Aztech DSL600EU Running RT 2.97 : Some Cron Queries

[AlterEgo]

Hello,

As the title says, I am running RT 2.97 on Aztech DSL600EU (flashed the less than 2MB RAM image to it), which is my PPoE connection to the ISP. I do have frequent internet lockups and liked the "checksync.sh" script in RT , so it can reboot itself when there is no internet connection.

Hence in the "RT Configurations" option in the Web GUI i have made the changes for the checksync and mem optimizations scripts to be run every 30 and 60 minutes respectively. Enabled the required "cron" process as well. Take a look



However when I log in the router via telnet, I can see that the crontab and root_cron report that the two scripts are scheduled to run at 2400 Hrs everyday (or once in 24 hours). Hope I am correct in establishing this :



So how can I be sure that the scheduling options given for cron via the Web GUI are in effect, or do they have to be defined elsewhere.

Also please inform if and where are the cron run logs, so I can see which and when the actual scripts were triggered and any resultant effect they had. Maybe then I can configure the cron log to be sent to me via email something which is described here viewtopic.php?t=967

Secondly I have not enabled the local_nat.sh script (as seen in the first screenshot), however I still use the enable NAT feature on my WAN connection page as seen below :



So which checkbox actually controls the NAT functionality and any effect if one of them is disabled (as in the RT configurations screen).

Thanks for you replies.

[thechief]

The way you've listed your questions, it is hard to answer them individually - but I'll try to answer them in the order in which they are asked;
1. Yes, that should be correct.
2. "crontab -l" will show you the cron jobs that have been set up.
3. It is as seen. You don't really want to disable the firewall. If you do, you're on your own ...

[AlterEgo]

The way you've listed your questions, it is hard to answer them individually - but I'll try to answer them in the order in which they are asked;
1. Yes, that should be correct.
2. "crontab -l" will show you the cron jobs that have been set up.
3. It is as seen. You don't really want to disable the firewall. If you do, you're on your own ...

Well Thanks Chief,

So my queries are ordered and as follows, connected to the previous post and screenshot I have posted :

1. If crontab -l shows me the cron jobs which have been setup, then it is not showing me the correct time interval which i have configured in the Web GUI for setting up the jobs. (see both screenshots of Web GUI and command line). So how can I be sure that the jobs are triggered and run at the intended time interval.

2. Is there any place where I can see the cron run logs (and possibly the output of scripts). I have seen the folder /usr/local/logs which is empty.

3. I will enable the firewall , I was just experimenting with some stuff, by placing an "Untangle" server after the modem, and was facing some issues, if you can given any useful input you can see it here http://forums.untangle.com/networking/3 ... t-lan.html

4. With my hardware and the RT ver, as given in the first post, I am now experiencing random lockups/freezes of the modem. Sometimes the internet is connected/disconnected and I cannot access the modem Web UI page, it does not respond to the IP address. Usually the only solution to it is a power cycle. Any ideas how can I nail the problem causing it. I have not enabled the IP account or Darkstat or complex port forwarding rules which might eat the memory over time, plus I have also enabled the mem optimization script to be run every 20 minutes, dont know whether it is running or not.

5. My question was also about the local_nat.sh script. If it is disabled and the NAT option is selected in the modem connection page, then what is the resultant effect.

[AlterEgo]

Just adding to my post above, browsing thru the WEB UI is becoming extremely slow and now it crashed with the following message:

"Internal Commuication Error - Exiting"

And the router became unresponsive after that, hence it is not related to the activity cycle/heavy duty usage of the internet to put the router in such frozen state.

So what to do now, either downgrade to 2.96 or below...

Or..trying the lite firmware load onto it for the while....

Will post the results.

[thechief]

1. If you're talking about checksync, etc., they won't show in crontab. They are managed by the firmware itself (run the "printenv" command and you'll see them in the environment).
2. Not that I am aware of. You can check the system log, but it might not tell you much.
3. Sorry, too much stuff going on in that thread - no time to read it.
4. Your router is RAM-challenged (i.e., too little RAM). That is the basic problem. A much earlier version of RT might help. The memopt feature is probably not that useful, so perhaps you might want to turn it off. Linux memory management is usually good enough.
5. I have no idea.

Bottom line: it has always been a stretch for RT to continue to support routers with 8MB RAM, since it is always a tight squeeze. You can't really get around that problem. The manufacturer's firmware would require less memory, because it has far fewer features.

[AlterEgo]

Thanks Chief,

I have tried ver 2.97 and 2.96 (both full and lite versions, i can only use the IMG file <= 2MB anyways for my router). With both firmwares I have the following problems:

1. I was experiencing very slow Web UI performance after running the router for some time (~ 10 min). After a reboot the Web UI is fast and very responsive , but gradually slows down after some time or using the internet or browsing the the modem Web UI.

2. Random internet lockups, dropouts, freezes, not being able to contact the router Web UI on its given Local LAN IP address. Web UI crashing with internal error messages.

3. So now I am trying the performance with ver 2.95 lite. Can you give me any idea, how far back should I go in the firmware versions, where you think it would be stable on my modem. This would help me directly flash that version and post the results.

5. If the mem optimization script is not needed, then i have disabled it. However I would still like the checksync.sh script to check my WAN (my ISP connection being shaky usually). So does running the cron.d and this script over time eats a lot of memory, which might be the reason of slow downs.

6 If in case I want to revert back to the stock factory firmware, can you please guide me the procedure.

Thanks for your active support.

[thechief]

If you are experiencing slowdowns with the webui, then you might need to find out why. It is possible that something is timing out. Log in via telnet and run "showlog.sh" to see if there are any messages about waiting for something to happen, or any messages about timeouts. Your problem is unusual, which is why I suspect that something else is going on. I trust that you reset to factory defaults both before and after flashing a new firmware, and that you don't have more than one connection set up.

How far down to go? You might want to read the history file, and see which features you are happy to give up. Feel free to go all the way down to v1.0 if it serves your purpose - but know that no questions relating to old versions can be answered.

As for going back to manufacturer's firmware, I can't even begin to speculate. You will have to try the different means available - webui, pctool,etc.