GearMinder
Router Connection Management
Software
Current version : 0.7 (November 2002 release)
By Edward Cheung
Introduction
The Netgear RT311/RT314
routers
are
specifically designed for the DSL/Cable Modem environment.
Occasionally,
ISPs have routing or other network problems where packets destined for
the IP address assigned to the router no longer make it to their proper
destination. In this case, you lose connectivity with the
net.
If you are occasionally and inexplicably losing connection to the net
while
everything appears in order on the router status screens, you can test
for this condition as follows:
- While the problem persists, connect to the internet via
dialup.
- Ping the IP address assigned to you by the ISP (you can
find that
from
the router config screens)
- If the reply states 'Node Unreachable' instead of 'Timed
Out',
you are
having this routing problem.
My uninformed explanation of this problem is that your ISP has
forgotten
(either accidentally or intentionally) that you own that dynamic IP
address.
Packets do not get routed to you, but are dropped on the floor.
GearMinder is a small standalone application that remedies
this
problem.
It needs no installation, and can be run from the 'Startup'
menu.
It regularly connects to web servers (port 80), to verify that all is
ok.
After a configurable number of consecutive failures, it telnets into
the
Netgear router to drop and renew the dynamic IP. This should
fix
the problem. An optional feature is the sending of an
automated
email
so you have a record of the occurrence, and so you are notified of the
new IP address of the router. This is useful if you want to
telnet
into your system and have not signed up with DynDNS,
or if the service is down for some reason.
GearMinder's control screen.
Setup
Clicking on the tabs at the top brings you to the various config
screens.
Pausing over key controls will cause a hint to appear that helps to
explain
its purpose.
- Main. Here you can enter the
domain names of four
web
servers.
Be sure to leave off the 'http:' as that is NOT part of a domain
name.
I would recommend you use those within your ISP (such as Verizon in my
case). This minimizes useless traffic on the real
Internet.
Clicking on 'AutoPing' will cause the program to start connecting with
the interval you specify (15 seconds recommended). You can
also
do
a manual 'Ping' immediately. The box below this allows you to
control
if the program auto resets the router after the specified number of
consecutive
tries (4 recommended). In the E-Mail Notification box, the
user
can
select being notified when the router is reset by GearMinder, or the
router's
WAN IP address can be polled at the interval indicated. If
there
is a change, the e-mail will be sent. Enter the polling
interval
in hours (24 recommended). You can enter a floating point
number
if you want an interval of less than one hour, or if you want a very
particular
interval.
- Router. Allows you to enter
the LAN IP Address of
the
router
and your password. There are also control buttons to manually
obtain
the current router status and to request a new dynamic IP from your
ISP.
With this latter function, there are two options:
- Adjust MTU automatically. Certain parameters in
the
router can be
adjusted to maximize the connection bandwidth. Unfortunately,
they
need to be adjusted every time you renew the WAN connection.
One
of these is the Maximum Transfer Units parameter. Only
applicable
if you use PPOE, set this value to 1452. For a more thorough
exlanation
of MTU, refer to here.
- Use Reboot Method. For some users, their
connection
problems
clear
up only when the router is rebooted, and not simply renewed.
Check
this option if the conventional method does not work
satisfactorily.
Note that checking this option disables the automatic adjustment of
MTU.
This is because connection to the router will be lost, and it will take
some time (20 seconds) to reboot the router.
- Email. Allows you to specify
the name of your mail
server,
the email address where you want notifications to go, and a custom
'Subject'
line to make the note more meaningful. There is also a button
to
trigger a manual send to test the email mechanism. Before you
send
the IP manually, be sure to click on the 'Get Status' button on the
'Router'
tab first. If you don't, you will get an empty email message.
- About. Data on the program
and my contact info.
In addition to the control tabs above, the program shows the number of
resets in a small box in the top right. Double-clicking on
this
box
will reset the contents. There is also an event window at the
bottom
with the time tagged events.
Operation
Just run the program, and enter the setup info. When you
quit,
the
configuration is saved in a text file called
'gearminder.txt'. I
hope this program will be useful to you and that you will send
me email with feedback.
Please realize that the root problem with your disconnection
is with
your ISP. GearMinder is just a band-aid. It will
NOT
prevent
disconnections, but merely provides an automatic mechanism to restore
it.
Please do not email me with question on why the connection is still
dropping.
The problem is with your ISP, and varies from case to case. I
will
be unable to assist you in your particular situation.
I get a LOT of email due to GearMinder. I will
gladly accept
bug
reports, donations, compliments, and complaints. If your
question
is extremely basic, or already covered on this web page, I may not
reply
(sorry).
Known Bugs
Description : Running under Windows XP, GearMinder
will prevent
the PC from shutting down. You need to shut down GearMinder
first.
Resolution : Under investigation.
Description: Running under Win XP, the
router does not accept
the password.
Resolution: I do not have much insight in this very
strange
problem. Some XP users do not report this problem.
I do not
know if Version 0.7 fixes this.
Links
- GearMinder Executable.
Please click
only
if you intend to download.
- My DSL
page. Describes the setup I
use.
- Home Automation
- the reason I have
DSL.
- KeepRAS.
Equivalent
utility
for setups with no hardware router - direct
connection
to the DSL modem with Dial-Up Networking.
- DSLReports.com.
Great
forum
on this router and occasional discussions about GearMinder.
- Netgear.org
(not affiliated with the corporation). A user site with some
good
information.
- Known vulnerability
with this router. This web site describes a
vulnerability
that was discovered with this router that can be closed by forwarding
port 80 on the WAN side to a non-existent IP address on the
LAN.
This fix confirmed by correspondence with cirt.net.
Improvement fund
If you find GearMinder useful, I hope you will contribute to the Improvement
Fund. Any size donation would be welcome.
Thank you!
Version History
GearMinder's download history. Each column represents number
of downloads per month.
The '6' on the right is the partial total for June 2002. From
Nedstat.
- 0.1 - 9/27/00. First version. Watching and
renewing the
connection
works well. E-Mailing reports does not work if the connection
is
unavailable. This will be addressed in a future version.
- 0.1b - 9/30/00. Uploaded debug version for
0.1.
Resetting
of
the router was commented out. This rev fixes that.
- 0.2 - 10/4/00. Fixed automatic e-mail and rewrote
logic to
improve
robustness. Event log does not show all successful pings to
reduce
amount of text. This allows the viewing of more useful events.
- 0.3 - 10/12/00. Improved logic of auto mail
feature.
Runs
in
the system tray when minimized.
- 0.4 - 10/26/00. Starts minimized. A
total of 1369
downloads
for version 0.4 (about 8 a day).
-
4/10/01.
For the
past few months, I have been receiving numerous e-mails from users that
found GearMinder because of recommendations by Netgear! Also,
DSLReports
now has a link to GearMinder on their Netgear
support page. GearMinder is now internationally
recognized.
- 0.5 - 05/01/01. Several improvements for this
version:
- When running GearMinder for the first time, it will not
start
minimized.
New users were confused by the lack of control screen.
- Password is scrambled in the config file, and no longer
appears
'in the
clear'. Any non-control character can also be used in the
password.
For this reason, the router password must be retyped when upgrading to
version 0.5.
- Double clicking on the 'number of resets' counter clears
it.
- For highest transfer speed, the MTU
size can be automatically set.
- The WAN connection can be reset by optionally rebooting
the
router.
- 0.5b - 05/15/01. MTU can only be adjusted after
reacquisition of
the WAN connection. Some ISPs take slightly longer, causing
the
MTU
adjustment to be unsuccessful. This rev adds some wait time
to
compensate
for that.
-
- 09/09/01. Lots
of
reports
and emails of Netgear recommending GearMinder.
-
-
10/10/01.
Report
from a user that GearMinder also works with the Netgear RP114
router.
A total of 3284 downloads for version 0.5 (about 8/day).
- 0.6 - 06/10/02. On one occasion, a change in the
WAN IP
address
was
not caught by GearMinder, nor the router, and I lost connectivity with
the house from the Internet. As a result, I decided to add a
feature
whereby the Router is polled at a selected interval so that changes in
IP address can be caught. Also, as a minor change, added the
feature
that causes hints to appear when the user pauses the cursor over key
controls. A total of 2153 downloads for version 0.6 (about
15/day).
- 0.7 - 11/21/02. Updated Windows 2000 and Borland
5.
This
version
addresses the problems by XP and 2000 users.
- 12/13/03 - Tweaked GearMinder logo. Added
vulnerability of
router in the links section (thanks to David Facer).
Home Automation
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