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Desperately need some help to troubleshoot weird network problem
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Desperately need some help to troubleshoot weird network problem

DrukpaDrukpa Member

I need some help troubleshooting a network problem. Home ISP says its the server's network to blame, and host says there's problem on ISP side. With little knowledge, its hard to see where the problem is.

Problem is, there's a lot of packet loss and file transfer speeds go down to less than 100Kb/s.

Following is what I have noticed:

  • There's no problem connecting to majority of the websites, no drops, speed remains stable (~3Mb/s). Problem only occurs with my server and a handful of other sites (not the same region/location as my site).

  • Using a different ISP, I can connect properly to my server without any problems.

What I am confused about is, if its my ISP's problem, I can connect to almost every other site out there (facebook,youtube,etc) without any problems. Hell, I can even connect without problems to a different data center that is located in the same region as my server.

If its my Host's problem, I can connect without any issues if I use a different ISP.

I really can't imagine moving my server to another provider (too much work, and files/data to transfer) and changing ISP wouldn't help too, since most visitors to my site are using my current ISP.

Would really really really appreciate if someone could help me pinpoint the problem so I can make my complaints convincingly.

MTR Report (To server and reverse)

Comments

  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider

    Do you have an MTR from the other ISP to the server?

    If it was the server then everyone would have the same issue, I suspect it is something in between though and maybe you are only hitting it in between with the route from 1 ISP.

    With all that said MTR is a good indicator but ICMP prioritization and dropping is getting more common which gives you false positives.

    To get a definitive answer you will need to install wireshark and capture some traffic when you get the issue.

    If you want some help understanding the output I am happy to go through the .pcap file for you and give you a summary and the info to give to your ISP.

    Thanked by 1Drukpa
  • DrukpaDrukpa Member

    Thanks a ton for the help. I wonder who's responsibility it would be if the problem is in between the ISP and server. In the above, if its a problem with AboveNet (which neither is my ISP nor my server host) , wonder who I should complain to.

    I have wireshark installed, what should I capture? Should I do a file download, traceroute, mtr, ping, etc.? The problem is severe from 8AM - 6PM my local time, which gives me reason to believe my ISP's having some congestion problem during peak hours, but at the same time, majority of all other sites work properly. If its a problem with their international gateway, shouldn't all sites be affected when there's a congestion?

    Anyway, can't thank you enough. Been pulling my hair for days now.

    @AnthonySmith said:
    Do you have an MTR from the other ISP to the server?

    If it was the server then everyone would have the same issue, I suspect it is something in between though and maybe you are only hitting it in between with the route from 1 ISP.

    With all that said MTR is a good indicator but ICMP prioritization and dropping is getting more common which gives you false positives.

    To get a definitive answer you will need to install wireshark and capture some traffic when you get the issue.

    If you want some help understanding the output I am happy to go through the .pcap file for you and give you a summary and the info to give to your ISP.

  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider

    just do a full capture, no filters, ideals a TCP related issue 'website' as that will give the most info, I would only request that you keep it short, e.g. start capture, browse to a site that fails, if fails stop capture asap, that will save several thousand lines :)

    Close any email clients, IM clients etc or anything that uses your connection constantly to cut down on crap to filter through.

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