be anything special. Donate one of your old boxes if you have to. :-)

Next, tell him to SSH from his house into this box. This is where screen comes in.

Screen allows you to run applications "in the background", effectively on their own "screen", and it keeps them running regardless of whether youre still connected to the box, in a way kind of like what you get with Remote Desktop or VNC. When you SSH into the box, you issue a certain command to re-connect to screen, and resume whatever it was you were doing.

IF he is really as technical as he makes himself out to be he should be all over this little number in no time at all, if hes not using it already.

I use it for IRC. Whether Im at home or at work or anywhere else around the country or the world, I can access my IRC client (running on my FreeBSD box) as if I were always sitting right infront of it. No more reconnecting and disconnecting from IRC servers every time I move around, its the best thing ever. :-)

edit: seems all of the above was covered earlier. Thats what you get for not reading a thread entirely I guess. Disregard. ;-P]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22693849 Sun, 12 Jul 2009 03:49:06 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22685501
I would fire a customer such as this or have a talk with him saying you can't support him for $40, $50, $60 or whatever sub $300 price he is paying.

Justin]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22685501 Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:12:22 EDT Re: Don't be surprised... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Dont-be-surprised-22684430 --
Comtrain Certified Tower Climber]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Dont-be-surprised-22684430 Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:12:42 EDT Re: Don't be surprised... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Dont-be-surprised-22674008 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Dont-be-surprised-22674008 Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:50:10 EDT Re: Don't be surprised... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Dont-be-surprised-22673242 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Dont-be-surprised-22673242 Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:10:11 EDT Re: Don't be surprised... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Dont-be-surprised-22670476 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Dont-be-surprised-22670476 Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:59:06 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22665028
He thinks, as most developers do, that he completely understands the problem. Having been a developer for the Navy, I can say that five percent of developers actually have a clue about the network. This one actually sounds like he might be trying to grasp things.

Do what you can for him and make sure he knows that you are doing all that you can. If it doesn't work out, you will probably still keep him as a customer.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22665028 Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:26:46 EDT Re: Don't be surprised... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Dont-be-surprised-22662639
Annoying, but not quite shady people. In fact, often their skin is lacking almost any pigment.

;-)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Dont-be-surprised-22662639 Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:09:15 EDT Don't be surprised... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Dont-be-surprised-22659258
OK, call me cynical. But so far every customer I've had who has been that obsessive about the performance of a relatively inexpensive unlicensed link, and would not pay more for a business-class connection, has been doing something shady.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Dont-be-surprised-22659258 Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:27:19 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22647398
AMAZINGLY, I don't hear any complaints anymore :D

Yea, raise your hand if you think I don't do that LOL. It just happens from time to time. When I work 16 hours and go out to a farm later for some fun.

I LOVE the country ;)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22647398 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:22:16 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22645160 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22645160 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:27:42 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22642870 sarc.

I think theres some malarkey (sp)

turn his power on the radio to zero, act like youre troubleshooting it for a week, then tell him you just can service his location any more]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22642870 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:59:56 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22641359
We run a considerable number of links using ZeroShell as both the server and client. Works great...

But the corporate world standard is still Cisco IPsec, unfortunately.

George
--
Don't steal, the government doesn't like competition!!!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22641359 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:24:05 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22641286 said by GNca George:

There is no doubt that wireless can get a little weird when coupled with certain revs of Cisco VPN firmware. You can say that again. I get the lovely task of assisting our Cisco VPN and at times and it can be flakey just enough that even 50ft away from the AP I still drop sometimes. Other days I can drive around and keep my VPN tunnel open even on our outdoor mesh. Go fig.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22641286 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:12:10 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22641153
Generally things are fine, but every once in a while the VPN has problems even when our testing shows everything SHOULD be OK.

The restrictions the guy lays out are not that strange. We have a good number of individual customers on our network who work for large banks/brokerage houses/health authorities who all work under similar restrictions. Sometimes they end up reconnecting their sessions many times in a day if we are having problems at our end.

They also recognize that we try very hard to keep a stable link for them, and do much, much better than our 'competition'.

George
--
Don't steal, the government doesn't like competition!!!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22641153 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:49:20 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22640179
I'm big on graphing though..It's hard to dispute a graph that says you're not broken. :) Also, check and get the IP of his VPN termination server. You may be able to do the same thing there also. And your bases are covered.

We aren't perfect,but there are a lot of people that use VPN's through us. No problems there either. Some go through triple NAT even. The few things that come to my mind with his VPN are do you NAT? Is he on a "true" routed public IP? And or do you have multiple gateways or any kind of balancing/policy routes that could be changing on him? Things like that can cause (although very fast) unpredictable results with a strict policied VPN set-up.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22640179 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:40:30 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22640028
said by GTOV8:

A VPN is just so touchy, it does not take many dropped packets or much latency to cause one to drop connection.
Even using open source VPN solutions I've got tunnels that stay up for a long, long time on connections with packet loss and high latency. If in his experience VPNs are touchy, it's most likely because the configuration for his VPN is touchy.

EDIT: What is he using to test for latency on his end? Does he actually have a legitimate troubleshooting tool? If so, ask for the results. If he's just guessing that it's due to latency, then have him setup a tool that checks for latency 1) to your network and 2) to his network. That should clear up the problem and get him to realize that the problem is on his end without you having to be rude and say "ITS YOUR PROBLEM!"]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22640028 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:14:29 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22639662
I also have some sand bags you could use, and you can tell him to pound them. :D

I'm in a good mood today.
--
"No job is so important, and no service is so urgent that we cannot take the time to perform our work safely."
-- AT&T, Your World, Destroyed.
--Safety One Tower Rescue Certified
--LLigetfa:"Wimax is like teenage sex. Everyone talks about doing it."]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22639662 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:08:27 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22639607
He is "loosing" his VPN

Jesus.. learn how to spell. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22639607 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:56:09 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22637917
*** will not let any computer other than their own laptop which is identified by a secure digital certificate that cannot be faked. There is no way for me to access the *** VPN other than from the *** laptop. There are lots of security deamons running on the laptop that allow them to monitor the laptop through the VPN and they install updates to the OS etc. on a daily basis. The laptop becomes a node that is part of an Enterprise Management network. That node cannot be a server in the data center. It is required for the Iron Mountain software to run a complete backup of the laptop to the corp backup servers over the VPN on a daily basis.

I do not use the ssh sessions to transfer the large files, I need the files on my laptop as that is where I write code to process the files etc. I use FTP to transfer the files to my laptop.

I use the ssh sessions to monitor log files on the *** servers and start and stop processes etc. I have to write all the code and process the files on my laptop as the software that is licensed to me for that work only runs on Windows XP.

I have a laptop that was sent to me by FedEx and it is all setup with a Cisco VPN including a digital certificate that is assigned to me, and all the software applications I need to do my job. I dont even have admin rights on the laptop. They are very security minded which makes sense, since once I am on the VPN I can access the *** production servers in ** and ** where all the account balances are calculated every night. They are protective about access. :)

I had a similar thought, as I also have a server in a data center that is sitting on multiple T3 backbones with multiple power sources etc. etc. I cannot use my server either, I have asked.

I am finding that your network works fine for me as long as it does not drop the VPN. It dropped the VPN again this afternoon, but this time I did not loose access to the internet, the VPN just dropped. I had to reconnect everything but after that it has been stable this afternoon. A VPN is just so touchy, it does not take many dropped packets or much latency to cause one to drop connection. I have never used a VPN over wireless like this so I dont know what to expect. I am trying though.........
______________

There were no packet drops on our network that would have caused a vpn connection to drop. This guy has a great stable signal on our Canopy network and Prizm shows no disconnects in the history graphing.

I guess we'll just keep working with him for a while. I already told him we'll give him a partial refund and I pointed him to our printed and publicly published terms which are right on the contract forms:

Routine maintenance and periodic system repairs, upgrades and reconfigurations, public emergency or necessity, force majeure, restrictions imposed by law, acts of God, labor disputes and other situations, including mechanical or electronic breakdowns may result in temporary impairment or interruption of service. As a result, **** does not guarantee continuous or uninterrupted service and reserves the right from time to time to temporarily reduce or suspend service without notice. Client shall indemnify and hold *** and its directors, officers, employees, and agents harmless from any and all obligations, charges claims, liabilities, costs and fees incurred as the result of interruptions or omissions of service.

_______________________

This guy is doing only up to 300kbps during the day and then I see a 3mb bandwidth for 20 mins and that was it for 24 hours. Weird. I hate when they get weird. I need to put wording in the contract: "If we think you are weird, this contract is null and void."]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22637917 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:53:31 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22635436 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22635436 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:43:20 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22635011
said by GTOV8:

He says when he gets a packet drop the VPN connections and ssh connections all break and he has to do all the 30 screens all over again.
Obviously fabricated.. Unless the SSH daemon that he's connected to is badly configured, SSH is an incredibly resilient protocol. You can work on a remote host via SSH even when its dropping 10%+. You can even SSH to a remote host, reboot your router, and then resume typing in the same SSH session once the router is back up. Also I have openvpn connections that have been up for months on links that are far from perfect.

If he's not abusing your bandwidth, I'd tell him that if he gives you a specific outline of exactly what he's looking for, then you'll see if you can come up with a solution. It may be a point to point link, or you may even need to colocate his "monitoring server". ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22635011 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:26:06 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22632566 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22632566 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:30:36 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22632247 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22632247 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:04:42 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22632241 said by GTOV8:

Did I handle this correctly? I think this is the kind of customer that we need to fire. He works out of his home and cable or DSL is not available and there are no other WISPs that can provide the bandwidth we can. Another way is to estimate cost of the desired service, and offer him a special premium account.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22632241 Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:00:23 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22629770
Id tell him to find another provider ;)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22629770 Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:08:17 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22629662 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22629662 Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:49:33 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22629518 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22629518 Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:24:22 EDT Re: network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22629496 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-network-up-time-22629496 Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:21:04 EDT network up time http://www.dslreports.com/forum/network-up-time-22629480
I told him:
1) we can not notify him of each interruption because sometimes we don't have time to do so.
2) we can not guarantee he can keep a connection going for 14 hours without a packet loss, write a script to reset the screens
3)our multipoint network is not designed for mission critial applications and may actually not be what he needs

Did I handle this correctly? I think this is the kind of customer that we need to fire. He works out of his home and cable or DSL is not available and there are no other WISPs that can provide the bandwidth we can. I just think he's asking way too much of us and is going to be a problem account. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/network-up-time-22629480 Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:17:59 EDT