Network diagnostics for a dedicated server

If you encounter network problems, perform diagnostics. After diagnostics, you will be able to resolve some common issues on your own.

If the problem persists, create a ticket. In the ticket, describe the problem and attach the diagnostic results. The diagnostic method depends on the problem you have encountered.

Network issues and diagnostic methods

No internet access	check the status of network interfaces; check routing settings; restart network services; check access from the OS in recovery and diagnostic mode
Server is unreachable over the network	scan ports; check filtering rules; check routing settings; check host network availability and measure latency; check access from the OS in recovery and diagnostic mode
Server is unreachable from a specific external network	perform a route trace; check routing settings; restart network services; scan ports; collect a network traffic dump
Server is unreachable via SSH, HTTP/HTTPS, VPN, or RDP, but the server responds to ICMP requests and checks using mtr, telnet are successful	perform TSPU influence diagnostics
Short-term connection loss	perform a route trace; collect a network traffic dump; check access from the OS in recovery and diagnostic mode
Low speed	perform a route trace; measure data transfer speed
High network latency	check host network availability and measure latency; perform a route trace; check access from the OS in recovery and diagnostic mode
Packet loss	Perform a route trace

Perform a route trace

Perform a route trace if you encounter:

• low connection speed;
• high network latency;
• connection losses;
• packet loss during data transmission;
• server unavailability from a specific external network.

Traceroute must be performed in two directions—from the dedicated server to a point outside the Servercore infrastructure and back. For this, you will need an external server—any server with a public IP address and internet access that is located outside the Servercore infrastructure.

We recommend performing a traceroute using the mtr (WinMTR for Windows) utility. The utility allows you to track the full path and traffic latency, and find out at which stage of the route delays or packet loss occur.

1. Run a trace from the dedicated server to an external server.
2. Run a trace from an external server to the dedicated server.

1. Run a trace from the dedicated server to an external server

Linux

1. Connect to the server via SSH or a KVM console.

2. Install the mtr utility on the dedicated server. Learn more on GitHub mtr.

3. Optional: prepare the dedicated server for tracing — turn off utilities and applications that might affect the trace result:

   • OS firewall rules;
   • application-layer (L7, application layer) applications — web servers, mail servers, file servers, name servers, peer-to-peer network clients and servers, etc.

4. Run a trace to the external server address:

   mtr -b <remote_ip_address>

   Specify <remote_ip_address> — the IP address of the external server.

5. Wait for the utility to complete the trace and display information about the route and latency.

6. Stop the trace:

   q

Windows

1. Connect to the server via RDP or a KVM console.

2. Install the WinMTR utility on the dedicated server. Learn more on the winMTR website.

3. Optional: prepare the dedicated server for tracing — turn off utilities and applications that might affect the trace result:

   • OS firewall rules;
   • application-layer (L7, application layer) applications — web servers, mail servers, file servers, name servers, peer-to-peer network clients and servers, etc.

4. Launch WinMTR.

5. In the Host field, enter the IP address of the external server.

6. Click Start.

7. Wait for the utility to complete the trace and display information about the route and latency.

8. Stop the trace by clicking Stop.

macOS

1. Connect to the server via VNC or a KVM console.

2. Install the mtr utility on the dedicated server. Learn more on GitHub mtr.

3. Optional: prepare the dedicated server for tracing — turn off utilities and applications that might affect the trace result:

   • OS firewall rules;
   • application-layer (L7, application layer) applications — web servers, mail servers, file servers, name servers, peer-to-peer network clients and servers, etc.

4. Run a trace to the external server address:

   mtr -b <remote_ip_address>

   Specify <remote_ip_address> — the IP address of the external server.

5. Wait for the utility to complete the trace and display information about the route and latency.

6. Stop the trace:

   q

2. Run a trace from an external server to the dedicated server

1. Install the utility on the external server depending on the OS used:

   • for Linux — mtr, more details on GitHub mtr;
   • for Windows — WinMTR.

2. Optional: prepare the external server for tracing — turn off utilities and applications that might affect the trace result:

   • OS firewall rules;
   • application-layer (L7) applications — web servers, mail servers, file servers, name servers, peer-to-peer network clients and servers, etc.

3. Run a traceroute to the dedicated server's IP address. You can find the dedicated server's IP address in the control panel: in the top menu, click Products → Dedicated Servers → Servers → server page → tab Operating System → field IP.

Measure data transfer speed

If you encounter issues with low data transfer speed, measure the connection speed.

Measure data transfer speed in two directions—from the dedicated server to a point outside the Servercore infrastructure and back. For this, you will need an external server—any server with a public IP address and internet access that is located outside the Servercore infrastructure.

We recommend using the iperf3 utility to measure speed.

1. Prepare the dedicated server for speed measurement.
2. Measure the data transfer speed.

1. Prepare the dedicated server for speed measurement

1. Boot the server into recovery and diagnostic mode to exclude the influence of OS processes on diagnostic results.

2. Connect to the server via SSH or a KVM console.

3. Install the iperf3 utility on the dedicated server, see the iPerf documentation for more details.

4. Run the iperf3 utility. The utility must run until data transfer speed measurement is complete.

   iperf3 -s

2. Measure data transfer speed

1. Open the CLI on the external server.

2. Install the iperf3 utility on the external server, see the iPerf documentation for more details.

3. Measure the speed from the external server to the dedicated server. The command will perform a measurement with 20 parallel streams to maximize the link load.

   iperf3 -c <ip_address> -P20 -t60 -i10

   Specify <ip_address> — the public IP address of the dedicated server. You can view it in the control panel: in the top menu, click Products → Dedicated Servers → Servers → server page → tab Operating System → field IP.

4. Perform a measurement in the reverse direction — add the -R key to the command:

   iperf3 -c <ip_address> -P20 -t60 -i10 -R

   Specify <ip_address> — the public IP address of the dedicated server. You can view it in the control panel: in the top menu, click Products → Dedicated Servers → Servers → server page → tab Operating System → field IP.

Check the status of network interfaces

Check the status of network interfaces if the server has no internet access.

Linux

1. Connect to the server via SSH or a KVM console.

2. Check the status of the network interfaces:

   ip a

   Information about the network interfaces will appear in the response. For example:

   1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default 
       link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
       inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
         valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
       inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
         valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
   
   2: enp0s1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000
       link/ether 1c:1b:0d:12:34:56 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
       inet 192.168.1.100/24 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global dynamic enp0s1
         valid_lft 604675sec preferred_lft 604675sec
       inet6 fe80::1234:abcd:5678:9ef0/64 scope link 
         valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
   
   3: enp0s2: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000
       link/ether 1c:1b:0d:65:43:21 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
       inet 203.0.113.10/24 brd 203.0.113.255 scope global dynamic enp0s2
         valid_lft 604675sec preferred_lft 604675sec
       inet6 fe80::abcd:1234:5678:9ef0/64 scope link 
         valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

   Where:

   • enp0s1 — the name of the network interface on the local port;
   • enp0s2 — the name of the network interface on the internet port;
   • UP — the status of the network interface.

3. If the network interface is in the DOWN status, enable it. Learn more in the IP Command Set instruction in the iproute2 documentation—this is a package of utilities that includes the ip utility.

   ip link set dev <eth_name> up

   Specify <eth_name> — the name of the network interface you obtained in step 2.

Windows

1. Connect to the server via RDP or a KVM console.

2. Launch PowerShell as administrator.

3. Check the status of the network interfaces:

   Get-NetAdapter

   Information about the network interfaces will appear in the response. For example:

   Name          InterfaceDescription            ifIndex Status       MacAddress             LinkSpeed
   ----          --------------------            ------- ------       ----------             ---------
   Ethernet      Intel(R) Ethernet Connection         12 Up           00-1A-2B-3C-4D-5E       1 Gbps

   Where:

   • Ethernet — the name of the network interface on the internet port;
   • Up — the status of the network interface.

4. If the network interface is in the Disabled status, enable it:

   Enable-NetAdapter -Name "<eth_name>" -Confirm:$false

   Specify <eth_name> — the name of the network interface you obtained in step 3.

macOS

1. Connect to the server via VNC or a KVM console.

2. Check the status of the network interfaces:

   ifconfig

   Information about the network interfaces will appear in the response. For example:

   lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 16384
       inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
       inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 
       inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1 
       nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>
       
   en0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
       ether a4:5e:60:12:34:56 
       inet 203.0.113.10 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 203.0.113.255
       inet6 fe80::a65e:60ff:fe12:3456%en0 prefixlen 64 secured scopeid 0x4 
       inet6 2001:db8::1234:abcd prefixlen 64 autoconf secured
       nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>
       media: autoselect
       status: active

   Where:

   • en0 — the name of the network interface on the internet port;
   • UP and active — the status of the network interface; the en0 interface is up and running.

3. If the network interface is in the inactive status, enable it:

   sudo ifconfig <eth_name> up

   Specify <eth_name> — the name of the network interface you obtained in step 2.

Check routing settings

Check routing settings if:

• there is no internet access on the server;
• the server is unreachable over the network;
• the server is unreachable from a specific external network.

Linux

1. Connect to the server via SSH or a KVM console.

2. Check routing settings:

   ip r

   A route table will appear in the response. For example:

   default via 203.0.113.1 dev enp0s2 proto dhcp metric 100
   203.0.113.0/24 dev enp0s2 proto kernel scope link src 203.0.113.10 metric 100
   192.168.1.0/24 dev enp0s1 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.1.100 metric 100

   Where:

   • default via 203.0.113.1 dev enp0s2 — the default route, internet traffic goes through gateway 203.0.113.1 via the enp0s2 interface;

   • 203.0.113.0/24 dev enp0s2 — the route to the public subnet 203.0.113.0/24, traffic to this subnet goes via the enp0s2 interface;

   • 192.168.1.0/24 dev enp0s1 — the route to the private subnet 192.168.1.0/24, traffic to this subnet goes via the enp0s1 interface.

Windows

1. Connect to the server via RDP or a KVM console.

2. Launch PowerShell as administrator.

3. Check routing settings:

   Get-NetRoute | Select-Object DestinationPrefix, NextHop, RouteMetric, @{Name="Interface";Expression={(Get-NetIPInterface -InterfaceIndex $_.InterfaceIndex).InterfaceAlias}}

   A route table will appear in the response. For example:

   DestinationPrefix NextHop       RouteMetric Interface
   ----------------- -------       ----------- ---------
   0.0.0.0/0         203.0.113.1   25          Ethernet
   203.0.113.0/24    0.0.0.0       25          Ethernet
   192.168.1.0/24    0.0.0.0       10          Internal

   Where:

   • 0.0.0.0/0 with NextHop 203.0.113.1 — the default route, internet traffic goes through gateway 203.0.113.1 via the Ethernet interface;

   • 203.0.113.0/24 with NextHop 0.0.0.0 — the route to the public subnet 203.0.113.0/24, traffic to this subnet goes via the Ethernet interface;

   • 192.168.1.0/24 with NextHop 0.0.0.0 — the route to the private subnet 192.168.1.0/24, traffic to this subnet goes via the Internal interface.

macOS

1. Connect to the server via VNC or a KVM console.

2. Check routing settings:

   netstat -rn

   A route table will appear in the response. For example:

   Internet:
   Destination        Gateway            Flags        Refs      Use   Netif Expire
   default            203.0.113.1        UGSc           10        0     en0
   127                127.0.0.1          UCS             0        0     lo0
   203.0.113.0/24     link#4             UCS             2        0     en0

   Where:

   • default 203.0.113.1 — the default route, internet traffic goes through gateway 203.0.113.1 via the en0 interface;

   • 203.0.113.0/24 link#4 — the route to the public subnet 203.0.113.0/24, traffic to this subnet goes via the en0 interface.

Collect a network traffic dump

If the server is unreachable from a specific external network or you observe short-term connection losses, collect a network traffic dump.

A network traffic dump is a process of recording and saving the network traffic that passes through a network or device. The dump contains information about network protocols, transmitted packets, their content, and data sources and recipients.

Linux

1. Connect to the server via SSH or a KVM console.

2. Install tcpdump —a utility for capturing and analyzing network traffic. Learn more in the tcpdump documentation.

   apt update
   apt install -y tcpdump

3. Look up the name of the network interface for which you need to record a dump; to do this, list the network interfaces:

   ip a

   Information about the network interfaces will appear in the response. For example:

   1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default 
       link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
       inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
         valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
       inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
         valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
   
   2: enp0s1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000
       link/ether 1c:1b:0d:12:34:56 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
       inet 192.168.1.100/24 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global dynamic enp0s31f6
         valid_lft 604675sec preferred_lft 604675sec
       inet6 fe80::1234:abcd:5678:9ef0/64 scope link 
         valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
   
   3: enp0s2: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000
       link/ether 1c:1b:0d:65:43:21 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
       inet 203.0.113.10/24 brd 203.0.113.255 scope global dynamic enp0s2
         valid_lft 604675sec preferred_lft 604675sec
       inet6 fe80::abcd:1234:5678:9ef0/64 scope link 
         valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

   Where enp0s2 is the name of the network interface on the internet port.

4. Launch tcpdump:

   sudo tcpdump -i <eth_name> -w <file_name>

   Specify:

   • <eth_name> — the name of the network interface you obtained in step 3;
   • <file_name> — the name of the file to save the network traffic capture to, for example dump.pcap.

5. Wait for the required amount of data to be collected.

6. Stop the recording by pressing Ctrl + C.

Windows

1. Connect to the server via RDP or a KVM console.

2. Install Wireshark — this is a utility for capturing and analyzing network traffic, see the Wireshark documentation for more details.

3. Launch Wireshark as administrator.

4. To start recording network traffic, click the required network interface.

5. Wait for the required amount of data to be collected.

6. Stop the recording.

7. Save the recording to a file.

macOS

1. Connect to the server via VNC or a KVM console.

2. Install tcpdump —a utility for capturing and analyzing network traffic. Learn more in the tcpdump documentation.

3. Look up the name of the network interface for which you need to record a dump; to do this, list the network interfaces:

   networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder

   Information about the network interfaces will appear in the response. For example:

   An asterisk (*) denotes that a network service is disabled.
   
   (1) Ethernet (Hardware Port: Ethernet, Device: en0)

   Where en0 is the name of the network interface on the internet port.

4. Launch tcpdump:

   sudo tcpdump -i <eth_name> -w <file_name>

   Specify:

   • <eth_name> — the name of the network interface you obtained in step 3;
   • <file_name> — the name of the file to save the network traffic capture to, for example dump.pcap.

5. Wait for the required amount of data to be collected.

6. Stop the recording by pressing Ctrl + C.

Restart network services

Restart network services if on the server:

• there is no internet access;
• alternatively, if the server is unreachable from a specific external network.

Linux

1. Connect to the server via SSH or a KVM console.

2. Restart network services:

   systemctl restart networking

Windows

1. Connect to the server via RDP or a KVM console.

2. Launch PowerShell as administrator.

3. Look up the name of the network interface on which you need to restart network services; to do this, list the network interfaces:

   Get-NetAdapter

   A list of network interfaces will appear in the response. For example:

   Name          InterfaceDescription            ifIndex Status       MacAddress             LinkSpeed
   ----          --------------------            ------- ------       ----------             ---------
   Ethernet      Intel(R) Ethernet Connection         12 Up           00-1A-2B-3C-4D-5E       1 Gbps

   Where Ethernet is the name of the network interface on the internet port.

4. Restart network services:

   Disable-NetAdapter -Name <eth_name>
   Enable-NetAdapter -Name <eth_name>

   Specify <eth_name> — the name of the network interface you obtained in step 3.

macOS

1. Connect to the server via VNC or a KVM console.

2. Look up the name of the network interface on which you need to restart network services; to do this, list the network interfaces:

   networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder

   A list of network interfaces will appear in the response. For example:

   An asterisk (*) denotes that a network service is disabled.
   
   (1) Ethernet (Hardware Port: Ethernet, Device: en0)

   Where en0 is the name of the network interface on the internet port.

3. Restart network services:

   sudo networksetup -setnetworkserviceenabled <eth_name> off
   sudo networksetup -setnetworkserviceenabled <eth_name> on

   Specify <eth_name> — the name of the network interface you obtained in step 2.

Check filtering rules

If the server is unreachable over the network, check the firewall filtering rules in the server OS.

Linux

1. Connect to the server via SSH or a KVM console.

2. View the list of firewall rules:

   iptables -L -n -v

   A list of rules will appear in the response. For example:

   Chain INPUT (policy DROP 1234 packets, 98765 bytes)
   pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source               destination
   2045  187K ACCEPT     all  --  lo     *       0.0.0.0/0            0.0.0.0/0
   1087  159K ACCEPT     all  --  *      *       0.0.0.0/0            0.0.0.0/0      ctstate RELATED,ESTABLISHED
    120  8400 ACCEPT     tcp  --  eth0   *       0.0.0.0/0            0.0.0.0/0      tcp dpt:22
      0     0 DROP       all  --  *      *       192.168.1.100        0.0.0.0/0
   
   Chain FORWARD (policy DROP 0 packets, 0 bytes)
   pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source               destination
   
   Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT 3456 packets, 456789 bytes)
   pkts bytes target     prot opt in     out     source               destination

   Where:

   • Chain — a list of rules for packets of a specific direction:

     • INPUT — for incoming packets;
     • FORWARD — for forwarded packets;
     • OUTPUT — for outgoing packets;

   • policy — the action of the rule, for example ACCEPT or DROP.

Windows

1. Connect to the server via RDP or a KVM console.

2. Launch PowerShell as administrator.

3. View the list of firewall rules:

   Get-NetFirewallRule | Format-Table Name, Enabled, Action, DisplayName

   A list of rules will appear in the response. For example:

   DisplayName : File and Printer Sharing (SMB-In)
   Name        : FPS-SMB-In-TCP
   Enabled     : True
   Direction   : Inbound
   Action      : Allow
   
   DisplayName : Remote Desktop - User Mode (TCP-In)
   Name        : RDP-TCP-In
   Enabled     : True
   Direction   : Inbound
   Action      : Allow
   
   DisplayName : Core Networking - DNS (UDP-Out)
   Name        : CoreNet-DNS-Out
   Enabled     : True
   Direction   : Outbound
   Action      : Allow
   
   DisplayName : Windows Remote Management (HTTP-In)
   Name        : WINRM-HTTP-In
   Enabled     : False
   Direction   : Inbound
   Action      : Allow
   
   DisplayName : Block Internet Access (Test Rule)
   Name        : Block-Internet-Test
   Enabled     : True
   Direction   : Outbound
   Action      : Block

   Here, Action is the rule action, for example, Allow or Block. Learn more in the Windows Firewall instruction in the Microsoft documentation.

macOS

1. Connect to the server via VNC or a KVM console.

2. View the list of firewall rules:

   sudo pfctl -sr

   A list of rules will appear in the response. For example:

   scrub in all fragment reassemble 
   block return all 
   pass out proto tcp from any to any port = ssh flags S/SA keep state 
   pass out proto tcp from any to any port = http flags S/SA keep state 
   pass out proto tcp from any to any port = https flags S/SA keep state 
   pass out proto udp from any to any port = domain keep state 
   pass out proto udp from any to any port = ntp keep state 
   pass out inet proto icmp all keep state 
   pass in proto tcp from any to any port = ssh flags S/SA keep state 
   pass in proto tcp from any to any port = http flags S/SA keep state 
   pass in proto tcp from any to any port = https flags S/SA keep state 

   Where block and pass are the actions of the rule; for more details, see the Packet filtering section of the OpenBSD documentation.

Scan ports

If the server is unavailable over the network or from a specific external network, scan the ports. Ports can be scanned using the nmap utility.

Linux

1. Connect to the server via SSH or a KVM console.

2. Install nmap; for more details, see the Linux Distributions section of the nmap documentation.

3. Scan ports:

   nmap -p <port> <ip_address>

   Specify:

   • optional: <port> — ports separated by commas, for example 22,80,443, or a range of ports, for example 20-30;
   • <ip_address> — IP address of the dedicated server. You can view the IP address of the dedicated server in the control panel in the Servers and Hardware section → Servers → server card → field IP address.

Windows

1. Connect to the server via RDP or a KVM console.

2. Install nmap; for more details, see the Windows section of the nmap documentation.

3. Launch PowerShell as administrator.

4. Scan ports:

   nmap -p <port> <ip_address>

   Specify:

   • optional: <port> — ports separated by commas, for example 22,80,443, or a range of ports, for example 20-30;
   • <ip_address> — IP address of the dedicated server. You can view the IP address of the dedicated server in the control panel in the Servers and Hardware section → Servers → server card → field IP address.

macOS

1. Connect to the server via VNC or a KVM console.

2. Install nmap; for more details, see the Apple Mac OS X section of the nmap documentation.

3. Scan ports:

   nmap -p <port> <ip_address>

   Specify:

   • optional: <port> — ports separated by commas, for example 22,80,443, or a range of ports, for example 20-30;
   • <ip_address> — IP address of the dedicated server. You can view the IP address of the dedicated server in the control panel in the Servers and Hardware section → Servers → server card → field IP address.

Check host network availability and measure latency

If the server is unavailable over the network, or if you notice high network latency or packet loss, check the server's availability and measure latency using the ping utility. The ping utility is part of the standard set of network tools and is pre-installed in most operating systems.

You can perform the check using the public or private IP address of the server, or the domain name linked to the server's IP address.

To perform this check, you will need a second server from which you will conduct the test. If you are testing to a private IP address, the servers must be connected via a private network.

1. Open CLI on the server from which you will perform the check.

2. Perform the check:

   ping <ip_address>

   Specify <ip_address> — the IP address or domain name of the server. You can view the dedicated server's IP address in the control panel: in the top menu, click Products → Dedicated Servers → Servers → server page → tab Operating System → field IP.

Check access from the OS in recovery and diagnostic mode

To ensure OS settings do not affect server performance and diagnostics:

1. Boot the server into recovery and diagnostic mode.

2. Connect to the server via SSH or a KVM console:

   • if the server responds and you can connect to it, the problem is in the software on the server. Reboot the server to restart network services. If the issue is software-related, it will be resolved when you revert to the previous OS boot template;
   • if the server is unavailable in recovery and diagnostic mode, create a ticket with a description of the issue.