Very Sick Smoothwall Box

[Gatt]

Ok we are having some serious problems with our Smoothwall box:

 

It was upstreamed to ISA 2006 but it is now on its own connection

 

However, Smoothwall is not liking being dumped and is throwing the following error:

 

The requested URL could not be retrieved

 

 

While trying to retrieve the URL: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/internet-related-filtering-firewall/

The following error was encountered:

Unable to determine IP address from host name for

EduGeek.net

The dnsserver returned:

Server Failure: The name server was unable to process this query.

This means that: The cache was not able to resolve the hostname presented in the URL. Check if the address is correct. Your cache administrator is webmaster.

 

Generated Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:22:57 GMT by proxy (squid/2.7.STABLE6)

 

At first it worked - i had Edugeek, MSN, etc

Then Google went down, then BBC, then EduGeek then the whole damn lot

 

Getting loads of grief from staff due to Pupils not being able to get onto the Internet

I have cehcked every IP and setting I can think of - with no joy, nothing works anymore

 

Need Help!!

 

:frusty:

[Gatt]

Trying the Tech Support number and keep being told that the user at ext 202 is busy... could the user at Ext 202 please become un-busy please

[andyrite]

Give Tom or one of the sales guys a ring. Maybe the can get you in touch with tech support.

[webman]

Do the DNS server settings in Smoothwall refer to the ISA server IP address?

[Guest Guest]

^ Was thinking the same. Looks like DNS to me

[tom_newton]

@Gatt - definitely looks like your DNS servers have had it - the "it used to work but does not now" issue could well be the DNS cache.

 

Apologies for the oddball errors from the support phone - we're down a few of our not-that-many lines thanks to our pals at BT. Major improvements scheduled for January, minor improvement should be ASAP

 

Also: as andy said - call sales. Our phone system is in fine fettle, and someone will get support to call you.

[danrhodes]

I'd agree, DNS is your problem, I have the view that a Smoothwall is one step down from Godlyness, I run one at home and its funny I NEVER get a virus or any bad traffic! Smoothwall for the win every time in my eyes. But it does have to be configured right.

 

Try using 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 for your DNS, thats openDNS's free servers and they are really good, otherwise try google public DNS, I have heard good things about them!

 

D

[Gatt]

Thanks guys

 

My head is mashsed now afte a full day of this:

 

Need smoemone to try and put the piecestogether

 

What do I fill in for my internal interface's IP/Gateway/DNS/etc

and again for my external

 

INternal IP is - 192.168.200.8/16 (DNS= 192.168.200.1, Gateway=192.168.200.2(ISA?))

 

External: IP=10.0.0.251/8 (DNS1 & DNS2 = ISP1 & ISP2 Addy's, Gateway=10.0.0.254)

Edited December 8, 2009 by Gatt
Missed a Gateway

[danrhodes]

Do you not have a Copy / Backup of your previous settings? What was the IP of the box before hand?

[DMcCoy]

Thanks guys

 

My head is mashsed now afte a full day of this:

 

Need smoemone to try and put the piecestogether

 

What do I fill in for my internal interface's IP/Gateway/DNS/etc

and again for my external

 

INternal IP is - 192.168.200.8/16 (DNS= 192.168.200.1, Gateway=192.168.200.2(ISA?))

 

External: IP=10.0.0.251/8 (DNS1 & DNS2 = ISP1 & ISP2 Addy's, Gateway=10.0.0.254)

 

Int: 192.168.200.8/16

Int DNS: 192.168.200.1

NO GATEWAY

 

 

Ext: 10.0.0.251/8

DNS: ISP1

DNS: ISP2

Gateway:10.0.0.254

 

If you have MULTIPLE VLANS or Subnets on the internal network then you must use:

 

Routing -> Subnets

 

However it does not seem that you have multiple subnets if ISA and Smoothwall are in the same range, if you DO have multiple subnets then you need to point Smoothwall at the default gateway for that subnet in the routing section. For me this is my core switch.

 

Your current setup has a 50/50 chance of sending/receiving data on the right interface.

[rob_f]

Yep that's right, you should only ever have one default gateway. Also make sure that your internal DNS server (as set on Networking > Interfaces) is an Active Directory DC/DNS server if you're linked to AD.

 

Apologies for the delay getting back to you on this, been on the road all day and only just got back in.

[Gatt]

OK this is getting too weird..

Came in this morning - it was all working fine

Now its gone again - except EduGeek!!

[Guest Guest]

What are the clients settings?

 

Are you pointing your clients at a windows server i persume? What does your server have in its IP config? Have you set your smoothwall firewall rules to allow DNS from your windows DNS server?

 

If your windows server is doing your DNS then the DNS settings on your smoothwall box shouldnt actually matter.

[Gatt]

OK It seems to be working again!!

Int & Ext settings as per DMcCoy and restarted auth service which seemed to have locked up

Gonna keep a close eye on it - not really sure what went wrong though..

[Gatt]

Gone again....

I give up

[rob_f]

So Networking > Interfaces > DNS points at Windows DNS server. Windows DNS server is set up to forward DNS requests to the SmoothWall, which uses the SmoothWall's DNS Proxy (Services > DNS > DNS Proxy, make sure enabled for your internal interface). SW DNS Proxy forwards on DNS requests to your ISP's DNS server as defined in the Networking > Connectivity page.

 

All internal clients use SW as default gateway. Subnets defined on the SmoothWall so that it can route traffic to internal VLANs/other networks as required.

 

Networking > Outgoing > Sources on the SW should be set up to reject outgoing traffic from all machines other than those that need direct internet access (e.g servers).

 

If you need to use an upstream proxy to get to the web, make sure is set in System > Maintenance > Registration options and Guardian > Web Proxy (Prior to FP3) / Guardian > Upstream Proxies (FP3)

 

Does all that look like what you've got? How's it failing at the moment?

[tom_newton]

Have you got some other box stealing the smoothie's IP? Sometimes "works for a bit then fails" problems like this are a result of DHCP conflicts!

[Gatt]

Well Smoothie is backup and running - sort of

 

Looks like ISA (now TMG) was interfering with external DNS so in the end I reverted Smoothwall back to using TMG as an upstream proxy

All now working OK (though ISA/TMG complained about the amount of requests from the Smoothwall IP - Still not resolved but disabled the Flood Mitigation and Malware parts for now!)

 

Thanks for all the help guys!