Orbi wired ports fail when Unraid server plugged in

[cisellis]

Howdy all, this is more of a general networking issue, but it's specific to my Unraid server and I would love any thoughts you have on how I could do further troubleshooting. I have been chasing network failures off and on for a couple of months now after moving to a larger house. Before that I had no issues at all.

 

The issue is that occasionally all hardwired ports on the RBK50 Orbi router fail and will no longer respond at all, but wireless internet continues to work fine. When that happens, you can't connect to the RBK50 or the internet from anything hardwired. Satellite RBS20s still work fine if they are connected wireless and the router still responds if you're using the Orbi phone app from your phone. 

 

While troubleshooting, I think I tracked the problem to my Unraid server. It appears that SOMETIMES when my 'Anniversary' build Unraid server (which runs a GA-7PESH2 motherboard) is plugged into the RBK50 at all (even into a Netgear switch that is plugged into the RBK50) it kills all the hardwired ports on the RBK50. It doesn't happen all the time and once it has happened, the only way to fix it seems to be unplugging the Unraid server from the network and fully power cycling the RBK50. If you plug the Unraid server in again immediately, it often kills the RBK50 wired ports again. If you wait a while and plug it back in, it seems to often go back to working for days or weeks. 

 

I can't find any logs on Unraid or the RBK50 that point to any issues. I am out of ideas besides "replace the RBK50". Any thoughts on what I could be missing here?

 

Edited July 7, 2021 by cisellis

[Squid]

I had something somewhat similar with my TP-Link Deco system.  Random network dropouts of the Deco's.

 

While it may or may not be your problem, my solution was off of my main switch I ran another cheap switch which I dedicated specifically to the deco's and had everything else plugged into the main one.  Worked for me because I only use the Deco's as AP's.

 

(There's a specific protocol used by mesh networks, which many switches block)

[cisellis]

Okay, I'm bringing this topic back with an update. I did lots of testing and never figured out what was going on here, plugging things into different ports and replacing switches, etc. The Orbi issue of the hardwired ports dying with no warning got so bad (daily) that I wrote it off as the hardware failing and generating some kind of incompatibility with something on my network. I sold them to someone for cheap and bought a Ubiquiti Dream Machine and 3 access points lites to replace everything. I have the 3 APs hardwired into the UDM and the 4th port has an Netgear unmanaged 8-port switch. The unraid server is plugged into that Netgear switch. along with a few other small things (a raspberry pi, etc). I segmented a bunch of stuff into VLANs for IoT and generally things are way more reliable.

 

HOWEVER, I am still occasionally having this issue where it seems like the Unraid server is killing the network and I have no idea why. Example, I noticed the network seemed slower yesterday at some point, but it still worked and I was busy with the kids, etc. By 10 PM last night I get "the wifi isn't working at all" from my wife and alexa is complaining "no network" etc. I reboot the UDM, no change. wifi is up and my phone is connected, but traffic just isn't working at all. I go downstairs, power off the unraid server manually. The wifi instantly starts flowing traffic at full speed and suddenly my light switches and alexa respond, etc. 

 

Any tips on what to do here? I can run a trace and know enough networking to be dangerous but I'm not a pro. I have a UDM that I can go through logs, etc. I'm trying to figure out how to troubleshoot what is happening in these situations where it seems like something in the unraid server is DOSing the rest of the network at random intervals (monthly?) I'm wondering if I need to do some packet captures or something when this is happening, but I'm not sure what I'd look for or what tools to use. Suggestions welcome!