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tintin
join:2013-07-19
Scarborough, ON

tintin to TSI Marc

Member

to TSI Marc

Re: [Cable] Delays and Outages - status

The reason why not so many people are pointing out this DNS server issue, may simply be that they may not know that much in how TCP/IP network works.

I don't think an average user should know the technical details. If everything is OK, then people don't need to come here and have such discussions.
falkon21
join:2004-02-27

falkon21

Member

Maybe try manually assigning DNS servers to your NIC? This shouldn't be necessary, of course, but maybe it will help?

I use 206.248.154.170 for primary and 66.163.0.161 for secondary.

TSI Marc
Premium Member
join:2006-06-23
Chatham, ON

TSI Marc to tintin

Premium Member

to tintin
Authoritative name server family.ca appears to be down or unreachable.. 204.101.15.67

Try a different domain name.
tintin
join:2013-07-19
Scarborough, ON

tintin

Member

OK, try again: 2 out of 10 times have issue:

C:\WINDOWS>nslookup microsoft.com
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
*** Can't find server name for address 206.248.154.22: Timed out
Server: dns2.pppoe.ca
Address: 206.248.154.170

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: microsoft.com
Addresses: 64.4.11.37, 65.55.58.201

C:\WINDOWS>nslookup microsoft.com
Server: dns.pppoe.ca
Address: 206.248.154.22

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: microsoft.com
Addresses: 64.4.11.37, 65.55.58.201

C:\WINDOWS>nslookup microsoft.com
Server: dns.pppoe.ca
Address: 206.248.154.22

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: microsoft.com
Addresses: 64.4.11.37, 65.55.58.201

C:\WINDOWS>nslookup microsoft.com
Server: dns.pppoe.ca
Address: 206.248.154.22

DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
*** Request to dns.pppoe.ca timed-out

C:\WINDOWS>nslookup microsoft.com
Server: dns.pppoe.ca
Address: 206.248.154.22

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: microsoft.com
Addresses: 64.4.11.37, 65.55.58.201

C:\WINDOWS>nslookup microsoft.com
Server: dns.pppoe.ca
Address: 206.248.154.22

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: microsoft.com
Addresses: 64.4.11.37, 65.55.58.201

C:\WINDOWS>nslookup microsoft.com
Server: dns.pppoe.ca
Address: 206.248.154.22

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: microsoft.com
Addresses: 64.4.11.37, 65.55.58.201

C:\WINDOWS>nslookup microsoft.com
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
*** Can't find server name for address 206.248.154.22: Timed out
Server: dns2.pppoe.ca
Address: 206.248.154.170

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: microsoft.com
Addresses: 64.4.11.37, 65.55.58.201

C:\WINDOWS>nslookup microsoft.com
Server: dns.pppoe.ca
Address: 206.248.154.22

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: microsoft.com
Addresses: 64.4.11.37, 65.55.58.201

TSI Marc
Premium Member
join:2006-06-23
Chatham, ON

TSI Marc

Premium Member

Looking into it.
tintin
join:2013-07-19
Scarborough, ON

tintin

Member

Now I manually set the DNS server to the one that falkon21 suggested:

C:\WINDOWS>ipconfig/all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : LGX110
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8102E/RTL8103E Family PCI
-E Fast Ethernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 24.52.253.xxx
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.224
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 24.52.253.193
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 24.246.76.65
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 66.163.0.161
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, September 07, 2013 10:20:2
4 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, September 14, 2013 10:20:2
4 PM

Then I tried nslookup, 10 out of 10 times succeeded:

C:\WINDOWS>nslookup microsoft.com
Server: 66-163-0-161.ip.tor.radiant.net
Address: 66.163.0.161

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: microsoft.com
Addresses: 65.55.58.201, 64.4.11.37

C:\WINDOWS>nslookup microsoft.com
Server: 66-163-0-161.ip.tor.radiant.net
Address: 66.163.0.161

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: microsoft.com
Addresses: 64.4.11.37, 65.55.58.201

C:\WINDOWS>nslookup microsoft.com
Server: 66-163-0-161.ip.tor.radiant.net
Address: 66.163.0.161

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: microsoft.com
Addresses: 65.55.58.201, 64.4.11.37

C:\WINDOWS>nslookup microsoft.com
Server: 66-163-0-161.ip.tor.radiant.net
Address: 66.163.0.161

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: microsoft.com
Addresses: 64.4.11.37, 65.55.58.201

C:\WINDOWS>nslookup microsoft.com
Server: 66-163-0-161.ip.tor.radiant.net
Address: 66.163.0.161

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: microsoft.com
Addresses: 65.55.58.201, 64.4.11.37

C:\WINDOWS>nslookup microsoft.com
Server: 66-163-0-161.ip.tor.radiant.net
Address: 66.163.0.161

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: microsoft.com
Addresses: 64.4.11.37, 65.55.58.201

C:\WINDOWS>nslookup microsoft.com
Server: 66-163-0-161.ip.tor.radiant.net
Address: 66.163.0.161

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: microsoft.com
Addresses: 65.55.58.201, 64.4.11.37

C:\WINDOWS>nslookup microsoft.com
Server: 66-163-0-161.ip.tor.radiant.net
Address: 66.163.0.161

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: microsoft.com
Addresses: 64.4.11.37, 65.55.58.201

C:\WINDOWS>nslookup microsoft.com
Server: 66-163-0-161.ip.tor.radiant.net
Address: 66.163.0.161

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: microsoft.com
Addresses: 65.55.58.201, 64.4.11.37

C:\WINDOWS>nslookup microsoft.com
Server: 66-163-0-161.ip.tor.radiant.net
Address: 66.163.0.161

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: microsoft.com
Addresses: 64.4.11.37, 65.55.58.201

There are two possibilities:
- The TekSavvy DNS servers have some issue;
- The routing between rogers servers and the TekSavvy DNS servers have some issue;

TSI Marc
Premium Member
join:2006-06-23
Chatham, ON

TSI Marc

Premium Member

Each one of those IPs is actually two different servers. 4 servers in total. It's possible one of the first ones has issues. Looking into it. Thanks for catching that. Will find out soon what the deal is.

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

Marc ...

analysing tintin's tracert above

Tracing route to dns2.pppoe.ca [206.248.154.170]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 9 ms 8 ms 17 ms 10.126.225.1
2 20 ms 12 ms 11 ms 24.156.149.85
3 12 ms 11 ms 11 ms gw02.mtnk-6-1-2.mtnk.phub.net.cable.rogers.com [
69.63.248.1]
4 * * * Request timed out.
5 * * * Request timed out.
6 * * * Request timed out.
7 ^C


hop 1 ... the CMTS
hop 2 ... the CMTS router
hop 3 ... is the Headend router VLANed to the APOI
hop 4 ... should be teksavvy's packetflow APOI router
and that's where things go wrong

When I go to the the hop 3 I go to

s0-4-0-0.gw02.ym.phub.net.cable.rogers.com (64.185.82.125)

He's going to one of the headend routers at Newkirk Rd Richmond Hill if you're to believe the rDNS. My suspicion is that is probably just a faulty rDNS entry and it really is in YM.

BUT here's the real rub ... that router should be going reliably to teksavvy's packetflow APOI router ... but it's not. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't given another tracert.

Without knowing the network topology I'll make a guess ... I think there are two paths between the MTNK router and the TekSavvy APOI router, and they're supposed to share the load, but one of those paths is broken. Sound familiar to a problem a few days ago ?

If it's only a single path, it's intermittently broken.

TSI Marc
Premium Member
join:2006-06-23
Chatham, ON

TSI Marc

Premium Member

The links are for sure working and the DNS servers are for sure working.. We tested those.. As i said, we would really know it if those DNS servers were down.

So it seems that maybe there is a routing problem for the 24.52.253.xxx net block. Looking into that now.
tintin
join:2013-07-19
Scarborough, ON

tintin

Member

I don't think it's the routing problem for my subnet. As I said earlier, if I manually set the DNS to another server, then the problem is totally gone, this tells me that there's no issue with the network traffic.

I still suggest you focus on the DNS servers, and the routing to them.

I think a good idea to gauge the scale of the DNS problem, would be asking all the users with cable internet issue to do a nslookup / tracert test.

TSI Marc
Premium Member
join:2006-06-23
Chatham, ON

TSI Marc

Premium Member

We ran stress tests on that name server. It's working fine. And, again, you are missing the stronger argument that there are no large scal complaints. DNS problems are very unforgiving.

I agree with you that something is wrong with your specific situation. I invite others to do the same and for you to repeat what you did and try to see what else the problem might be. I have my side looking into it also.

TSI Gabe
Router of Packets
Premium Member
join:2007-01-03
Gatineau, QC

TSI Gabe

Premium Member

We found the problem and it was an odd one. It wasn't the DNS servers though. Can you please check again. I'm positive it's working now.
tintin
join:2013-07-19
Scarborough, ON

tintin

Member

TSI Gabe, what was the problem? Just curious. As now the DNS lookup works, this is the only change that I've seen since yesterday when I brought up the DNS issue.

TSI Marc
Premium Member
join:2006-06-23
Chatham, ON

TSI Marc

Premium Member

it was a minor routing issue.
Koi
Premium Member
join:2013-07-19
Richmond Hill, ON

1 recommendation

Koi

Premium Member

You call it minor issue, We waiting 1.5 Hrs on the phone for Teksavvy Support.
azend
join:2013-09-08

azend to TSI Marc

Member

to TSI Marc
Your issues may be minor and having to work with difficult vendors may be problematic but that's no excuse for not telling your paying (and supportive) customers what is going on. Generally speaking, people are more understanding when they are told everything.

On another note, our cable is still out in Guelph. We've been out since Friday at around 3:00 AM, making our total outage time come to almost 72 hours. Downed DNS servers are not my issue because I never use your DNS. I've not tried hooking up directly to my house's modem but our router does not get an IP when it asks for one. Based on what evidence your other customers have previously mentioned and the symptoms we're experiencing, this is likely either a DHCP server issue or an RF issue somewhere on your end (either with you or with your vendors).

As a holdover for the last three days, I've been using my phone to tether as a mobile hotspot. This way we can check in on your support team and find out more information on the outage. Unfortunately however, I'm running closer and closer to my monthly allocated limit and may not be able to continue without paying further. As with all of your other customers stuck in the outage, I'm sure we would be glad to get any more information you have and perhaps an ETA on when service will be back.

As some geographical context, we are in the N1H FSA.

Thanks.

heavy_e
join:2013-09-09
Guelph, ON

heavy_e

Member

said by azend:

On another note, our cable is still out in Guelph. We've been out since Friday at around 3:00 AM, making our total outage time come to almost 72 hours. Downed DNS servers are not my issue because I never use your DNS. I've not tried hooking up directly to my house's modem but our router does not get an IP when it asks for one. Based on what evidence your other customers have previously mentioned and the symptoms we're experiencing, this is likely either a DHCP server issue or an RF issue somewhere on your end (either with you or with your vendors).

...

As some geographical context, we are in the N1H FSA.

I feel you pain azend. I'm also in Guelph and have been down since Friday morning (I'm also in the N1H FSA) ...according to an official TSI post as of yesterday:
• Cutten POI, Guelph - RF issue - reported on 9/5/2013
• Cutten POI, Guelph - DHCP issue - reported on 9/6/2013

I have a ticket in, and apperently the earliest that a Tech can come have a look is Sept 14th (Sat) ...that'll be an 8 day outage!!

For me, I can see that the Return Path: Channel ID 0 is reading 17.0dBmV
All other channels appear to be normal.

CraigRobinso
@bell.ca

CraigRobinso

Anon

I'm in Guelph and have been out since Friday morning as well.

I called tech support, but my phone ran out of money while waiting, so that didn't work.

Get me a repair ticket, or whatever the hell it is, but get my internet working again.
CraigRobinso
join:2013-09-09

CraigRobinso

Member

Guelph is back up.

heavy_e
join:2013-09-09
Guelph, ON

heavy_e

Member

said by CraigRobinso:

Guelph is back up.

Confirmed!!

TSI Marc
Premium Member
join:2006-06-23
Chatham, ON

TSI Marc

Premium Member

that's good to hear.

TypeS
join:2012-12-17
London, ON

TypeS to tintin

Member

to tintin
said by tintin:

The reason why not so many people are pointing out this DNS server issue, may simply be that they may not know that much in how TCP/IP network works.

I don't think an average user should know the technical details. If everything is OK, then people don't need to come here and have such discussions.

This forum is filled with mostly power users, Marc is right when he says if there were a legitimate issue with their DNS servers, the forum would be flooded. So much of the internet experience relies on DNS, DNS being down would be more crippling than slow downs (unless its severe slow down like 2 weeks ago).

I have yet to ever have an issue with TSI's DNS servers except once and TSI acknowledged it was DNS issue that lasted less than one day.

Extreme911
@allstream.net

Extreme911 to TSI Marc

Anon

to TSI Marc
Cable Internet is down in Maple, ON (L6A 3S3). OMG.. i dont want to wait for 2+ hours on hold. Please confirm that you aware of the outage?

TSI Marc
Premium Member
join:2006-06-23
Chatham, ON

TSI Marc

Premium Member

said by Anon80:

Cable Internet is down in Maple, ON (L6A 3S3). OMG.. i dont want to wait for 2+ hours on hold. Please confirm that you aware of the outage?

I'll get you some help. You should open a ticket..

TSI Jonathan
Premium Member
join:2011-08-24
Chatham, ON

TSI Jonathan to Extreme911

Premium Member

to Extreme911
Hi Extreme911,

I can place a callback in our system so you don't have to wait. Could you post in the direct forum with the number you would like a callback on please?

Thank you,

TSI Jonathan
fxs
join:2011-10-19
l3r

fxs to TypeS

Member

to TypeS
said by TypeS:

said by tintin:

The reason why not so many people are pointing out this DNS server issue, may simply be that they may not know that much in how TCP/IP network works.

I don't think an average user should know the technical details. If everything is OK, then people don't need to come here and have such discussions.

This forum is filled with mostly power users, Marc is right when he says if there were a legitimate issue with their DNS servers, the forum would be flooded. So much of the internet experience relies on DNS, DNS being down would be more crippling than slow downs (unless its severe slow down like 2 weeks ago).

I have yet to ever have an issue with TSI's DNS servers except once and TSI acknowledged it was DNS issue that lasted less than one day.

They sort of admitted there was a problem. I had issues with DNS too last week, switched to Google DNS and problem went away. Just couldn't be bothered to investigate in detail and post about it ...

TSI Marc
Premium Member
join:2006-06-23
Chatham, ON

TSI Marc

Premium Member

there was a minor routing issue. There was no DNS problem.
javierg9
join:2011-09-21
Toronto, ON

javierg9 to fxs

Member

to fxs
I also use a 3rd-party DNS service, but only out of the need to effectively filter out some unwanted web content for our home network. OpenDNS is a must-have for families with kids, after using it for years I've never looked back. Oh, and it's free! Google's DNS servers also perform rock-solid for the few times I've used it.
Danny Ocean
join:2005-06-30
Orleans, ON

Danny Ocean to TSI Marc

Member

to TSI Marc
Maybe you should deal with those of us down for 5 days first, instead of those down for 10 minutes?

Sorry to be snarky, but it's very frustating to see.
fxs
join:2011-10-19
l3r

fxs to TSI Marc

Member

to TSI Marc
said by TSI Marc:

there was a minor routing issue. There was no DNS problem.

OK, then, it seems that this minor routing issue affected some of your customers' ability to route to one or more of your DNS servers. So this minor routing issue manifested itself in slow DNS lookups which for me resulted in "slow internet".

Having said that, I really appreciate you (Marc) and everyone from Teksavvy posting here and being upfront and stand up guys/girls. I've been on Cable since Dec 2010, currently have no issues and generally the service has been outstanding, coming up on 3 years now, BTW.