Re: DNS Problem (I think)

bbuser01 · ‎18-06-2011

Thought I would resurrect this thread, rather than starting a new one. I'm experiencing what I suspect is exactly the same problem across a number of sites. Examples include but are not limited to vmware.com, lastminute.com and warminstervbrd.zxq.net as mentioned by others on this thread. I've tried restarting the router, and using different DNS servers to no avail. The problem occurs across all devices on the network and are solved by using a different connection (friends wireless) or by using a service such as TOR or Proxify to reach the sites.
As an old Metronet customer unfortunately I cannot use the gateway check tool but trying re-connections to change gateway have not helped. Maybe I'm on a different part of the infrastructure...
I have an open support case where I've provided trace routes, I'm told this is with the network administration team. I thought it would be worth posting here too in case anyone is having similar issues and well, I'm hoping Bob can work some more magic.

Anonymous · ‎18-06-2011

[quote=bbuser01]As an old Metronet customer unfortunately I cannot use the gateway check tool
Instead of using the gateway checker - which for me currently shows -

Quote
Which gateway
You are currently connected to the gateway known as pcl-ag05.
This is located in City Lifeline House.

Is the information in your traceroute output ?

Quote
$ traceroute lastminute.com
traceroute to lastminute.com (199.204.29.141), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 my_gateway (192.168.xxx.xxx) 3.174 ms 4.047 ms 4.032 ms
2 lo0-homesurf.pcl-ag05.plus.net (195.166.130.30) 18.965 ms 20.851 ms *
3 * * *
4 * * *
5 * * *
6 * * *
7 ae-44-44.ebr1.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.69.137.78) 123.611 ms * *
8 ae-81-81.csw3.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.69.134.74) 98.768 ms ae-61-61.csw1.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.69.134.66) 95.695 ms 108.020 ms
9 ae-62-62.ebr2.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.69.148.33) 97.800 ms ae-72-72.ebr2.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.69.148.37) 93.931 ms ae-62-62.ebr2.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.69.148.33) 95.352 ms
10 ae-3-3.ebr2.Dallas1.Level3.net (4.69.137.121) 130.302 ms 131.392 ms 127.355 ms
11 ae-72-72.csw2.Dallas1.Level3.net (4.69.151.141) 129.808 ms ae-92-92.csw4.Dallas1.Level3.net (4.69.151.165) 128.155 ms 135.208 ms
12 ae-4-90.edge4.Dallas3.Level3.net (4.69.145.205) 130.393 ms ae-1-60.edge4.Dallas3.Level3.net (4.69.145.13) 130.204 ms ae-3-80.edge4.Dallas3.Level3.net (4.69.145.141) 129.140 ms
13 TIME-WARNER.edge4.Dallas3.Level3.net (4.59.32.46) 129.448 ms 128.644 ms 128.038 ms
14 dal1-ar1-xe-0-0-0-0.us.twtelecom.net (66.192.243.66) 129.949 ms 128.913 ms 129.418 ms

bbuser01 · ‎18-06-2011

Yes, good call. Typically I didn't do one to Lastminute.com yesterday, only spotted that one this morning. Avoiding booting up Ubuntu for the moment, here's the one for vmware.com.
I suppose I should try reconnecting and try running the traceroutes on different gateways, though re-reading the thread it doesn't seem that the gateway can be a root cause. Jaggies commented pcl-ag03 was fine for him.

traceroute www.vmware.com
traceroute to www.vmware.com (88.221.179.51), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets

1 lo0-plusnet.pcl-ag03.plus.net (195.166.128.109) 31.038 ms 34.339 ms 34.810 ms

2 gi1-6-703.pcl-gw01.plus.net (84.92.0.180) 165.647 ms 165.847 ms 166.026 ms

3 te2-2.pte-gw1.plus.net (212.159.0.186) 43.486 ms 44.644 ms 47.044 ms

4 po4.pte-gw2.plus.net (212.159.1.188) 47.353 ms 48.965 ms 50.385 ms

5 po5.ptn-gw02.plus.net (212.159.1.142) 52.144 ms 54.053 ms 56.019 ms

6 195.66.226.168 (195.66.226.168) 57.978 ms 30.688 ms 32.432 ms

7 * * *

8 * * *

9 * * *

bbuser01 · ‎18-06-2011

I've tried a couple more gateways to no avail.....

traceroute www.vmware.com
traceroute to www.vmware.com (2.19.115.51), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets

1 lo0-plusnet.thn-ag03.plus.net (195.166.128.80) 25.908 ms 27.773 ms 29.937 ms

2 gi1-19-503.thn-gw1.plus.net (84.92.3.168) 32.116 ms 33.509 ms 33.750 ms

3 po5.pte-gw01.plus.net (212.159.1.140) 80.010 ms 80.323 ms 80.658 ms

4 po4.pte-gw2.plus.net (212.159.1.188) 41.182 ms 43.144 ms 45.293 ms

5 linxnap.netarch.akamai.com (195.66.224.168) 47.750 ms 49.410 ms 51.615 ms

6 * * *

7 * * *

traceroute www.vmware.com
traceroute to www.vmware.com (2.18.115.51), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 lo0-plusnet.pcl-ag01.plus.net (195.166.128.27) 30.866 ms 32.442 ms 37.372 ms

2 gi1-2-803.pcl-gw01.plus.net (84.92.5.56) 73.333 ms 74.299 ms 74.496 ms

3 te2-2.pte-gw1.plus.net (212.159.0.186) 42.064 ms 45.452 ms 46.858 ms

4 po4.pte-gw2.plus.net (212.159.1.188) 48.668 ms 48.991 ms 52.745 ms

5 linxnap.netarch.akamai.com (195.66.224.168) 52.976 ms 55.373 ms 56.872 ms

6 * * *

7 * * *

These don't seem to go far beyond plusnet's borders, but scans to http://www.warminstervbrd.zxq.net/ makes if further. Still neither yesterdays TR below or ones I've tried today make it there.
traceroute www.warminstervbrd.zxq.net
traceroute to www.warminstervbrd.zxq.net (67.220.217.230), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets

1 lo0-plusnet.pcl-ag03.plus.net (195.166.128.109) 34.709 ms 35.079 ms 36.535 ms

2 gi1-6-703.pcl-gw01.plus.net (84.92.0.180) 37.017 ms 37.177 ms 39.388 ms

3 po4.pcl-gw02.plus.net (212.159.1.129) 41.633 ms 43.311 ms 45.241 ms

4 tun0.pcl-gw01.plus.net (212.159.2.105) 47.184 ms 49.114 ms 51.001 ms

5 * * *

6 ae-34-52.ebr2.London1.Level3.net (4.69.139.97) 59.003 ms 29.984 ms 31.056 ms

7 ae-41-41.ebr1.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.69.137.66) 101.244 ms ae-43-43.ebr1.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.69.137.74) 101.356 ms ae-44-44.ebr1.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.69.137.78) 103.399 ms

8 ae-91-91.csw4.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.69.134.78) 116.955 ms ae-71-71.csw2.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.69.134.70) 118.375 ms ae-81-81.csw3.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.69.134.74) 111.473 ms

9 ae-92-92.ebr2.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.69.148.45) 111.618 ms ae-82-82.ebr2.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.69.148.41) 113.875 ms 115.820 ms
10 ae-2-2.ebr4.SanJose1.Level3.net (4.69.135.185) 186.780 ms 187.802 ms 189.836 ms
11 ae-2-2.ebr3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.69.132.10) 176.242 ms 175.808 ms 177.858 ms
12 ae-73-73.csw2.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.69.137.38) 177.467 ms ae-83-83.csw3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.69.137.42) 175.762 ms ae-63-63.csw1.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.69.137.34) 178.865 ms
13 ae-4-90.edge3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.69.144.201) 177.355 ms ae-3-80.edge3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.69.144.137) 190.818 ms ae-4-90.edge3.LosAngeles1.Level3.net (4.69.144.201) 178.273 ms
14 cr1.lax1.us.packetexchange.net (4.71.136.2) 185.146 ms 184.522 ms 183.672 ms
15 67.199.135.234 (67.199.135.234) 167.465 ms 168.370 ms 166.583 ms
16 67-220-192-106.hosted.static.webnx.com (67.220.192.106) 168.399 ms 168.502 ms 166.404 ms
17 * * *
18 * * *

Strange stuff, and really extends across a lot of sites for me. Found out online online banking is another thing we can't do now, it's quite exciting browsing the internet when you never know if a page will load or not

Anonymous · ‎18-06-2011

I just tried all these gateways -
pcl-ag02
pcl-ag03
pcl-ag05
pcl-ag07
ptn-ag02
until I landed on "pcl-ag03" which you were having problems with in "Reply #61".
I tried loading all three websites (using Firefox) on each gateway, and they all worked perfectly on every gateway.
Just for good measure here are the traces while on "pcl-ag03" -

$ traceroute www.vmware.com
traceroute to www.vmware.com (95.100.195.51), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  my_gateway (192.168.xxx.xxx)  4.673 ms  5.366 ms  5.343 ms
 2  lo0-homesurf.pcl-ag03.plus.net (195.166.128.110)  23.414 ms  25.660 ms *
 3  * * *
 4  * * *
 5  * * *
 6  * * *
 7  * linx2.ukcore.bt.net (195.66.226.10)  33.666 ms *
 8  * core2-pos0-9-0-0.ilford.ukcore.bt.net (194.74.65.117)  29.018 ms  28.999 ms
 9  acc1-10GigE-11-1-0.sf.21cn-ipp.bt.net (109.159.251.14)  46.140 ms  46.159 ms  46.137 ms

$ mtr -r -c 100 www.vmware.com
HOST: my_pc                       Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
  1. my_gateway                    0.0%   100    4.7   4.6   2.8  10.6   1.3
  2. lo0-homesurf.pcl-ag03.plus.n  0.0%   100   21.6  25.6  20.6  42.0   4.7
  3. gi1-6-705.pcl-gw02.plus.net   0.0%   100   33.9  50.5  23.2 246.3  48.2
  4. te2-2.pte-gw1.plus.net        0.0%   100   30.4  40.9  29.3 182.1  32.5
  5. po4.pte-gw2.plus.net          0.0%   100   30.0  37.5  30.0 205.5  25.3
  6. linxnap.netarch.akamai.com    0.0%   100   35.3  33.2  28.1  38.7   2.2
  7. 2.18.115.51                   0.0%   100   32.8  31.9  26.5  63.9   3.6

$ mtr -r -c 100 www.lastminute.com
HOST: my_pc                       Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
  1. my_gateway                    0.0%   100    7.0   4.8   3.1  10.2   1.7
  2. lo0-homesurf.pcl-ag03.plus.n  0.0%   100   22.5  23.5  20.4  30.9   2.1
  3. gi1-6-705.pcl-gw02.plus.net   0.0%   100   29.4  44.0  29.4 239.3  38.2
  4. po4.pcl-gw02.plus.net         0.0%   100   31.0  37.6  29.3 213.0  27.2
  5. 195.50.122.129                0.0%   100   35.4  32.8  29.3  64.5   5.1
  6. ae-22-52.car2.London1.Level3  0.0%   100   30.6  45.6  23.2 211.0  39.0
  7. xe-2-3-0.lon20.ip4.tinet.net  0.0%   100   32.8  34.9  24.9  91.0  10.4
  8. xe-3-3-0.lon11.ip4.tinet.net  0.0%   100   30.4  34.6  29.5  85.7   9.3
  9. 2.20.49.8                     0.0%   100   31.8  31.9  29.6  44.1   2.0

$ mtr -r -c 100 www.warminstervbrd.zxq.net
HOST: my_pc                       Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
  1. my_gateway                   76.0%   100    3.6   4.8   3.1   9.9   1.6
  2. lo0-homesurf.pcl-ag03.plus.n 62.0%   100   28.6  23.7  21.1  31.6   2.5
  3. gi1-6-705.pcl-gw02.plus.net  86.0%   100  176.5  47.4  29.1 176.5  39.7
  4. po4.pcl-gw02.plus.net        21.0%   100   30.1  39.0  29.5 264.7  33.9
  5. tun0.pcl-gw01.plus.net       73.0%   100   35.8  33.3  29.3  44.4   3.1
  6. 195.50.122.129               14.0%   100   30.0  36.5  29.0  85.8  12.0
  7. ae-34-52.ebr2.London1.Level3 80.0%   100   29.8  32.7  28.5  43.1   3.5
  8. ae-41-41.ebr1.NewYork1.Level  1.0%   100  103.4 100.7  97.6 114.5   2.4
  9. ae-81-81.csw3.NewYork1.Level  6.0%   100  100.3 105.0  98.3 118.3   4.6
 10. ae-82-82.ebr2.NewYork1.Level 24.0%   100   99.8 101.3  98.2 113.4   2.3
 11. ae-2-2.ebr4.SanJose1.Level3.  0.0%   100  168.4 170.3 166.5 178.6   2.7
 12. ae-2-2.ebr3.LosAngeles1.Leve 25.0%   100  180.4 183.4 174.5 199.7   7.9
 13. ae-93-93.csw4.LosAngeles1.Le 55.0%   100  175.0 177.0 174.5 186.8   2.6
 14. ae-4-90.edge3.LosAngeles1.Le 19.0%   100  177.8 179.5 173.9 242.3  10.2
 15. cr1.lax1.us.packetexchange.n 72.0%   100  182.9 180.1 173.5 190.1   4.4
 16. 67.199.135.234               44.0%   100  266.6 175.4 166.6 324.1  28.1
 17. 67-220-192-106.hosted.static 99.0%   100  168.2 168.2 168.2 168.2   0.0
 18. 67-220-217-230.hosted.static 33.0%   100  171.3 169.8 166.6 189.9   3.9

I'm wondering, as the gateways seem OK, whether you have an MTU or RWIN problem ? - which can show up with the symptoms you are describing.
Have a look through these links -
http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/MTU.htm
http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/MTU2.htm
http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/tweak2.htm
http://www.dslreports.com/tweaks
http://www.dslreports.com/drtcp

bbuser01 · ‎18-06-2011

Purleigh, you my friend are a genius. Thanks for the help!
I'm adjusted the firewall MTU to 1460 from 1500 and so far the problem seems to be resolved. I will try some more tweaking as recommended in the guides to see what works best.
Still not sure why 1500 was fine a week ago and not now, I won't be losing any sleep over that though. Time to close the case with Plusnet.

Anonymous · ‎18-06-2011

No problem, just glad it worked

It's probably worth checking your router's MTU values, while you are in tweaking mode !

ReedRichards · ‎14-07-2009

Quote from: bbuser01
Thought I would resurrect this thread, rather than starting a new one. I'm experiencing what I suspect is exactly the same problem across a number of sites.....

But which actually turned out to be something completely different! perhaps a passing moderator can give this bit its own thread?

Oldjim · ‎15-06-2007

Split off in case it reappears