Router wanted for server.

I am hosting my website a few miles from where I stay and the place it is there is not ussually a technical person to sort out any problems with router and I cannot tell you how many times I have to take time off work to go and reset the router or just switch it off and on to get back online.

I am looking for an asdl router that offers remote connection to it even when the network is down when its connected through the phone line so I can either reset the router remotely or re-enter the config settings remotely.

At the moment I have a linksys router at the webserver and I also have a linksys router at home which sometimes looses its signal or network when when you try play media files off the internet like iplayer or any other video files and the only solution is to power down the router and start again. I beleive it might be to do with the routers built in firewall settings that causes it to shut off but I will enquire with linksys because it happens oftenly especially with the new web aplications that are out there I have to reset the router daily.

So if anyone knows a router with a port that you can connect to like some servers that you can dial in and even install new OS remotely. I am also looking for a free softwrae that will notify me when the server looses signal so I can rectify the problem quickly.

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Comments

Mmartin_47

I have a Netgear VPN router. Theres a setting that allows it to be rebooted everyday at a certain time you specify. Not sure if that's what your looking for. To install an OS remotely, not really sure on that but if you invest in an IP KVM switch, it provides BIOS level access.

GT-Rob

Why does it need to be rebooted so often? Maybe just replacing it at all would be enough.

otherwise, there are lots of options for devices with OOB access. You can even have OOB to the server itself. Depends what your budget is.

msteinhilber

As far as your router issue, if you wanted a router that you could access out of band should your device ever need to be reset you might want to look into a Cisco ADSL router to handle this as you can get one with an aux port that you can connect to a modem to remote the device if you needed to. If you have a slower ADSL service (not ADSL2 / 2+) then you could get by with something like an inexpensive used Cisco 837 off Ebay. If you have ADSL2/2+ service then you would need a different model such as the Cisco 877 to support your line.

As far as accessing your server, the aux port is not going to give you any additional ability to remote access your server much less be able to remotely install an OS. For remote access you are best off sticking to SSH if you run Linux or something like remote desktop if you are running a Windows based web server. If you want the additional functionality of being able to load an OS and whatnot then you could be looking for either a server that included a remote access device (Dell DRAC or HP Lights-Out for example) or KVM over IP. KVM over IP is expensive however, so it probably will not be worthwhile for you.

Realistically though, it sounds as if you may just have a failing router. Most consumer level routers like your Linksys even if they sit in front of a basic web server that doesn't see a lot of traffic shouldn't need to be reset often. Odds are you can just replace your router with another half-way decent router and you'll likely be fine without the additional expense of some of the other solutions.

As far as monitoring your server, there are a TON of options out there. If you are just going to keep it simple and limited to one website and you have another computer that resides elsewhere that is up and running online all of the time, you could just run a simple PowerShell script that will run as a scheduled task to check to see if your site is up and if not shoot you an e-mail which you could direct to your cell phone. I did this for my web server as a full blown solution for multiple hosts didn't make sense to me. Check out this guy's writeup on his blog here: Dmitry's PowerBlog.

Mmartin_47

Another thing forgot to mention, the router I use has a remote management setting. This is what it says exactly on the side:

Using the Remote Management page, you can allow a user or users on the Internet to configure, upgrade and check the status of your router.

IMPORTANT: Be sure to change the router's default password to a very secure password. The ideal password should contain no dictionary words from any language, and should be a mixture of letters (both upper and lower case), numbers, and symbols. Your password can be up to 30 characters.

Turn Remote Management On
If checked, Remote Management is enabled, and connection from the Internet to this device is possible. The correct port number must be used when connecting (see below).
If not checked, management connection attempts from the Internet will be ignored.

Allow remote access by
For security, NETGEAR recommends that you restrict access to as few external IP addresses as practical.

To allow access from any IP address on the Internet, select Everyone
To allow access from a range of IP addresses on the Internet, select IP address range
Enter a beginning and ending IP address to define the allowed range.
To allow access from a single IP address on the Internet, select Only this PC
Enter the IP address that will be allowed access.
Port Number
Web browser access normally uses the standard HTTP service port 80. Netgear recommends that you use a different port number for remote management, as using port 80 will prevent the use of a Web Server on your LAN, and can be more readily discovered by hackers. Use the default (8080) or choose a port number between 1 and 65534.

The port number must be specified in your Browser when you connect.
To specify the port number:

From a remote location, start a Browser.
In the "Address" or "Location" field, enter the Internet IP address of this router (NOT the LAN IP address), followed by a colon and the port number, as follows (note that Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is enabled):
[url]https://ip_address:pn[/url]
Where:
ip_address is the Internet IP address of this router.
pn is the port number assigned on this screen.

You should then be prompted for the password for this router. (Be sure to set a strong password!)

HeroPsycho

Make sure you've got a good UPS on the router, DSL modem, and network switches (if applicable). That usually eliminates any of this kind of problems.

mishy

Message to Mmartin_47, what type of router do you have because that sounds like the router I need exactly because I need to connect mostly to the router otherwise the server has never had any problems and I will need to install OS on the server remotely.

Mmartin_47

mishy wrote:

Message to Mmartin_47, what type of router do you have because that sounds like the router I need exactly because I need to connect mostly to the router otherwise the server has never had any problems and I will need to install OS on the server remotely.

As for installing the OS remotely not sure on that but my router is a NetGear FVS318V3 VPN Router with Firewall. Works like a charm for me. Used to have this problem when I would connect from school to my servers via Remtoe Web Connection, the connection would drop. This router has solved it fo rme.

mishy

Thanks, I meant I will not need to install OS remotely because the router has been working OK, its only the router. Thanks

msteinhilber

mishy wrote:

Message to Mmartin_47, what type of router do you have because that sounds like the router I need exactly because I need to connect mostly to the router otherwise the server has never had any problems and I will need to install OS on the server remotely.

If you are having to reset your router as you mention in your post, then there is a high probability that remote management on any router will do you any bit of good in this situation.

Mmartin_47

msteinhilber wrote:

mishy wrote:

Message to Mmartin_47, what type of router do you have because that sounds like the router I need exactly because I need to connect mostly to the router otherwise the server has never had any problems and I will need to install OS on the server remotely.

If you are having to reset your router as you mention in your post, then there is a high probability that remote management on any router will do you any bit of good in this situation.

Didn't say I need to reset it, but it has a feature if you want it to reset at a certain time everyday. Never had to though.

Devin McCloud

Mishy, I have a linksys router (Befxxxx) that does the same thing. It's not failing or broken. It just can't handle the load. If it happens everyday you might want to scan that web server or test the network for errors. Mine happens maybe a couple times a week with heavy usuage. Been like that for 5 years. Usually only happens with youtube videos for me, while downloading 3mb per second and surfing 10 pages. Almost like a denial of service attack. I originally thought it was cableone and then they said it was Linksys. Linksys claims it is Cableone, so go figure. It turns out its the router. Most linksys router have remote administration built in, but if it crashes I don't know if that will help(never tested it).I just unplug mine and plug it back in. There are really designed for home use not running a web site. They work but have problems especially if your network is being used heavily, not to mention if its being pinged continually. If your going to upgrade go with Cisco, something more high end. By the way I have heard of this problem on all home routers with heavy usage!

msteinhilber

Devin McCloud wrote:

Mishy, I have a linksys router (Befxxxx) that does the same thing. It's not failing or broken. It just can't handle the load. If it happens everyday you might want to scan that web server or test the network for errors. Mine happens maybe a couple times a week with heavy usuage. Been like that for 5 years. Usually only happens with youtube videos for me, while downloading 3mb per second and surfing 10 pages. Almost like a denial of service attack. I originally thought it was cableone and then they said it was Linksys. Linksys claims it is Cableone, so go figure. It turns out its the router. Most linksys router have remote administration built in, but if it crashes I don't know if that will help(never tested it).I just unplug mine and plug it back in. There are really designed for home use not running a web site. They work but have problems especially if your network is being used heavily, not to mention if its being pinged continually. If your going to upgrade go with Cisco, something more high end. By the way I have heard of this problem on all home routers with heavy usage!

I will agree, consumer grade routers should not be used in front of any high traffic web server. But I will have to disagree that all consumer level routers will have issues sustaining a 3mbps throughput and surfing 10 pages, if you are in fact having this problem - replace your router and see if you have similar results, because it's likely a faulty router or you have other issues occuring that are common among home users who do a lot of downloading such as a ton of peers even with a slow throughput with a torrent application, or you are saturating your upload speed and thus you will begin to have latency with ACK packets.

Devin McCloud

It actually a common problem with most of the major brands, Netgear, Linksys, and D-Link. Google will reveal this problem and the thousands of posts about it.I use a Linksys and it happens occasionally. Like I said I narrowed it down to streaming video being the problem, like Mishy did. It's hard to say what his server is running, whats on the network, what router setting are configured or how secure it is. For all I know someones trying to DDOS his router or bruteforce a logon through the router. Their are to many variable to calculate his situation really. But I disagree that the router is failing. Considering I have the same symptoms, my fathers new Linksys has the same problems and my friends Netgear has the same problems. Linksys's new router comes standard with a reset button on the front of the device for this very situation, not to reset the router but to reset the connection. I called Cableone and they said it common as well with home router but business routers like Cisco equipment don't experience these problems. It hard to say whether they do since there bias and trying to sell those services.