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326 Messages
Routing problem in Portland OR/Beaverton OR
Hi All,
I am unable to get to the website www.themunicenter.com from my subnet and a customer of mine who is also on Comcast is also unable to get to it. However, other customers of mine who are on different ISPs like Frontier have no difficulty accessing it.
My customer opened a trouble ticket cr540557940 but the problem is that the Comcast service reps that he talked to all claim they have no problems accessing the website. Obviously, they are accessing the site from different IP subnets in Comcast, not from the network that I or my customer are using (which are both Comcast subnets but different ones)
I would appreciate it if someone could escalate this ticket to someone with a clue within Comcast since this is clearly a BGP routing issue of some sort and the fact my customer was brushed off based on a successful access from a subnet other than his subnet is a clear indication the customer service rep didn't understand the problem.
Thanks!
Accepted Solution
VBSSP-RICH
Advocate
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1.4K Messages
9 years ago
Your issue has absolutely nothing to do with BGP protocol.
Comcast doesn't support BGP on the Small Business COAX Internet Service. They support 1, 5 or 13 Static IP addresses.
If you want to connect with a BGP service with Comcast, you can utilize the Metro Ethernet Fiber products. The MetroE fiber optic products provide speeds of 1Mbps to 10Gbps dedicated symmetrical speeds, supports BGP, includes 8-254 IP addresses.
The service pulls fiber directly to your location, connects into a Ciena switch which hands off an RJ-45 to you. If you already have an AS number and IP addresses from ARIN, Comcast can route your existing IP block. If you have IP's from your existing carrier, they can route those as well (with an LOA from the IP owner). It has higher level SLA's and may be a bit pricey for being a low priority backup.
If you are the network administrator for this specific client, I would first study the following http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/netsp/article.php/3615896/Networking-101-Understanding-BGP-Routing.htm and then pay especial attention to the BGP Issues within this recommended context.
Hope this helps you out.
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tmittelstaedt
Problem solver
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326 Messages
9 years ago
By the way I still cannot reach http://www.themunicenter.com/ from my Comcast connection but other customers who are not using Comcast can reach it.
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tmittelstaedt
Problem solver
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326 Messages
9 years ago
I did not mean BGP from the customer to Comcast. My explanation of the problem was quite clear as well. I meant BGP within Comcast's network. That is typically why some parts of the Comcast network might be able to connect to a website and other parts might not.
I think you are way, way too focused on the idea this is a problem at the customer. The customer has an IP from Comcast. That IP can get to most places on the Internet. Some places it cannot reach. Other customers from other providers can get to those places that Comcast connected machines cannot. If you have a better explanation of why this is: a) happening b) supposedly normal - then a routing failure within the Comcast network that has to do with BGP within the Comcast network, then we are all ears.
Next time read the problem and try to address it rather than seizing on one little thing and jumping to conclusions.
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train_wreck
Gold Problem solver
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610 Messages
9 years ago
Weird, I'm on Comcast outside Nashville TN and can get to the site no problem. (TMC Fixed Bonds)
Here's a traceroute from me (not that it is substantially helpful. Once it gets past the Comcast cage at the carrier hotel in Marietta and on into Level 3, I stop getting ICMP replies, but the end site is still accesible):
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VBSSP-RICH
Advocate
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1.4K Messages
9 years ago
Please see my responses below to your post. Thanks.
I did not mean BGP from the customer to Comcast. My explanation of the problem was quite clear as well. I meant BGP within Comcast's network. That is typically why some parts of the Comcast network might be able to connect to a website and other parts might not.
Your explanation of your customer's problem was as clear as mud. And maybe you did not understand my last post: Comcast ONLY provides BGP protocol to its Metro Ethernet customers and therefore your customer interconnectivity does not use this, so therefore, you might want to take a real long look at train_wreck's post because this should help you help your customer that you are their network administrator.
I think you are way, way too focused on the idea this is a problem at the customer. The customer has an IP from Comcast. That IP can get to most places on the Internet. Some places it cannot reach. Other customers from other providers can get to those places that Comcast connected machines cannot. If you have a better explanation of why this is: a) happening b) supposedly normal - then a routing failure within the Comcast network that has to do with BGP within the Comcast network, then we are all ears.
The issue is not within Comcast's General Internet Network at all and train_wreck's post clearly articulates this. Apparently you need to have your customer do a trace route and post the results of this because you will also find this issue is NOT Comcast's internetworking.
Next time read the problem and try to address it rather than seizing on one little thing and jumping to conclusions.
Next time, do your network administrator due dilligence instead of always blaming Comcast for everything.
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VBSSP-RICH
Advocate
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1.4K Messages
9 years ago
Nice job train_wreck as usual. My tracert reveals the following:
over a maximum of 30 hops:
2 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 10.0.0.1
3 16 ms 10 ms 11 ms 96.120.65.57
4 12 ms 10 ms 10 ms te-0-7-0-16-sur03.manchester.nh.boston.comcast.net [68.85.142.109]
5 13 ms 13 ms 13 ms be-66-ar01.woburn.ma.boston.comcast.net [68.85.69.169]
6 28 ms 22 ms 14 ms 4.68.71.221
7 23 ms 21 ms 36 ms ae-21-3603.car1.Washington1.Level3.net [4.69.158.133]
8 33 ms 28 ms 26 ms SUNGARD-NET.car1.Washington1.Level3.net [4.34.236.86]
9 41 ms 42 ms 41 ms phl3cr1-te-0-0-1-2.sgns.net [66.179.228.218]
10 43 ms 42 ms 41 ms crl3cr1-te-0-0-1-0.sgns.net [66.179.228.237]
11 40 ms 43 ms 41 ms wdl2cr1-te-0-0-0-2.sgns.net [66.179.228.229]
12 40 ms 40 ms 68 ms 66.179.229.206
13 48 ms 46 ms 40 ms 173.252.171.124
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.
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tmittelstaedt
Problem solver
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326 Messages
9 years ago
Your explanation of your customer's problem was as clear as mud. And maybe you did not understand my last post: Comcast ONLY provides BGP protocol to its Metro Ethernet customers and therefore your customer interconnectivity does not use this, so therefore, you might want to take a real long look at train_wreck's post because this should help you help your customer that you are their network administrator.
I stated the following:
I am unable to get to the website www.themunicenter.com from my subnet and a customer of mine who is also on Comcast is also unable to get to it. However, other customers of mine who are on different ISPs like Frontier have no difficulty accessing it
YOU did NOT bother reading this, apparently. train_wreck had no problem reading it and understanding it. I am still not able to access the site, nor is my customer, my customer and I do not use the same Comcast circuit, neither of us are running BGP to Comcast, we just default route to Comcast.
I stated in my response to you I was not talking about BGP from the customer to Comcast. You ignored that and are still harping on BGP. Clearly you are hung up on the issue for some reason.
The issue is not within Comcast's General Internet Network at all and train_wreck's post clearly articulates this. Apparently you need to have your customer do a trace route and post the results of this because you will also find this issue is NOT Comcast's internetworking.
No, train wreck is merely saying that HE has no problem reaching the site from HIS connection he is NOT saying that _I_ or my customer have no problems reaching the site from OUR respective connections. Unlike you he is not jumping to conclusions that just because it works for him it must be working for us.
In addition if you knew anything about diagnosing these kinds of problems you would know a traceroute can be blocked by firewalling and filtering, it is not a reliable indicator of problems. Meaning that a site can block ICMP types and such needed for a traceroute but can allow only HTTP or HTTPS or both. That will cause a trace to fail but a web access to work.
A traceroute is most useful when you have a working site and a trace to it on file, and the site goes offline and you can then run a trace again and compare the two. Traceroute was written during a much earlier period of time on the Internet when people were a lot more trusting and nobody firewalled anything. That is why it depends on protocols that people sometimes block these days. It is also useless in situations where part of the trace runs through a VPN. These days it is mostly useful for BGP route flapping on the Internet, and for use on internal networks to check route propagation from routing protocols like OSPF that are used internally.
Next time, do your network administrator due dilligence instead of always blaming Comcast for everything.
In this case it is a pretty open and shut case. I can jack into a Comcast-supplied modem, on a Comcast-supplied circuit with a laptop, and not access this website. I can then take that laptop to a Frontier internet connection, jack in, and access the website no problem. Quite obviously there is a problem inside of the Comcast network in reaching this site. It could be that Comcast's interconnect with the ISP used by this website has a routing problem or it could be something else. This is a public site and the basic responsibility of an ISP is to carry it's subscriber traffic to a public site on the Internet and then carry that site's traffic back to it's subscriber. Frontier has no problem doing this, and even Comcast from where trainwreck is connected to it has no problem doing this. The only place that is having a problem, apparently, is Comcast in Beaverton OR.
if it was just my customer's connection only that could not reach the site I might go looking for a misconfiguration with him. But, when I am also seeing the same exact problem and I'm using a different connection to Comcast, and different hardware, it's pretty clear that it's not 2 separate subscribers both having the same problem.
I don't see what your all hung up on here and why you are jumping to Comcast's defense. _I_ am paying a good chunk of change every month to Comcast and not for a bunch of television from them either. I'm also being forced to pay an equipment rental that has paid for the cost of my cable modem many times over by now. I feel I'm entitled to criticize what _I_ am paying for both because I know the product very well, and because I have the moral right to demand that the product remain up to snuff. In this case it is NOT remaining up to snuff, it is failing, and I'm not going to sit quiet about it.
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train_wreck
Gold Problem solver
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610 Messages
9 years ago
Just picking up on this point; if this is indeed the problem, then it COULD technically not be Comcast's fault, but rather the fault of the site's ISP. Have you tried contacting them & explaining the problem? (if possible)
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tmittelstaedt
Problem solver
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326 Messages
9 years ago
No. Since we are not the ISP we only work for them as their lowly network administrators, and since we can access the site www.themunicenter.com with no problem on our smartphones (and thus hold the phone up in front of the customer and show them the site isn't down) we have been busy kicking it back to the customer so they can deal with Comcast.
When was the last time you (or any other business) ever paid an IT consultant for wating an hour or two or three sitting on hold with an ISP technical support person while they are scratching their posterior and trying to think up another excuse for not actually solving the problem?
As the old Aesop fable says - stick to your trade.
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