| RV042 - giving up - recommendation for a quality dual WAN? Hi, after days of reading posts and trying various configurations of the RV042 I just cannot get the RV042 to work properly. The closest I have come is to have it work for a few hours, but then the internet connection just dies, and a restart is required.
Anyone have a recommendation of a good working dual WAN router? I have 2 cable connections (4MB down - 1MB up) from the same ISP. |
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 AnavSarcastic Llama? Naw, Just AcerbicPremium
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS
kudos:3 | Why from the same ISP?? Why not just get a bigger pipe. There is no redundancy if you get both connections from the same source. |
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| I intend to set it up in Load Balancing mode (not looking for failover for the moment). I am under the impression it will improve using a dual WAN w/2 lines, correct? |
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 JahntassaWhat, I can have feathersPremium
join:2006-04-14
Conway, SC
kudos:4 | In theory you'd get the same result with a single 8Mb/2Mb line and QoS rules. The only time i've had dual-wan from the same provider was when we needed to physically separate the networks for other reasons.
I'm currently using a MikroTik 750G with dual-wan but it's not as easy to setup as a Sonicwall or ZyXel. |
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 NetFixerFrom my cold dead handsPremium
join:2004-06-24
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| reply to pacpac
said by pacpac:I intend to set it up in Load Balancing mode (not looking for failover for the moment). I am under the impression it will improve using a dual WAN w/2 lines, correct?
No, that is not correct. Using 2 load balanced connections will for the most part result is less throughput because not all applications can use multi-threaded sessions to take advantage of the load balancing. Also some applications will have problems with the dynamically changing IP addresses that is inherently part of load balancing, and will have to be protocol bound to a single interface (meaning that those applications will never have more bandwidth than a single connection).
The only reasons for using load balanced connections are if you can not get sufficient bandwidth from your ISP on a single connection, and/or for fail over protection (and with the RV0xx series, the fail over is automatic when you are doing load balancing). With two cable connections from the same ISP, true fail over protection is not very likely to happen simply because both connections are likely using the same physical cables and ISP infrastructure. Two DSL connections from the same ISP that use a different DSLAM and ATM concentrator can provide fail over protection, but that is not what you have.
Unless your ISP can't provide you with a single connection that has the bandwidth you need, you are just unnecessarily complicating things by using load balancing on two connections (and you are probably paying more for the two connections than you would pay for a single faster connection).
--
A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. |
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| reply to pacpac
Two seperate issues here, so I'll tackle them seperately :
About the way you want set up your your ISP
- Rather than springing for the two connections from the same ISP, I'd've gone for a 2nd ISP INDEPENDENT of the first one.
- In line with the first point, getting a 2nd line from the same ISP doesn't always give better performance than upgrading to a faster package... YMMV.
About dual WAN
- Precisely where is the RV042 failing that's making you give up on it? Have you done any sort of troubleshooting
on it, or contacted the vendor to help you out?
- Netfixer mentions a couple issues about loadbalanced connection gotchas you may want to read about. Dual WAN
is rarely about "more thruput" than "now you've set it up, here's what you just broke."
- If you insist on another dual wan appliance to try out, check the forum faq -- I'd recently submitted a suggested
updated list of appliances out there that do dual or multi-WAN.
Regards |
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| Still trying to get the RV042 to work.... Today I re-flashed to latest firmware and reset the unit. Plugged in one cable modem on WAN 1, IP pulled OK (configured as dynamic IPs), speedtest.net is fast and reflects down/up speed, google.com loads wuickly, but.... when loading sites as BBC and CNN, they load ver slow and when finally done, the format is way out of wack, only see some pics scattered around, no flash, links in blue on white background.... This is also when I try the WAN 2 port. When I plug the cable modem directly to the PC (Windows 7) all pages loads quick and appear correctly. Ani ideas of why the RV042 is unable to load 'complicated' pages quickly and correctly? (I have turned of SPI in the firewall settings on the RV042). |
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| reply to pacpac
said by pacpac:but.... when loading sites as BBC and CNN, they load ver slow and when finally done, the format is way out of wack, only see some pics scattered around, no flash, links in blue on white background.... This is also when I try the WAN 2 port. When I plug the cable modem directly to the PC (Windows 7) all pages loads quick and appear correctly. Ani ideas of why the RV042 is unable to load 'complicated' pages quickly and correctly? (I have turned of SPI in the firewall settings on the RV042).
First part sounds more like an application side issue. Does refreshing the page resolve the issue or not?
Two other things I can think of to try -- a) replace / RMA with another RV042 and see if the problem follows, b) double
check setting in the RV042, specifically you want to check all Security related options, and for the MTU setting.
Incomplete / partial page loads KIND OF sounds like the latter... but IIRC, you said this was a CABLE ISP, and cable
generally plays pretty well with a default MTU.
As for the whole speedtest thing vs. loading the page fast, whats your latency to the speedtest server versus to the
BBC or CNN page?
Regards |
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| Refreshing the page does not solve the issue, it happens both with Internet Explorer and Firefox (latest stable versions).. I have tried both MTU 1492 and 1500 on the PC and the router, and Auto in the router and 1492 and 1500 in Windows; same issue. Also tried with Windows Firewall on and off, same issue. In addition, also tried diasbling the Firewall in RV042 alltogether, same issue. Ping to speedtest is about 40ms and BBC is about 150ms (unable to ping cnn.com). Also tried a D-Link and a single wan Linksys router, both works just fine... Am I in for a replacemenet of the RV042? I am way out of the warranty period. If no solution and not possible to replace, I will not buy another RV042. |
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NetFixerFrom my cold dead handsPremium
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1 edit | said by pacpac:Am I in for a replacemenet of the RV042? I am way out of the warranty period. If no solution and not possible to replace, I will not buy another RV042.
Are you sure about the warranty? My RV082 came with a "Limited Lifetime Warranty", and the Cisco web site implies that warranty applies to all of the Cisco Small Business routers (including the RV042). Of course, I log into their US site (and I purchased my RV082 from a US retailer), so perhaps the rules are different for customers south of the Rio Grande.
»www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collate···225.html
said by Cisco :Cisco Limited Lifetime Warranty for Cisco Small Business Products
This Cisco Small Business product comes with a limited lifetime hardware warranty with return-to-factory replacement and a 1-year limited warranty for fans and power supplies. In addition, Cisco offers telephone technical support at no charge for the first 12 months following the date of purchase and software bug fixes, as available, for the warranty term. Product warranty terms and other information applicable to Cisco products are available at »www.cisco.com/go/warranty.
--
A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. |
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KearnstdElf WizardPremium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | reply to pacpac
can you shut off load balancing for a bit and run strictly off one WAN link?
using your web page loading issue the best steps are to remove all variables and then slowly start to add them again.
Very first step would be to clear the cache and cookies for your browsers.
If this does not work, I would even say go as far as testing the issue with the PC directly connected to one of the cable modems(remember to unplug the modem, make sure the TCP/IP settings in windows are to automatic/dhcp and then reboot the computer once the cable modem has sync again). If you have zero issues at this point, try the other link(using the same steps as before modem restart and PC restart). Again if zero issues you now know it is not a computer or data link issue.
It is then you turn your attention to the router. As others here have suggested though you might be better off with a bigger pipe rather than two pipes. with Cable internet you will not have failover, most failures on HFC networks are in the last mile.
In short when troubleshooting these things, first remove the most complex parts of the issue and make sure the simple parts are functioning correctly. |
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| I tried to connect each cable modem to the PC directly and both are working just fine. I also tried to connect one WAN for 20-30 minutes, no success, complex pages loads very slowly and are not showing as intended. I cleared cache and cookies as and when tested the various configurations. With the RV042 I also tried both of the network adapters on the MB and a third Realtek adapter, same problems. I tried ISP's, Google's and OpenDNS' DNS servers, tried the RV042 with and without DHCP.
Also, in the possible event the problem could be an application error, I did an image of the HD and then a new install of Windows with the RV042 plugged in from the start. Immediately after install I tried Internet Explorer, the RV042 worked for about 5-10 minutes; all pages loading quickly and correctly for that time, then all Internet connectivity came to a halt in the middle of a browsing session and the RV042 refused to connect to the Internet. I have 3 single WAN routers available. Any ideas of another hardware configuration or anything else that could get the RV042 to work? |
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| reply to pacpac
After having done everything I could think of on the RV042 and Windows, I decided to take a closer look at the cable modems. Without having it confirmed with the ISP, I believe they will not allow one cable modem to hand out more than one IP at a time. When accessing the Motorola Surfboards on 192.168.100.1, I noted 3 MACs on one of the modems, one MAC for itself and 2 other MACs, one for the WAN on RB042 and one from a previous network adapter. Even though I power cycled both modems several times, the 3rd unrelated MAC was not released. I restored both cable modems to default settings and did a restart via 192.168.100.1. This time, the 3rd MAC address disappeared and on both modems I could only see their respective MACs and the MACs on RV042s WAN 1 and WAN 2. In addition, after some research it looks like these cable modems only will accept max 2 MACs at any given time.
After this exercise, I did a sequenced powercycle and the RV042 now works fine in LB mode. It has been stable for a couple of hours and works as intended, pages loads quickly and completely (BBC and CNN perfectly OK), video/audio streams perfectly well. I am not an expert, but could this one "stuck" MAC in one of the cable modems have caused the problem? Also, when looking at the syslog I see a few RGFW-IN: BLOCK-RULES and BLOCK-SYNFLOOD lines, is this normal? |
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NetFixerFrom my cold dead handsPremium
join:2004-06-24
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1 edit | said by pacpac:After having done everything I could think of on the RV042 and Windows, I decided to take a closer look at the cable modems. Without having it confirmed with the ISP, I believe they will not allow one cable modem to hand out more than one IP at a time. When accessing the Motorola Surfboards on 192.168.100.1, I noted 3 MACs on one of the modems, one MAC for itself and 2 other MACs, one for the WAN on RB042 and one from a previous network adapter. Even though I power cycled both modems several times, the 3rd unrelated MAC was not released. I restored both cable modems to default settings and did a restart via 192.168.100.1. This time, the 3rd MAC address disappeared and on both modems I could only see their respective MACs and the MACs on RV042s WAN 1 and WAN 2. In addition, after some research it looks like these cable modems only will accept max 2 MACs at any given time.
After this exercise, I did a sequenced powercycle and the RV042 now works fine in LB mode. It has been stable for a couple of hours and works as intended, pages loads quickly and completely (BBC and CNN perfectly OK), video/audio streams perfectly well. I am not an expert, but could this one "stuck" MAC in one of the cable modems have caused the problem? Also, when looking at the syslog I see a few RGFW-IN: BLOCK-RULES and BLOCK-SYNFLOOD lines, is this normal?
What you are seeing with the cable modems is normal; most cable ISPs only allow one CPE MAC addresses unless you have a business account or you are paying for additional IP addresses. It is quite normal to need to do a reset (or usually just a power cycle) of the cable modem to clear out the MAC address table anytime you have been swapping devices on the cable modem's ethernet interface.
The firewall entries you are seeing are normal if you are actually connected to the Internet. It is called "Internet Noise", and it is caused by such things as infected computers trying to spread the infection, and it can also just be normal network broadcasts on your ISP's network. If it bothers you, you can just turn off logging in the RV042, or don't look at the logs.
--
A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. |
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KearnstdElf WizardPremium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | reply to pacpac
strange question, do both WAN ports have their own MAC?
with the same ISP it could very possibly be confused if by any chance the two WANs have the same MAC the cable company might be trying to issue the same IP to both ports.
these dual port routers are generally designed to be on different carriers.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports |
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| reply to pacpac
In my case each WAN has its own individual MAC.
The RV042 has now been stable for 6-7 hours. I noticed a disruption for 2-3 secs in the stream when the ISP issued the renewed command for the dynamic IP, the same IP is handed out every time. When the RV042 is in LB mode, could this 2-3 secs disruption cause traffic to be moved to the other WAN port and depending on application running, I could experience a brief "service outage"? If so, would not the RV042 (or any other dual WAN router in LB mode) operate better with 2 static IPs? |
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NetFixerFrom my cold dead handsPremium
join:2004-06-24
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| said by pacpac:In my case each WAN has its own individual MAC.
The RV042 has now been stable for 6-7 hours. I noticed a disruption for 2-3 secs in the stream when the ISP issued the renewed command for the dynamic IP, the same IP is handed out every time. When the RV042 is in LB mode, could this 2-3 secs disruption cause traffic to be moved to the other WAN port and depending on application running, I could experience a brief "service outage"? If so, would not the RV042 (or any other dual WAN router in LB mode) operate better with 2 static IPs?
What you are describing should not be happening for a normal DHCP renewal when the renewed IP address is unchanged. It sounds as if your ISP may be temporarily issuing a null IP address and then reissuing the original IP address. If that is so, then the disruption would happen no matter what router you were using. It is also possible that this is a design flaw in the hardware version 1 and 2 RV042 router, but I never saw that symptom on my similar RV082 router.
Certainly a static IP assignment would keep this from happening, but what you were attempting to do in your other thread by simply pretending that you have static IP accounts will not work. You will have to obtain static IP accounts from your ISP. Otherwise when the DHCP lease expires, you will simply lose your connection, and it will not return until you actually do a DHCP renew cycle with your ISP's DHCP server.
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A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. |
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| reply to pacpac
Thanks for good input, I am looking at getting a static IP for each of the 2 cable modems. |
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| reply to pacpac
Just to check in, has the RV042 still been stable since clearing out that old MAC?
Regards |
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| reply to pacpac
Thanks for following up. No, it is not stable. Then again, I am having an issue with the ISP, both connections drop 2-3 times per day at random, meaning I have problems accessing both via the RV042 set-up and when the PC is connected directly to the cable modem for trouble shooting. As of now, it is very difficult to assess what the problem is; the RV042 or the ISP. Now, I need to make sure the ISP is stable.....
A general question, when having configured the RV042 in LB mode (no Protocol Binding), could content/packets come in both via the WAN 1 and WAN 2 ports when accessing one web site? For example, when typing cnn.com in the browser, could some content come in via WAN 1 and when cnn.com requests info from, let's say, Twitter, could that come in via WAN 2? |
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