Network freezes up

  • Thread starter Thread starter Stephen Roberts
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Stephen Roberts

I have a small network that I have been experiencing an
unusual problem that I can't seem to pinpoint. Every now
and then my network 'freezes up', all my connectivity goes
south somewhere. I can't ping any nodes at all. I thought
at first it was the switch and swapped that with another
but the problem continued. I have since upgraded the
switch to a 3Com Superstack and the problem surfaced
again. I suspect that one of my workstations has a
malicious executable running but don't know how to test
this theory.

What steps and tools could I use to track this problem
down? What would you people do? I should add that this
network is my personal network at home (20 nodes) and I
am 'between jobs' so expensive solutions are not within my
grasp.

Thanks in advance. Network specs:

6 servers W2K SP4 (Domain Controllers, IIS, Exchange and
File Servers)
1 server running WinProxy 4 dial-up connection to Internet
Workstations W2K Pro SP4
1 Workstation XP Pro SP1
2 Win98SE - Games machines, hardly used ;o)
3Com Superstack II Switch 3300
 
look for machines infected with blaster, nachi, welchia, or any similar type
of port scan type virus, they can generate so much traffic that it saturates
networks. when it happens you can try to see if one port on the switch is
very active, maybe unplug them one at a time until it stops. i don't know
if the 3com stack has tools necessary to do traffic monitoring remotely, you
would have to check their documents for that.
 
try monitoring your network with ethereal or something simular. at the time
of theb outage you might see a certain ip adress more than others. i would
guess this is the boxen needing the attention the most.
 
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