Problems with DIMES agent

[spikey_richie]

Hi there,

I started running the DIMES agent yesterday, but I've already havd to uninstall it.

Basically what is happening, is that the agent runs fine for a period of time. Then all of a sudden my router will crash. I've not had this problem at all in the last 8 months that I've had the router so i'm suspecting the DIMES agent.

Once I reset my router everything is hunky-dorey, but only for a period of time.

Any suggestions?

P.S. The 'period of time' is usually around 3 or 4 hours.

[NeoGen]

I've browsed on the Dimes forums but haven't found any report of problems with routers so far.
But you could try a few more experiments... like switching between the ICMP and UDP protocol for example. Here's a transcription of one of the project admins in the forums... (of June 2005)

hi guys, I'll try to explain the difference in the following post,
First - intro:
UDP is a high level protocol (like TCP) that sits over IP (to those of you interested in the OSI network model..). It is however, the simplest protocol possible, and doesn't gurantee you nothing (as TCP does).
ICMP, on the other hand, is not a data transfer protocol but rather an error handling and maintenance protocol. Those of you interested in learning more can look at the relevant RFCs or in all other 5423492424 pages on the subject on the web.

More to the point:
There are two main reasons why we currently support both UDP and ICMP (and why in the future we'll also support TCP based Traceroute):
1. firewalls and routers behaviour - many firewalls block one of these protocols, and many routers respond only to one of them. Using multiple protocols allows us to enlarge the success probability of the measurement
2. Aliases - one of the main challanges in mapping the internet is mapping several IP addresses to the same router, i.e. identifying that several network interfaces reside on the same router. The main strategy to discover aliases - in which DIMES has gone much further than any other research project in the past - is to send UDP/TCP ping to an IP and get in the response a different IP address than the one to which the ping was sent. This fact indicates that these two IPs are on the same router. This measurement is not possible with ICMP.
In addition to these main reasons, comparing UDP and ICMP responses tells us a lot about the current trends in router configuration which is an interesting research subject, albeit aside.
Cheers,
Eran

[spikey_richie]

Okay thanks, I'll look into that then :D

[Ototero]

Are you sure it's dimes causing the router crash. My router (Netgear) didn't like being kept horizontal, once vertical it was fine.

[Strongbow]

What make/model router have you got?

[spikey_richie]

Are you sure it's dimes causing the router crash. My router (Netgear) didn't like being kept horizontal, once vertical it was fine.

I've not had ANY problems with it in the last 8 months. Since I've started running DIMES, it starting to lockup. I can't even ping it!


What make/model router have you got?

It's a Safecom SWAMR-54108 wireless router, with "SPI" firewall

[Lagu]

Hi

Perhaps it is your firewall as cause the issue. I have Zone Alarm Pro and I had to configure for allowing UDP and ICMP to pass through the firewall.

Lagu :) ;)

[Strongbow]

I don't know that router at all but it could be the number of NAT sessions the router allows, if you exceed it some routers can fail if they have persistent requests.

Try checking the manufacturers website for firmware updates as typically NAT sessions can be increased in the firmware.

Hope this helps!

[spikey_richie]

Not sure if it's related, but I got this in my DIMES log:



INFO: TRACEROUTE 211.100.0.1 ICMP
09/03/06 19:14 dimes.measurements.Measurements isProtocolBlocked
WARNING: dimes.util.properties.PropertiesBean$NoSuchPropert yException: No such property: init.urls.basicTraceDest1
09/03/06 19:14 dimes.measurements.Measurements isProtocolBlocked
WARNING: dimes.util.properties.PropertiesBean$NoSuchPropert yException: No such property: init.urls.basicTraceDest1

[Steve Lux]

I just started Dimes up today.

Norton's Internet Security firewall was blocking ICMP and I had to go in and allow access before Dimes would work. Otherwise every 30 seconds or so I was getting a High risk box popping up due to the outside ICMP probes coming in.

Noticed something odd; The IP address that Norton's was reporting the ICMP security risk was from is the same as the one given in spikey_richie's Boinc display box (204.116.54.11).

[AMDave]

That's a reflection address - in other words it shows you what *your* address is at the time that you are reading the box. It's not his address. When I read it, I see my NAT address.

Lucky for you your DHCP has renewed and that address is now timing out on ping and tracert.

What it is telling you is that at least one or more of your internet path devices [ ISP / gateway / router / PC ] is still blocking.
It is not fixed yet on your end.
Java sessions have a tendency to retain test statii in memory, so a restart of the client should clear the session and you may get a positive result. If you still get a negative result then you will have to look harder at the devices I listed, including your ISP as many do indeed block ICMP traffic on "domestic" class broadband accounts. That's the way of the ISP world ;)

I suggest that an easier path is to switch your client to UDP. It is doing the same job for most others.

best of luck :D

[Steve Lux]

I have dropped DIMES. I have been having far too many communication issues with Majestik 12, DIMES and BOINC running at the same time. Mainly BOINC keeps hanging up and was often unable to access the project web sites for updates, uploads and downloads. Besides, I never could really tell what DIMES was doing, nor could I find any way to pause/snooze it as needed.

[AMDave]

I would be very surprised if Dimes was the culprit.
Let us know how that goes for you.