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FileWave Appliances and Networking

What

TroubleshootingFileWave provides pre-built Appliances, quick to setup and peace of mind all should be well.  These currently include:

  • FileWave Server
  • Booster
  • IVS

Out of the box, FileWave Appliances are configured to use DHCP. 

Why

FileWave cannot know in advance any network configuration, since each network will have its own unique setup.  However, static IP addresses provide greater reliability of service and faster data exchange with Debianthe Booster


When managing your network’s devices, it’s not uncommonaim to encounterguarantee issuesuptime.  As such, although the Appliances are built with DHCP (Dynamicconfigured, Hostthis Configurationshould Protocol)be assignments,addressed especiallyon wheninitial specificconfiguration devices—suchof asthe ourAppliance.

Debian

Information

Booster

The fileserver—failfollowing articles offer details for configuring static addresses on FileWave Appliances:

However, it is also possible to receiveuse the correctDHCP IP address.reservations, This can be a frustrating scenario, particularly when you’ve reservedforcing an IP address forper MAC address; configured on the device,DHCP butserver instead.

Troubleshooting

Example customer report to the systemFileWave endsSupport upTeam:

with

Report

something

“Despite entirelyhaving different. Below, we’ll walk through common troubleshooting steps fora DHCP issuesIP andreservation what commands can help resolve them


Conflicting DHCP Servers


Our customer recently reported an issue where their Debianthe Booster wasn’twas not being assigned the correctdefined IPIP.”

address,

Resolution

despite

In havingthis ainstance, DHCPworking reservation set up for it. After some investigation, they discovered that two DHCP servers were operating onwith the same network, both of which were attempting to assign different IPs tocustomer, the sameFileWave device.Support Thisteam createdhelped aidentify conflict, where the device kept reverting to an undesired IP address.


Customer Resolution:


“Good news! Shortly after we got off the call, Debbie figured out that she needed to release the IP information from BOTH2 DHCP servers andoffering recreate the information in BOTH DHCP servers.”

situation highlights how multiple DHCP servers can complicate IP assignments if they aren’t synchronized properly. Below are steps to troubleshoot similar issues with DHCP on your network.


Step-by-Step Troubleshooting DHCP Issues with Debian Booster


1. Check if the Device is Getting the Correct IP


The first step when troubleshooting is to verify whether the Debian Booster fileserver is receiving the correct IP address. You can check the current IP address with the following command:


ip a


Lookaddresses for the inet field under the correct network interface (typically eth0 or ens3). If this doesn’tsame match the reserved IP, it’s time to dig deeper.


2. Releasesubnet and Renewonly theone DHCP Lease


Often, DHCP issues can be resolved by releasing and renewing the IP lease. On a Debian system, this can be done using the dhclient command. Here’s how to proceed:


• Release the current IP address:


sudo dhclient -r eth0


This command tells the system to release the IP address for the eth0 network interface, effectively dropping the current lease.


• Request a new IP address from the DHCP server:


sudo dhclient eth0


This command will request a new lease from the DHCP server for the eth0 interface. Ideally, the system should receive the reserved IP address after running this command.


3. Check for Multiple DHCP Servers


As our customer discovered, having multiple DHCP servers on the same network can cause devices to get conflicting IP addresses. This can happen when:


• DHCP servers aren’t properly synchronized.

• One server holds an old lease for the device while the other issues a new lease.


If your network uses multiple DHCP servers, make sure that both arewas configured to assign the correct static IP.

Recommendation

The following considerations should be noted:

  • Where multiple DHCP servers are considered necessary to server a subnet, ensure each DHCP server is configured for a unique addresses pool; multiple DHCP servers should not be configured to provide the same reservedaddresses in a given subnet. 
  • Since only one DHCP server should provide any one single IP for thea Debiansubnet, Booster.when Releasingmixing andDHCP renewingwith static reservations, only one server can be configured to offer an IP for any one MAC address in a given subnet.
  • The consequence of the IP on both DHCP servers can resolve the issue. To ensure proper DHCP assignment:


    1. Log into each DHCP server.

    2. Release the DHCP leaseabove: for Debianstatic Boosterreservations, ononly both servers.

    3. Recreate or verify the reservation for the correct IP address on both servers.

     4. Renew the IP lease on Debian Booster using the dhclient commands shown above.


    4. Verify DHCP Configuration


    Sometimes the issue might be due to misconfigurations on the DHCP server itself. Key things to check:


    • DHCP Scope: Ensure that the IP address reserved for the Debian Booster is within the correct range and isn’t being handed out to other devices.

    • Reservation Settings: Double-check thatadd the MAC address associatedfor witha device on one DHCP server for that subnet, which is handling the Debianrange Boosterof the desired IP.

Overlapping address pools and relying on DHCP synchronisation is correctlynot linkedrecommended.

to

The below table shows some commands that were useful during the reservedtroubleshooting IP.of the described example issue:

CommandDescription
ip a

Show network interfaces, including IP, MAC addresses, etc.
ls /sys/class/net

List just the names of the network interfaces

dhclient <name of network interface>

Refresh the client lease of the provided network interface

arp -a

Display the network neighbour cache

Examples:

'ip' command listing two defined interfaces.  In the example, 'ens192' is the active network interface for all external traffic.

# ip a
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host noprefixroute 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: ens192: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:0c:29:1d:1c:75 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    altname enp11s0
    inet 10.85.1.9/24 brd 10.85.1.255 scope global ens192
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

'lo' is the local loopback address

•Assists Leasein Time: Ensuredisplaying the leaseMAC timeaddress isn’tif set too long, which could delay the effect of any changes to reservations.


5. Checkrequired for DHCP Conflictsstatic IP reservation


The below command more simplistically displays the names of the interfaces alone:

# ls /sys/class/net
ens192	lo

Were an appliance to pick up an 'incorrect' IP, it may be necessary to force the device to establish a new IP from the DHCP server.  Using the above example, the network interface name is 'ens192'.  Therefore the command would appear as:

# dhclient ens192

The dhclient command should be ran as root

YouThe 'arp' command can checkbe ifuseful therein are any conflicting IP addresses on youridentifying network usingconflicts.  The below example shows the followingDHCP/DNS commandserver, onalong the server:


arp -a


This will show the IP addresses and MAC addresses of devices on the network. If you seewith two devices withthat the sameFileWave IP address (including Debian Booster), it’s a clear sign that a DHCP conflict exists, potentially caused by multiple DHCP servers or an incorrectly configured device.


Preventing DHCP Conflicts


To avoid future DHCP conflicts, consider the following best practices:


 1. Use a Single DHCP Server or Implement Failover: If your network requires multiple DHCP servers for redundancy, ensure they are configured to share leases properly using DHCP failover protocols.

 2. Scope Splitting: Split the DHCP scope so that each serverAppliance is responsiblenow foraware.

# arp -a
differentLinksys38496.home IP(10.85.1.1) range,at avoidingd8:9f:80:4c:24:67 overlap.
[ether] on ens192
FW1063.home (10.85.1.230) at 5c:96:cf:db:62:3b [ether] on ens192
ml1063.home (10.85.1.136) at ac:d0:74:68:23:6d [ether] on ens192

 3. Periodic Review of DHCP Logs: DHCP logs can provide insights into how leases are being handled and can help you identify any misconfigurations.


Conclusion


DHCP issues, such as not receiving the correct IP address, can often be traced back to conflicts with multiple DHCP servers or incorrect lease settings. Releasing and renewing the IP using dhclient is a key step in troubleshooting. Additionally, ensuring that DHCP servers are properly synchronized or scoped can prevent future issues with your Debian Booster or other network devices. If you’re encountering persistent DHCP problems, reviewing your network configuration and checking for redundant DHCP servers is a good place to start.

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