Viewing the logs on a Draytek Vigor 2800VG

I have a DrayTek 2800VG.
My previous router was a Netgear DG834G where I could view the routers security logs from the web management page.

Is there any way to view the 2800VG logs via the management web page?

As far as I can see I have to enable SysLog and specify a server address to push the logs to a PC running a Syslog capture utility.
This means leaving a PC switched on all the time on the LAN, eating up electricity.

Unless I am missing something have I got this right???

I would suggest you read all the information provided on

http://www.draytek.co.uk/support/index.html

in particular

http://www.draytek.co.uk/support/router_faq.html

and may join the Draytek owner forum at

http://www.forum.draytek.co.uk/


For the router logs you require the Router Tools utility, which can find for download on the Draytek support pages too.

I also would recommend to upgrade your 2800VG to the latest firmware release 2.7

Thanks for the info xspaceuk

I have already read through the FAQs.
I have sucessfully setup the SysLog program on another PC but just wanted to be able to view some kind of logs without having a PC running all the time.

Another problem I am having is getting the Time server to update the time on the router, I've tried a couple of NTP server IP addresses but the router's time is never updated.

I also want the "Mail Alert" to work but I never receive any logs. I have entered the IP address of my ISP's SMTP server (NamesCo) along with the destination email address, nothing happens.

The firmware I am using is 2.7_E38 which is the latest.
The router is rock solid on the connection and I have improved SNR but these few problems are really bugging me.

BTW in your sig you say "(waiting for 2910VG release...) "
Is the 2800VG about to be superceeded by a better model?

Thanks
Tivoli

I am using "uk.pool.ntp.org" as my time server, mail alert doesn't seem to work yet on the 2800 series, some people already complained about this on the draytek forum, glad to hear your connection with the 2800VG is rock solid on your line, there had been some issues with this a couple of month ago, but with the release of 2.7 it seems to be pretty solid on my line too. You can improve the SNR value further by applying the "adsl codinggain" command via telnet. I.e. if set to 7 or 8 my SNR is 12-14db and while having a Loop att. of 32.5-33.5db my 2800VG syncs at full speed of 8064/576 on my 8MB/LLU Bulldog line (without the codinggain tweak I would also achieve full speeds, but at an SNR of 10db).
I have a Speedtouch 510v6 for backup, just in case if my line gets unstable. The Speedtouch v6 series ADSL modem chips set have shown to be very good on longer and noisier lines, the 2900 series doesn't have an inbuild modem, hence the release of the 2910VG I am waiting for is not a successor for the 2800VG, the 2910VG will superceed the 2900VG. In fact it will have the new option to load-balance two WAN ports (which may be interesting to have) as well as it has the enhanced VOIP features with 6 sipreistrars and digitmap not available on the 2900VG, hence I sold off my former 2900VG, meanwhile having a Senao AP to play with, which has an excellent wireless range as well as 5Ghz wireless since my neighbours are competing with me for the 2.4Ghz wireless frequency, I may soon have to move up to the 5Ghz band.

It's a bit basic but you can view the logs in the router cli. Telnet to the router and use the log command.

log ? - shows you the options
The useful ones are log -w or log -p etc

I am getting 14 SNR Margin and 13 Loop Attenuation. But I am about 350 meters from the exchange.

The wireless performance on this router is terrible compared to my old Netgear DG834G.

Hi

Make sure the aerials are pointing in different directions! Put one vertical and one horizontal as this helps with diversity. There is a tendency with the 2 external aerials to put them both vertically upright because that looks better but gives the worst coverage.

Virtually all wireless routers have two aerials but most keep one internal that runs horizontally in the case, this reduces cost but also ensures that in most cases the aerials will be in different planes.

It may not help but worth a go.

The Draytek contains a bog standard Gigabyte Wi-Fi mini PCI card which should perform similar to others.

Very interesting.
Wish they'd tell you this in the manual !

Your Loop Attenuation is a dream! You should get the full 20-24MB on an ADSL2+ line!

Regard your wireless range problems you may want to invest in two of those Linksys HGA7S antennas, e.g. see http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop/ShopDetail.asp?ProductID=2249 sorry they are not cheap but well worth it, much better quality and range then the standard 2.2db and 5db antennas or some cheaper other 7db and 9db available on ebay.

Also consider that the receiver sensitivity and output power of the wireless card in your laptop/PC may not be very good and the Draytek router is not to blame! In fact the wireless card in the 2800VG is one of the best! And if combined with an Atheros chipset based wireless card or mini pci card on your PC/laptop client, e.g. the GIGABYTE GN-WIAG02 mini pci card I would recommend! you will see a real difference.

I.e. I found the the wireless cards based on the broadcom chipset to be pretty useless in terms of wireless range, while the Intel 2200BG is much better (if you install the latest drivers), but the GIGABYTE GN-WIAG02 and GN-WI01HT to be one of the best.

Edited by deleted (Wed 13-Sep-06 12:40:23)