Zzoomm - issues with DHCP

Does your Zzoomm internet service drop at just over the hour point?

I'd love to hear if anyone else having issues with Zzoomm currently over DHCP leases? I use a firebrick router and my connection has been dropping out for about a month because I believe their DHCP server is wrongly configured.

My internet keeps drops every 4000 seconds which is currently the length of their IPv4 leases.

My unicast DHCPREQUEST messages to renew the lease before expiry are never replied to, only a broadcast one is answered.

This all started around the time of a major outage on Zzoomm with an unspecified cause on the evening of July 13th (source: Zzoomm status page)

I was away from home so I wasn't aware of the problem until I returned and I then logged a ticket with Zzoomm on August 1st.

This ticket went unanswered for a week until I chased them up last weekend. They had requested information about the issue from their Network Ops team and then lost the report, until I woke them up. They've also lost several emails from myself already - their ticket system is not reliable but I digress.

Since Network Ops couldn't see what the cause of the issue was, I did a packet capture and all became clear.

Before the lease expires, renew requests must be sent to the server that issued the request USING THE ADDRESS IN OPTION 54 of the DHCPOFFER packet - not the server address shown in SIADDR field. (source: RFC2131). This is what the Firebrick router does.

The address of the DHCP server for me is what's shown in the SIADDR field as 91.193.8.4. This is what sends me an allocation when a broadcast DHCP request gets through (usually at the 6th or 7th attempt though, so a 20 second break occurs nearly every hour). The address currently stored in Option 54 is 91.193.9.117 which, of course doesn't reply to DHCPREQUEST since it's not serving addresses for my subnet.

Fairly obvious I'd have thought but I can't get through to anyone who knows what they're doing at Zzoomm. I've sent my root cause analysis and a PCAP file with the relevant evidence but they just keep on about re-installing their (probably non-standard) Icotera router.

I suspect that the Icotera routers only use the SIADDR field. They keep wanting me to go back to using it but too many things will break if I do that. It's just one variable on the DNS server that needs correcting.

Is their Network Operations team a 3rd party? Are they just being snotty about a mere customer pointing out their error? I've spent hours doing their work for them since their Customer Service team have little interest in being pro-active. I'm quite surprised since the feedback I'd read about them was good.

Anyone got a good way of contacting Matthew Hare (CEO)?

I'd love to hear from you if you have service from Zzoomm and if you're seeing problems or not. If you could send me a PCAP file of your DHCP traffic, that would be fantastic.

Thanks,


Fixit.

In reply to a post by fixitmjc:

Does your Zzoomm internet service drop at just over the hour point?

I'd love to hear if anyone else having issues with Zzoomm currently over DHCP leases? I use a firebrick router and my connection has been dropping out for about a month because I believe their DHCP server is wrongly configured.

..............

I'd love to hear from you if you have service from Zzoomm and if you're seeing problems or not. If you could send me a PCAP file of your DHCP traffic, that would be fantastic.

.

Well, I've managed to get a proper report today and the latest bug score is Zzoomm 1 Firebrick 1.

They believe it's a hardware issue that means my unicast DHCPREQUEST packets are not getting to the server. They are going to pass it back to the manufacturer.

Zzoomm also pointed out that my firebrick is not switching over to use broadcast packets at T2 which it should. I've now passed that back to the firebrick developers.

An honourable draw currently but a fix to either of these bugs should fix my issue. The question is how long for a fix?

It might also be worth seeing if the Firebrick guys will write you a dirty patch to do the DHCP renewal request to the other server address.

Isn't that Wavefront/AAISP? They are the Firebrick guys.

I've just finished testing some Firebrick alpha code that sorts out the issue with the "rebinding state" aka T2, which fixes my problem, No more drop-outs - yippie!

You rarely get that sort of service any more.

Many thanks David at Firebrick

I am glad I just use a normal router, from one of the normal routers manufactures. I don't know why you need something like the Firebrick, maybe you have a reason.

I watch some videos on YouTube and I see people with server racks full of servers in their basements and what ever other rooms they have, and yet they just do the same as me, this mainly in the U.S. I think some people just like to have these devices.

I like having a muck about with things, i am thinking of mucking around with setting up my own router via a mini PC or something like that. I have a thin client here that I was going to use for home assistant, but have not managed to get home assistant working on it, for some reason I can't access it via other computers. I will try again, but it is not powerful enough for a router.

Oh yes, around 14 months now Zzoomm using a TP-link router and apart from the first month or so with problems, been fine since

Anyway, I hope the code sorts it out and you.

I am not having a dig at you for having a Firebrick, just curious why you need something like that? I am a nosy person

Edited by zyborg47 (Sun 18-Aug-24 12:08:34)

The firebrick 2900 supports:

VOIP exchange
VPN server
L2TP tunnelling
amongst other things.

All very useful.

It also has the ability to packet capture, provide detailed logging and display multiple traffic graphs on-the-fly. It was this that allowed me to identify the fault that Zzoomm have now admitted - Not responding to unicast DHCP packets.

I've had it for nearly five years and it's the first bug that I've been caught out by. They provided new code to fix the issue next day, which is very unusual now. It is expensive compared to many Chinese produced boxes, but I think it's been a worthwhile investment and I can certainly recommend this product (!)

I cannot understand why you choose to spend time replying to threads concerning yourself with what other people choose to do with their money and the choices they make regarding their internet connectivity. In a public forum people are going to post only the details relevant to the issue at hand, they're not going to give you a full back story and nor do they need to. Nobody who can do a packet capture of the DHCP negotiation with their ISP and get it escalated to the networks team is spending £500+ on hardware by mistake, you just have to accept that the "why" has already been covered off.

If you're genuinely curious about why people replace the ISP provided router or don't feel a TP Link device is up to the job then if you start a thread on that topic and link it here I will give you an answer.

Edited by jpm (Sun 18-Aug-24 15:51:02)

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

I am not having a dig at you for having a Firebrick, just curious why you need something like that? I am a nosy person

Adrian, you forget the ISP supplied routers, and the entry level items such as your TPLink are all at the "bargin basement" end of the product range. The world includes people whom understand networking for their job, or perhaps work from home, and a higher end product (Asus, Draytek, Firebrick, Cisco, Juniper, HP, etc) is worth purchasing.

I found the thread fascinating, and one of the benefits of Firebrick is they are a UK company with UK support (not far from me in Bracknell).

Edited by jchamier (Sun 18-Aug-24 17:14:01)

In reply to a post by jpm:

I cannot understand why you choose to spend time replying to threads concerning yourself with what other people choose to do with their money and the choices they make regarding their internet connectivity. In a public forum people are going to post only the details relevant to the issue at hand, they're not going to give you a full back story and nor do they need to. Nobody who can do a packet capture of the DHCP negotiation with their ISP and get it escalated to the networks team is spending £500+ on hardware by mistake, you just have to accept that the "why" has already been covered off.

If you're genuinely curious about why people replace the ISP provided router or don't feel a TP Link device is up to the job then if you start a thread on that topic and link it here I will give you an answer.

What have got up your back? I am just asking a question, if the OP don't want to answer then that is fine.
I was wondered what he did with such an expensive bit of kit. It seems a strange thing to have for a home network.


I know why some people replace the provided router because they want more features or in some case the provided router is not that great. The one Zzoomm supplies is not great, Wi-fi wise anyway.

i can understand why we get very new people here and, they see your posts commenting on other peoples post and think, stuff it we are not staying.
This board is getting stale, and you are not helping.

In reply to a post by fixitmjc:

The firebrick 2900 supports:

VOIP exchange
VPN server
L2TP tunnelling
amongst other things.

All very useful.

It also has the ability to packet capture, provide detailed logging and display multiple traffic graphs on-the-fly. It was this that allowed me to identify the fault that Zzoomm have now admitted - Not responding to unicast DHCP packets.

I've had it for nearly five years and it's the first bug that I've been caught out by. They provided new code to fix the issue next day, which is very unusual now. It is expensive compared to many Chinese produced boxes, but I think it's been a worthwhile investment and I can certainly recommend this product (!)

You seem to be a network geek and don't take that the wrong way, in other words you know technology how things work, while I do know some things, my thing is plug it in, if it works then great, life is too short to muck around with stuff, that is one of the reason I went for a Mac.

My TP link has a VPN server, not sure what use it will be, I read I could use it to access my router from other locations. Be more useful to have a VPN client.

If you think it is a worthwhile investment, then that is all that matters, but it is something which most home users would not bother with.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Adrian, you forget the ISP supplied routers, and the entry level items such as your TPLink are all at the "bargin basement" end of the product range.

Did I forget that? No, I don't think so. I realise that what consumers have, or most are just entry level equipment, some more entry level than others.

The world includes people whom understand networking for their job, or perhaps work from home, and a higher end product (Asus, Draytek, Firebrick, Cisco, Juniper, HP, etc) is worth purchasing.

I know this as well, It is just my way of being nosy and wondering why a home user wants something like that. Maybe he likes mucking around with stuff like that.
A mate used to muck around with stuff like that, needed a secure network for his business, and decided the best way would be to do it himself. But now he sold the business, he doesn't bother with that sort of thing. I think he still has high-end equipment, but he leaves it alone these days to do it’s thing.

i did not think Asus was high end?

I found the thread fascinating, and one of the benefits of Firebrick is they are a UK company with UK support (not far from me in Bracknell).

Yeah, it is great, nice to have something made in the UK , even if it does cost a small fortune and the thread is interesting, even if I get lost. I wish I learnt more about networking, but I suppose I did not have any reason to,

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

In reply to a post by jpm:

I cannot understand why you choose to spend time replying to threads concerning yourself with what other people choose to do with their money and the choices they make regarding their internet connectivity. In a public forum people are going to post only the details relevant to the issue at hand, they're not going to give you a full back story and nor do they need to. Nobody who can do a packet capture of the DHCP negotiation with their ISP and get it escalated to the networks team is spending £500+ on hardware by mistake, you just have to accept that the "why" has already been covered off.

If you're genuinely curious about why people replace the ISP provided router or don't feel a TP Link device is up to the job then if you start a thread on that topic and link it here I will give you an answer.

What have got up your back? I am just asking a question, if the OP don't want to answer then that is fine.

You don't ask questions though. Whether you mean it to come across this way or not, you posts come across as saying "I can't understand the requirement, therefore the requirement cannot exist and people are wasting money". You've done it in your very next post in this thread, "If you think it is a worthwhile investment, then that is all that matters" is a dismissive comment, it's not someone asking questions and listening to answers.

In reply to a post by jpm:

You don't ask questions though. Whether you mean it to come across this way or not, you posts come across as saying "I can't understand the requirement, therefore the requirement cannot exist and people are wasting money". You've done it in your very next post in this thread, "If you think it is a worthwhile investment, then that is all that matters" is a dismissive comment, it's not someone asking questions and listening to answers.

If he thinks it is a good investment then fine, that is up to him, just wondering why he needs such a thing. It is a lot of money for a home device, where for most home users, something cheaper will do the job.
It seems like he likes mucking around with network stuff, which again is fine, what ever floats his boats] and his interests. We are all interested in different things and will pay money for such things.

Just being nosey, as I said in one of my posts above, I wish I learnt more about networking, but never felt the need., for a start I was learning to be a chef not a network administrator and at the time I had no interest in computers, because what was available at the time were expensive.
I only got interested due to a lad at college who had a ZX81.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

i did not think Asus was high end?

They're around £200 on Amazon depending on WiFi type, compared to TPLink and others from £85 to £150, and they have almost as many options as a Draytek. Plus you can run third party firmware on the hardware.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

i did not think Asus was high end?

They're around £200 on Amazon depending on WiFi type, compared to TPLink and others from £85 to £150, and they have almost as many options as a Draytek. Plus you can run third party firmware on the hardware.

You can get TP-link ones that cost more, the Archer AX90 is £329, not sure what you get for that amount of money, it does have a 2.5Gb Lan/wan, but it seems to be the same socket, which is a bit strange. Also has 6.6 Gbps, wi-fi, mmm. How configurable it is i don't know. My TP link cost me £80, it costs more than that now, for the version 2 hardware. It is a good router to be honest. I can change the stuff I want to, ok I would have like a VPN client. I did look at Asus, but I was told by a couple of people that the ones they had used to overheat and then cut out. If one told me i may have taken a chance, but two different people. Nope.
Also, I had TP-link years ago, and it still works now after 12 years, sadly the Wi-fi is can't cope with the amount of Wi-fi devices I have, otherwise I would have still be using it, even if it is only 2.4Ghz.

Would i spend £300 or more on a router? Hell no.
I did not want to spend £80 on mine , but if people want to and then that is up to them. Some people spend In my opinion silly amounts of money on mobile phones and do nothing special with them. But that is up to them. As for the OP, yes it sees like he knows about networking and the Firebrick suits him, as I said I was just being nosy

I spend £400 on an espresso machine a few years ago, to many people that is way over the top, but to me, it is not and that was cheap as full price was £700. Partner spent £1,500 on one, now that is going crazy, plus £300 or so on a grinder. But she has a lot more money than me.

I am still thinking of mucking around with a homemade router at some point when I have nothing better to do.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

l thinking of mucking around with a homemade router at some point when I have nothing better to do.

Its not really the money/price charged, but the software features. Most TP-Link and Netgear routers don’t have the features in the ASUS software.

I built and ran a small Linux PC as my first firewall/router, but that was in the days before wifi. I got rid of it as it was too noisy!

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Its not really the money/price charged, but the software features. Most TP-Link and Netgear routers don’t have the features in the ASUS software.

I built and ran a small Linux PC as my first firewall/router, but that was in the days before wifi. I got rid of it as it was too noisy!

I know it don't always mean anything, but I thought the more expensive TP-links would have more configuration (big word at this time of the morning). I only went for a TP-link as I had years ago when I changed to a wireless broadband service, and it still works after 12 yearsish. Ok, the Wi-Fi is out of date and could not cope with the amount of devices I had which is why I put it away and started to use the one that Plusnet sent me until Openreach network went belly up.

I got a few things to sort out first before i start mucking around with things, this room for a start, got a lot of computer stuff to get rid of and tidy it all up. Maybe in a few months time i will look into mucking around with my own router and stuff like that.