[Solved] No network connection to server after switching Network bonding off in settings - what to do ?

[ullibelgie]

It seems, as a newbie, I have caused a serious fault in the Unraid settings, which results in all network communication is terminated and I cannot reach the server anymore:

 

I use an old Supermicro Tower configured as Unraid server, which has two Ethernet ports onboard (eth 0 and eth 1)

 

Only one Ethernet port is used in the server (eth 0) and the other has no connection at all (no physical cable connected) and not configured in Unraid

 

Now comes the problem:

- I have read here in the forum, that in the Unraid settings the Network Bonding should be (optional) switched off in the settings and bridging switched on.

Originally both were switched on. So according to the suggestion I switched off the network bonding in Unraid network settings.

Obviously I fatally misunderstood the advice, because now, I cannot connect to the WebGui of the server nor anything else.

Docker and VM management has been switched off, in order to make the changes in the Unraid network settings...

 

Unfortunately as a consequence the Unraid server is not reachable from the network on the old IP internal IPadres

The server is not reachable from outside (internet)

 

What should I do, to reach the server again ?

The server is running, but invisible...

 

Many thanks for help

[ullibelgie]

I forgot to mention:

The server has a fixed internal IP adress

[ullibelgie]

to make things worse:

- no SSH configured (disabled)

- no Telnet configured (disabled)

- server runs headless (no display)

 

Is there any way to power down the server in a controlled way to reconfigure the network settings ?

 

The fixed IP adres was configured in the router.... I do not remember to have changed anything about DHCP/Fixed addr in the Unraid settings...

 

perfect isolation, it seems - what to do ?

[JorgeB]

A brief push of the power button will imitate a shutdown, you can then delete/rename network.cfg and network-rules.cfg (config folder of the flash drive) to reset the lan config, default is DHCP, you can set a fixed IP after.

[ChatNoir]

You could also type poweroff at the console. This way, it is not dependent on the way your BIOS manages the power button press.

[ullibelgie]

Many thanks for the quick replies...

I managed to solve this problem myself (with careful restudy of the manual again)...

I want to document it here, if somebody else come across the same phenomenon:

 

At first, I realize, that even a headless server is not "headless" - a local monitor directly to the server will show the terminal - what I forgot in the first instance is, that the display is in sleep and needs to be awake from a keyboard to show any picture.... realized that after half an hour.... lol

 

Then comes the first challenge:

Input the very complicated root password with a foreign keyboard and special characters included without feedback from the screen within 60sec...

It needed 5 attempts until, I could input the password without misprints in the foreign Belgian Azerty keyboard not showing the usual qwerty layout (the server is configured with qwerty). It means that you need to find out how to input the special characters of the 64 letter password at first, than train to input fast manually without faults.... there is no copy and paste in this situation.... another 30min...

 

Finally I was logged in.... pfff

Now: powerdown

The idea was to restart the Unraid with the local Gui for easier work...

 

After seeing the Unraid Root dashboard, it was evident, that the network connection was down - it says in settings to check the cable.... hi

 

As I said earlier, originally the server was configured as Bonded enabled and Bridge enabled on eth 0 - the second ethernet connector was not used (no cable)

 

However what I believe has happened is:

- there are no marks at the Ethernet ports, whether it is eth 0 or eth 1

- in fact the cable was not physically connected to eth 0 but eth 1 - but because bonding was enabled originally it didn't matter - still the was network because of bonding... (is this possible ?!?)

- but when I disable bonding via the webgui from the remote computer, Network was immediately broken and no connection any more...

 

So - now I have changed to no bonding mode but bridged AND changed the Ethernet port - took out the cable from one port and insert it into the other port...

No problem - no Network loss, even bonding on both network ports is off

 

So this problem is solved , as Unraid is running normally without any problem...

That is how I leaned about "Bonding" in networks the hard way...... it now to read the books about what bonding is really all about....

[JorgeB]

5 minutes ago, ullibelgie said:

- in fact the cable was not physically connected to eth 0 but eth 1 - but because bonding was enabled originally it didn't matter - still the was network because of bonding... (is this possible ?!?)

Yes.

 

6 minutes ago, ullibelgie said:

- but when I disable bonding via the webgui from the remote computer, Network was immediately broken and no connection any more...

You needed to swap the cable to eth0.