Network issue looking for some advice/help

[jillmark99]

Hi all

I (think) i'm having a network issue and I'm wondering if someone can lend a hand and help. My house network seams pretty reliable and my Control4 system is rock solid.

I thought I was having issues with my ISP because every once in a while my internet drops out but after some tests today I'm wondering if its my network. I read here in a post about PingPlotter and decided to download a trial today and run some tests. I am by no means a network guy and don't know what the data output of ping plotter means so I'm wondering if someone can help interpret it for me. 

My setup is as follows;

ISP's modem - its basic, no bells and whistles. Its just a modem and not a combo unit.

Pakedge RK1 router

3 pakedge 24 port switches 

Modem is plugged into WAN1 on router, switch 1 (port 24) is plugged into LAN1 on router, switch 2 (port 24) is plugged into LAN2 on router and switch 3 is plugged into switch 2. All of my Control4 hardwired items are plugged into switch 3. Switch 3 is only for C4 gear, noting else.

I run 5 pakedge zones to separate traffic for data, security, automation, streaming/tv, other. I also have a separate guest network.

I have 3 pakedge access points all plugged into switch 2

No torrents running. No sonos devices.

I ran ping plotter for an hour and I screen captured the data. It looks like every 5 minutes there is an issue and then there is a grouping of dropouts but I don't know what it means. Like I said I'm not a network person and not sure where to look. If someone is willing to look at the PingPlotter pictures attached I would appreciate it.

I would appreciate any help you can give.

Thanks

[South Africa C4 user]

Pretty graphs… but way above my pay grade!

[Andrew luecke]

Probably not enough context, but normally, imho, I'd connect everything through a central switch, instead of via multiple switch ports on the router

If you plug in your computer into ethernet, open a bunch of windows, run ping routerip

ping switchip

ping wifi AP IP

ping another hardwired deviceIP

and ping C4 Controller IP,

If you get a few dropouts in a row, or high pings on the lan, you have a network loop most likely

 

 

[ekohn00]

Are you doing this over wifi? How many ping tests are you running at a time?

If you want to test the network infrastructure, plug into a switch and ping your public address. Do only one ping test at a time. stay off the wifi - that's another set of tests.

[lippavisual]

Ditto for a main core switch.  Use switch 1 as the core.  Plug the other switches into that.  Personally, since just all your c4 devices are on the 3rd switch, I’d plug that switch into switch 2.

so modem- router- sw1-sw2-sw3

if your switches have 10gb back plane, utilize them. 

[jillmark99]

Yes I was running the tests over wifi and I was running them all at the same time. I can plug in directly with Ethernet cable and try that as well. 
 

[cnicholson]

44 minutes ago, jillmark99 said:

Yes I was running the tests over wifi and I was running them all at the same time. I can plug in directly with Ethernet cable and try that as well. 
 

Yeah, for sure do network testing from a hard-wired ethernet connection.  Dropped packets / retries on WiFi is pretty normal, not so much for a hardwired network. So you're not really getting good diagnostic data on switch performance via WiFi connection.   

Also agreed that you should not rely on a cheap modem built-in switch to basically be your aggregation layer switch.  I mean, it should be fine but it's probably not a managed switch which can limit your ability to tune and diagnose issues.  But, again, realistically it's probably fine.  Unless you are doing bandwidth intensive things on your LAN (backups, big file transfers, video editing), that saturate particular uplink/downlink ports, it really doesn't matter how you connect up your gear. 

[jillmark99]

Thanks for all the replies.
 

Will definitely take the advise and run some tests this week hard wired. 
 

all of my switches are Pakedge managed switches. 
 

I don’t usually do big bandwidth things on my network. Two TV’s streaming movies at the same time would usually be the max.