Re: [Dorset] Another Strange Networking Problem at WMT

[Terry Coles]

On Wednesday, 4 August 2021 15:19:06 BST Stephen Wolff wrote:
> Not all devices will respond to a ‘ping’ - they can be configured
> not to. If they return web pages, perhaps you’d be better off
> requesting one of those to test whether it is accessible over the local
> network?

Hmmm.  That never occurred to me.  I set this webserver up myself some years 
ago and apart from installing nginx and the web pages, the only other software 
that I installed was nodogsplash using the guidance here.

I wasn't aware that pings may have ben suppressed and I'm surprised that I've 
never pinged it before.

I've confirmed that it's accessible by SSHing into it (I try to avoid that as 
much as possible owing to the incomprehensible password :-)  ).

There are plenty of other devices that I can use.

Thanks.

-- 



Terry Coles



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Re: [Dorset] Another Strange Networking Problem at WMT

[Stephen Wolff]

Hi there,

Any ideas what could be causing this?  We've tried power cycling the 
server

and all the associated switches.


Not all devices will respond to a ‘ping’ - they can be configured 
not to. If they return web pages, perhaps you’d be better off 
requesting one of those to test whether it is accessible over the local 
network?


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[Dorset] Another Strange Networking Problem at WMT

[Terry Coles]

Hi,

I've installed a new Python function to monitor the WiFi and (eventually) do 
something when it goes down (eg cycle WiFi or reboot).  So that problem is 
parked for the moment while I gather data.

While I was testing my new function, I stumbled across yet another problem.  
My new function pings three other devices on the Wimborne Model Town local 
network and if none of these can be contacted, it logs a "WiFi Down".  If one 
or more can be pinged, it simply lists their status (Up or Down).

As it happens, I picked the Model Town's local Webserver as one of the three 
devices.  This is only accessible from the local network side and not the 
Internet (other than via a VPB Server).  This device has consistently been 
logged as "Down" and I cannot ping it from any other device on the Town's 
local network.  However, people using phones on site and logging in via one of 
the two on-site WiFi Access Points can open the Sites Web Pages.

I've put a diagram showing the relevant part of the network at:

http://hadrian-way.co.uk/Misc/WMT_Network.pdf

If you look at the area labelled 'Railway Room Store', you will see that 
access from the Internet comes in from the left ('To / From Office Router') and 
into the lower of the two 5-Port Ethernet Switches.  Once through the VPN 
Server, traffic is routed to the upper of the two 5-Port Ethernet Switches.  I 
cannot ping from any device to the WMT Webserver, including from the VPN 
Server, but on-site users who access via the Antennas can get the web pages.

Any ideas what could be causing this?  We've tried power cycling the server 
and all the associated switches.

-- 



Terry Coles



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