Pix 501 drops connection

[ab]

My PIX 501 is connected to an Exchange server and a Concentrator VPN device.

Connection through VPN works perfectly all the the time, but the connection to the Exchange server dies every now and the.

The connection to the server dies for 1 sec. and comes up again. But after the connection is back no packets are send or received by the server. But the VPN is still up and running through the PIX.

After this I have to reboot the PIX in order to make it send and receive again.

The server log says:

NIC Agent: Connectivity has been lost for the NIC in slot 5, port 1. [SNMP TRAP: 18006 in CPQNIC.MIB]

And after exactly 2 min. this is logged:

NIC Agent: Connectivity has been restored for the NIC in slot 5, port 1. [SNMP TRAP: 18005 in CPQNIC.MIB].

Strange that the interval in the log is 2 min. when the WAN icon only flashes for 1-2 sec?!

I am running PIX 6.3(3) and PDM 3.0(1).

What might be the problem here?

Kind regards,

Allan Bruun, Denmark

[gmarogi]

Make sure if NICs are both set to Auto/Auto and they are negotiating to 100/Half. Fixing the speed/duplex issue is going to correct the problem.

[m-haddad]

Another thing to try other than the Duplexing and speed is to check the Cabling and RJ-45 connector. The message means the interface went down for some reason.

Issue the command show interface ethernet 0 and check if there are erros or collisions and see what duplexing and speed are negotiated.

Let me know how it goes,

Your rate is highly appreciated,

Regards.