Network becomes unresponsive, mostly...

[Lyttek]

Not sure how to approach this problem, as it's fairly intermittent...

The server will become unresponsive to network traffic except ping. I can ping eth0, but can't ssh, http or any other method. If I log into the console, I can ping out via IP, but not using any DNS name. Restarting CSF has no effect; restarting the network service clears it up.

Thoughts on how to troubleshoot this quickly when it happens next? The phone starts ringing pretty quickly, which gets me flustered and my troubleshooting skills go right out the window

[PlatinumServerM]

You will have to check the logs while it is happening to see what is going on. That's the first step to debugging this intermittent issue. Depending on what it says, that will point you in the next direction.

[Lyttek]

Ya... I've been waiting for it to happen again... but since I'm watching, NOW it won't happen

IYO, what would be the top logs to watch? Tools to mess with? This is the first time I've seen a partially-working network issue, so I'm unsure where to begin...

[Lyttek]

Still having problems...

Had seen this in dmesg, which is new:

apic error on cpu0 60 60

Disabled apic at boot... no change. Not seeing that error now, but eth0 became sorta unresponsive again.

When it happens, I can ping in and out using IP addresses, but not DNS names. http, ssh, pop/smtp all become unavailable. I can issue 'ifdown eth0' and then 'ifup eth0' and it starts working. tcip/ip problem? (as opposed to icmp, which is why pings work??)

Still looking for logs/help that will point me in the right direction...

[netlook]

Post the output of

ethtool -i eth0

and

ethtool eth0

[Lyttek]

These are the results while it's up and working...


# ethtool -i eth0

driver: via-rhine
version: 1.2.0-2.6
firmware-version:
bus-info: 0000:00:12.0

ethtool eth0

Settings for eth0:
        Supported ports: [ TP MII ]
        Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
        Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
        Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
        Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
        Speed: 100Mb/s
        Duplex: Full
        Port: MII
        PHYAD: 1
        Transceiver: internal
        Auto-negotiation: on
        Supports Wake-on: pumbg
        Wake-on: d
        Current message level: 0x00000001 (1)
        Link detected: yes

[netlook]

I would give a try for official VIA driver for this NIC - try to compile it manually - some of kernel build-in drivers have such errors (like for example Realtek R8168)

[Lyttek]

I'd failed to mention that this machine has been running for over a year with no problems, and this just started recently (two weeks ago or so). I hadn't done any updates (cpanel or system) for about a month or more.