Devices drop network - Wired and Wireless
So Prior to Firewalla, my setup was simply cable modem with my Synology RT2600AC in DMZ. So my synology is performing everything for my network and I also have 2 synology mesh units. With this setup, I never get drops of devices from the wired or wireless. I have desktops on wired and can keep my gaming running for days with no issues. Pi-Hole is running on a Rasberry Pi and all devices are using pihole for DNS.
I recently got Firewalla gold and setup as a Router. So my synology basically became a AP for wireless only. Everything was fine and working but I noticed things would drop from the network. I thought maybe ATT even thought dont usually have this issue. But it continued. My game would drop which was a key give away something is wrong. So I the process of trying to check Firewalla, I thought let me setup a seperate VLAN for Wired and wireless and see if that helps. Well somehow that put the device in a bad state or I configured something wrong and could not get internet on any device.
I basically remove Firewalla and went back to my original setup while I reset my firewalla with the image. Everything working fine, no drops on network at least for 2 days.
I reset my Firewalla and said let me just use as a simple mode for now. Plugged in and all good with the synology. Internet working. Devices detected in Firewalla. But then again, drops. Nest cams on wireless started to drop. They reconnect but it just seems to drop devices.
Any ideas on this or where to even start to look? I have almost 50 devices on my network between wired and wireless.
Thanks,
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I would try to setup everything in a flat network as before, don't use VLAN's until this flat network is stable.
As for the stability problem, is it only related to gaming? When the problems happen, would it possible to do this
ping 1.1.1.1
ping [your firewalla gateway]
nslookup firewalla.com
and see which ones are failing; If 1.1.1.1 failed but ping firewalla works, the issue likely on the WAN side. If both ping failed, firewalla is dead. And if both pings passed and nslookup failed, the issue likely related to DNS.
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I was setup as a flat network. In fact the VLAN didnt work as I messed some setting up somewhere the caused me to revert the entire network to Synolgoy as the main router.
It does not seems to be related to gaming however, one very strange thing I noticed just now as we speak is that I got a gaming alarm and at the same time my nest camera went offline. Not sure how long it took for nest to send me the offline message. It might be coincidence but I will keep a eye on that to see if any relation.
The thing that is tricky is that it just a drop for a few seconds and then reconnects. What I can do is keep a batch file running with a continuous ping output to a log file. Once file for a ping to each IP. That way when it drops, can review the logs. Hoping that will be ok.
Not sure if I can script a batch file that will do a nslookup when the ping fails. Will try to do by hand. Worst case will create a quick utility that can ping and on error do a nslookup. Will give above a shot and report back.
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@Nishal, make sure you do a quick check on the hardware side as well. Including cables connecting to your router, recently we found a couple of cases, where the customer was using an older (unknown) cable, that was causing the link to flap. When the link flaps, the network will be down for a few seconds.
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Just a update. While the game did not have a issue the strange thing was a single camera out of 4 nest cams kept dropping. It dropped consistently twice a hour for about 5 hours. I turned off Firewalla and the emails stopped. I left it like that for 2 hours, no drop. I turned Firewalla back on and drops again.
The ping report to 1.1.1.1 and Firewalla had no "Timed out" or unable to reach errors except for the 2 hours when I turned Firewalla off.
I will say one thing that I did not put the Firewalla back into router mode. Just too many changes that I need to make. This is in Simple mode and I know Synology is not in the compatibility list. It does work as I can see the data graphs start to update when I turn it on.
Any thoughts? I have turned it off again for now.
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A this point, I think I will leave the Firewalla gold off until Synology is supported. I am using it in Simple mode but I am getting very clear drops of devices randomly when it is on versus off.
I see Synology is in the Experimental mode as Alpha. I will wait for that to get released. Is there any timeline for that? If you need to me test anything and think the Experimental mode is worth a shot, I have no problems helping test.
Simple enough to turn on and off in simple mode.
I am hesitant to go back t router mode just because it takes a lot to reset my network back just due to the sheer devices and ports configurations.
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I decided to upgrade to the latest BETA and at the same time turn on Experimental Simple Mode where my Synology is being tested and I can say, I am not having the dropping issue anymore. So I will keep it running. I think less than the BETA is was the Experimental mode that helped (I think). Lets see. Fingers crossed.
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Giving this a shot again. Setup Firwalla Gold in Router mode. Changes made:
1. Arris Cable Modem set to IP Pass Through to the Firewalla on Port 4.
2. Firewalla set to Router mode with DHCP mode (Disabled active protect for now)
3. Synology Router and Mesh set to Bridge AP mode for wireless support only. Connected Port 3 of Firewalla to WAN port on Synology
4. Rest of network connected to back to Synology Router for Wired devices as a Hub.
So far so good. Will leave it at this for some time. If there is anything else I should set or check, let me know. Only thing I left is a Pi that is running AdGuard Home where I have the optional DNS set to that IP in Firewalla.
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I seem to be having similar problems where connection is dropped completely and repeatedly every 10-30 seconds but then comes back within seconds.
My evidence is threefold: 1) I can't hold a remote screenshare connection for longer than above time, 2) speedtest.net will constantly fail before finished with a connection error warning on multiple devices, and 3) multiple apps on my laptop that can download and update in-app constantly fail during their long download portion, making it impossible to update.
When I unplug my Firewalla Blue Plus, I have none of these problems. My network seems completely solid. If I plug it back in the problems immediately start exactly as before.
All devices tested are wireless (no ethernet devices have been used to test). My Blue Plus is running in Simple Mode next to a DSL modem as router and multiple wireless nodes connected via ethernet around the house to provide WiFi (not using the modem/router for WiFi). I've restarted everything multiple times over the last 2 weeks or so the problems have been happening without success (though I'm not sure on that timeline because most of what I do on my network is barely affected by repeated quick network drops such as websites which eventually load and video/audio streaming which is buffering enough for it to not be noticeable).
I'm probably going to have to reset the Blue Plus though I loathe to lose all of the device names, settings, groups, and much more custom bits I've devoted to this setup.
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@Cliff
The problem can be different things.
If this is your first install, and you are new to the blue plus, usually this may be an issue with simple mode compatibility with your modem/router. When this happens, the best way to verify is to switch to DHCP mode and see if the problem goes away.
If you are running for a while ... then the problem is related to a rule or something you configured. Here you can start turning off / pause rules ... and make sure they are not disturbing your network. (a reset will definitely help, since it wipes the rules). Most of the time, simply pausing rules will work. To verify this, you can change the problem devices (device->[find the device]->turn on emergency access) to emergency access, if this works, then it is a rule problem
If both of these don't help, send help@fierwalla.com a note, we can help you out. do include your router model.
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I will leave a update in hopes it might help also. I went ahead about 1 month ago and setup firewalla again but I did it as the main router. Google Fiber straight into Firewalla (No google modem) and firewalla to my Synology for my Wi-Fi. Stopped the synology as being nothing more than a Wi-Fi AP mesh system. So far, all running great. No disconnects, speed is 1gig wired with all monitoring enabled.
I will chalk the problem up to incompatibility with the other modes and synology.
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