Routing assistance..

LeaUK · 11th May 2008

Hi All

I'm having difficulty trying to figure out why I can't access virtualiron.com from my Virgin ISP and secondly dealing with their 1st-line support.

I've provided as much detail as I understand, but still they say 'have your switched off your firewall' repeatedly etc...etc.. and it's now driving me nuts! But is there anything else I can provide in terms of technical info so as to wake up their network team and bypass 1st-line...

My last email contained something like the following info...

Quote:

I cannot access the following web site using IE 6 from WinXP, it simply forwards the request to search.live.com.

So far I have:

1. Connected PC directly to modem:

Tracing route to www.virtualiron.com [209.29.148.102] over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 16 ms 7 ms 8 ms x.x.x.x

2 7 ms 6 ms 8 ms x.x.x.x

3 7 ms 8 ms 7 ms pc-xx.xx.xx.xx-bn.blueyonder.co.uk [xx.xx.xx.xx]

4 * * * Request timed out.

5 * * * Request timed out.

6 * * * Request timed out.

7 10 ms 12 ms 12 ms 193.159.225.237

8 99 ms 101 ms 102 ms 217.239.40.78

9 * * 212.184.27.22 reports: Destination net unreachable.

2. Tried from different PCs in my house - no change

3. Tried from other ISP, all OK

4. Disabled Windows firewall.

5. Disabled third-party firewall.

6. Cleared Internet cache and cookies

Am I missing something here...?

Ok, so virtualiron doesn't respond to ICMP and therefore I will get the destination unreachable at some point, but my other ISP gets much closer..

the last few routers being:

9 105 ms 105 ms 105 ms tlidc-inet-core01.ca.telus.com [207.219.30.97]
10 107 ms 105 ms 106 ms tlidc-colo1-sw01.ca.telus.com [207.219.30.1]
11 * * * Request timed out.

telus being the IP range owner

Cranky · 11th May 2008

It's probably related to:
http://www.webhostchat.co.uk/forums/...ghlight=virgin

PaulC · 11th May 2008

Probably not a huge help, bur from Virgin cable in Manchester it works fine, the only difference is this is the ex-NTL network.

damien_ls · 12th May 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cranky

It's probably related to:
http://www.webhostchat.co.uk/forums/...ghlight=virgin

Andrew already beat me to posting about the above. Beyond that, one easy way to "confirm" that it isn't related to your particular PC / network is to use a laptop: take it to your friend's house (non-Virgin Media) and ensure working from your laptop there.

Take your laptop back home, and watch the magic as Virgin continue to fail you. Then report to Virgin that you've eliminated your computer and all software contained within it (including firewall, browser, OS etc.) and request that they escalate your ticket to the network team for more in-depth investigation. If they won't do that, ask them to send an engineer to check on your modem (supplied+owned by Virgin?) as "the fault must surely be there"...?

Overall I would suggest repeatedly explaining the rigorous steps you've followed to rule out any issue on your side, and request that they apply equal rigor to their side

Don't be afraid to ask them to escalate to a more senior colleague, or the further steps they would like you to follow to further rule out the software/hardware at your side causing these issues.

Would be very interested to hear your progress about this so please keep us posted - from what we've heard from our unlucky customers using Virgin they're not so great at the old customer service...

The only way Virgin will ever fix these issues is if end users like you get onto them and are persistent about the problems it's causing you as a paying Virgin customer (they're less interested about hearing from us service providers). Most of all, if they don't help then ask them for directions to the door so you can leave their 'service'

chrisbyrd · 12th May 2008

another handy little tool you can use to check your site from elsewhere is http://ipinfo.info/netrenderer/

put your\a URL in the text field at the top

LeaUK · 13th May 2008

Thanks guys for all the info. The laptop is a great idea and infact I'll do exactly that. But I've tried on multiple PCs thinking that's a reasonable effort however I guess there could be a common denominator.

What bugs me is that they repeatedly fail to read the technical I include EVERY email, and keep saying 'please switch off your router/firewall' etc...

Yes I too am in the service industry but at least we read the content of the whole email first.

Oh the last one was rather amusing - 'sorry the internet is out of our control' etc..etc..

ARRRRGGH

LeaUK · 13th May 2008

http://www.webhostchat.co.uk/forums/...ghlight=virgin

I really should join up properly, another post I can't access - but thanks.

LeaUK · 13th May 2008

Paul

Can you provide some traceert details - see if there's a clue in there. Feel free to PM.

Many thanks

BurtyB · 13th May 2008

Works fine from Nottingham (ex NTL) too:

Tracing route to www.virtualiron.com [209.29.151.115]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms lan-1.gw.8086.net [194.50.88.65]
2 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
3 17 ms 9 ms 7 ms 10.225.204.1
4 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms nott-t2cam1-b-v158.inet.ntl.com [80.4.46.213]
5 11 ms 11 ms 10 ms nott-t3core-1b-ge-011-0.inet.ntl.com [195.182.17
4.233]
6 14 ms 13 ms 48 ms nth-bb-b-as1-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.174.173]
7 15 ms 15 ms 26 ms tele-ic-1-as0-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.184.2]
8 17 ms 15 ms 14 ms 193.159.225.237
9 102 ms 101 ms 103 ms 217.239.40.78
10 101 ms 101 ms 123 ms 212.184.27.22
11 275 ms 157 ms 107 ms EYRKONAEDR07.bb.telus.com [154.11.6.70]
12 103 ms 102 ms 100 ms tlidc-inet-core01.ca.telus.com [207.219.30.97]
13 126 ms 103 ms 102 ms tlidc-colo1-sw01.ca.telus.com [207.219.30.1]
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.

Or with tcptraceroute from Linux:
traceroute to www.virtualiron.com (209.29.151.115), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 lan-1.gw.8086.net (194.50.88.65) 0.790 ms 1.007 ms 1.335 ms
2 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 5.030 ms 5.194 ms 5.318 ms
3 10.225.204.1 (10.225.204.1) 11.967 ms 14.491 ms 18.855 ms
4 nott-t2cam1-b-v158.inet.ntl.com (80.4.46.213) 27.532 ms 30.205 ms 37.138 ms
5 nott-t3core-1b-ge-011-0.inet.ntl.com (195.182.174.233) 41.297 ms 45.393 ms 51.102 ms
6 nth-bb-b-as1-0.inet.ntl.com (213.105.174.173) 56.881 ms 74.069 ms 63.273 ms
7 tele-ic-1-as0-0.inet.ntl.com (62.253.184.2) 69.076 ms 69.531 ms 73.119 ms
8 193.159.225.237 (193.159.225.237) 77.273 ms 73.534 ms 76.151 ms
9 217.239.40.78 (217.239.40.78) 162.416 ms 160.413 ms 161.930 ms
10 212.184.27.22 (212.184.27.22) 159.538 ms 159.636 ms 159.607 ms
11 EYRKONAEDR07.bb.telus.com (154.11.6.70) 157.275 ms 156.517 ms 154.117 ms
12 tlidc-inet-core01.ca.telus.com (207.219.30.97) 150.795 ms 150.316 ms 153.183 ms
13 tlidc-colo1-sw01.ca.telus.com (207.219.30.1) 154.765 ms 153.845 ms 156.057 ms
14 hippocrates.nisgroup.com (209.29.209.194) 158.574 ms 102.348 ms 104.490 ms
15 www.nisgroup.com (209.29.151.115) 481.657 ms 476.698 ms 471.986 ms

ChrisB.

PaulC · 13th May 2008

Lea,

Trace route from ex-NTL in Manchester:

Tracing route to www.virtualiron.com [209.29.151.115]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 9 ms 17 ms 24 ms 10.87.124.1
3 7 ms 8 ms 9 ms oldh-t2cam1-a-ge95.inet.ntl.com [80.5.164.13]
4 8 ms 11 ms 36 ms oldh-dpim1-8-coc-1-gw.service.virginmedia.net [86.28.65.41]
5 29 ms 7 ms 19 ms man-bb-a-as0-0.inet.ntl.com [213.105.175.1]
6 15 ms 26 ms 13 ms 212.43.162.214
7 * * 47 ms tele-ic-1-as0-0.inet.ntl.com [62.253.184.2]
8 31 ms 17 ms 17 ms 193.159.225.237
9 103 ms 109 ms 105 ms 217.239.40.78
10 103 ms 100 ms 101 ms 212.184.27.22
11 102 ms 103 ms 125 ms EYRKONAEDR07.bb.telus.com [154.11.6.32]
12 105 ms 111 ms 125 ms tlidc-inet-core01.ca.telus.com [207.219.30.97]
13 102 ms 121 ms 122 ms tlidc-colo1-sw01.ca.telus.com [207.219.30.1]
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.

LeaUK · 14th May 2008

Thanks for the trace info.

Interesting, I can't ping EYRKONAEDR07.bb.telus.com [154.11.6.32] from Virgin but I can from my other ISP. This router is also the common denomonator.

Here's the interesting part of the tracert from other ISP:

7 91 ms 91 ms 91 ms nyc-c00-pos-1-26-1.oc48-ash-c00-pos-1-16-1.wvfib
r.net [66.216.1.2]
8 101 ms 102 ms 101 ms eyrkonaedr07.bb.telus.com [154.11.6.70]
9 105 ms 105 ms 105 ms tlidc-inet-core01.ca.telus.com [207.219.30.97]
10 106 ms 106 ms 106 ms tlidc-colo1-sw01.ca.telus.com [207.219.30.1]
11 * * * Request timed out.

BTW - Virgin told me to contact virtualiron.com as they will know why I can't view their web page.... Oh dear...

Laptop test tonight

LeaUK · 14th May 2008

BTW, even though I've disabled all firewalls and placed my test PC in the DMZ (of hardware router) I never receive the ICMP echo (destination is always unreachable). I have to connect test PC directly to cable modem to get a WAN IP.

It must be a firewall issue, but where?

No Windows firewall
No third-party firewall - or at least it's switched off (ZoneAlarms)

I see from the previous tracert's that ICMP traverses NATs so a little confused...

LeaUK · 14th May 2008

Solved!

Laptop connected fine so I was now worried, however I noticed it obtained a different IP, and a different DNS...ah ha! The reason is because the WAN DHCP is dictated by the MAC presented to the CM from the router (which happens to be a clone from the PC I was testing from), so a change to the laptop with a different MAC and I receive different (one assumes updated/corrected) DHCP info.

Trick was to change the 'virtual' MAC presented by the router to the CM (thankfully my good old Linky allows) which forced the CM to update the WAN DHCP info and hey presto, all my machines can now access the site and tracert fine.

So, it was Virgin after all - had me worried for at least 5 mins though!

Cheers all - on with crafting an email to their so called 'support'.... ;-)
Lea