Random False Disconnects

MartynK

Over the last few weeks my Fingbox has suddenly started to tell e that devices are leaving and then rejoining the network, sometimes I am getting emails every 2 or 3 minutes. Its not specific to a device, my VM server is reported as offline, but the VMs are running fine, next it was my Wifi router, even though when I logged in I can see its running fine. I have rebooted the Fingbox but its not helped.
Anyone with any ideas on how to find the problem ?

kltaylor

Hi @MartynK thanks for asking your question.

I would start performing some standard PING requests and monitor those to see if there is a possible hardware issue that's causing the disconnects.  PING Google and open a separate Command Prompt to PING your router's gateway IP address.

If there are no disconnects happening through hardware you can increase the response time to be notified about devices leaving and re-joining the network to reduce those.

Robin

Hi @MartynK
Thanks for your post. The reason you may be experiencing this issue in relation to alerts for specific devices, is that you might have changed the state change alert from default value to a different value. The usual default value is 20 minutes. Sometimes, when the device is not in use, it may go to sleep mode and then if the state change is set to the lowest value of 1 or 2 minutes, it can be recorded as offline or out of range. So, when it returns back from the sleep mode, it will be marked as 'Online' and thus providing you with an alert. If the state change alert value is set to more than 20 minutes, then until that time period is finished, that device will still be marked 'Online' and only after that time period it will be recorded as 'Offline', thus providing you with an alert. 

In order to change the alert settings, please click on the device from the device list and then scroll down to 'State Change Timeout(auto)' . You can then set the value to at least 20 minutes. This will resolve your issue.

kltaylor

^^ what he said.

MartynK

Hi, thanks for the replies, but I dont think they answer the probelm.

As I said for example, two devices that have started to alert are my VM server and my Wifi Router.
Take for example my Wifi router, its online all the time as it is also the switch between my internet connection and my Fingbox. While seeing these disconnects happening, I am working on  my laptop without it being disconnected from the wife or in fact is the 20 odd other devices that connect via wifi.
The VM server is currently running 2 VMs, they are also monitored as they both have unique IPs and share the same NIC as the actual VM server, its only the VM server that is alerting, not the VMs so that can rule out the VM server NIC having a hardware issue.
I have run ping tests for a couple of hours before posting and I am not seeing a single break in the reply from the devices when the issue happens.
I have also not changed any of the settings within Fingbox for alerting with the exception of some devices (like my TV) I have just switched off the alerts as I dont want an email every time the TV is switched on and off.

So I am stuck.

Robin

Hi @MartynK
Are yous still facing the trouble? I would like to know if the alerts only happen when the VM server is running or not? It may be related to VM if it happens only when the VM is running.

MartynK

I just turned alerts off for this, which is not what I wanted to do.
Its not the VM, its the physical machine.

Robin

MartynK said:

I just turned alerts off for this, which is not what I wanted to do.
Its not the VM, its the physical machine.

So just to understand you better, the alerts only happen when a specific machine is Online? Is that right?

MartynK

Yes, this happens to a few specific devices on my network.
One being the physical VM server the other being my Wifi router.
When the its reported that the VM servers NIC has gone offline, the VMs running on the server are not reported offline.
Likewise, when Fing reports that my Wifi Router (which is running AP mode) goes offline, everything in the flat is still running and has not disconnected from the Wifi, so obviously its still online also.

Robin

MartynK said:

Yes, this happens to a few specific devices on my network.
One being the physical VM server the other being my Wifi router.
When the its reported that the VM servers NIC has gone offline, the VMs running on the server are not reported offline.
Likewise, when Fing reports that my Wifi Router (which is running AP mode) goes offline, everything in the flat is still running and has not disconnected from the Wifi, so obviously its still online also.

From the gist of it, I believe the issue is related to VM server and once the NIC has gone offline, Fing app is confused between the VM server and router network. 
Also, You can try. to increase the state change alert for specific devices that provide alerts. The usual default value is 20 minutes. If the state change alert value is set to more than 20 minutes, then until that time period is finished, that device will still be marked Online and only after that time period it will be recorded as Offline, thus providing you with an alert.  

In order to change the alert settings, please click on the device from the device list and then scroll down to State Change Timeout(auto) and set the value to at least 20 minutes. It will resolve your issue. 

MartynK

The NIC does not go offline, the VMs running are connected to the internet and have a high network load.
The only time they go offline is when I shutdown or reboot the VM.
The Host PC obviously is not shutting the NIC down as it has multiple VMs running on it.