Server Stops Responding - Clear Arp unlocks it - I have static Arp for it

[atlantalan]

This is an odd problem.

I have an old server which sits in a vlan

I have several other servers which have to connect to this server to pass messages as it is the interface engine.

The server will run fine for a while, but then just stop responding. When I clear the arp, it comes back to life. I have scoured the arp tables and do not find any duplicate IP entries. So, I made the arp static for that machine. It still happens! I clear the arp, and it comes back to life despite the arp being static.

But, when it goes down, there are other machines on the same subnet and vlan that can still get to it. But, if your not on the same subnet or VLAN then it is dead. Clear the arp and all servers can get to it no matter which vlan or subnet they are on.

Anyone run into this?

[Mikhail.Galiulin]

Hi,

If the server you are talking about is an old IBM AS/400-like machine then it could be that the problem is wrong Ethernet frame type.

If the network card on the server is configured with default settings than it could use the wrong Ethernet type when it get no reply on ARP query with right frame type.

Here you can find more about this:

http://www-912.ibm.com/s_dir/slkbase.NSF/0/c8deecaf7d0492b186256e2900778c56?OpenDocument&ExpandSection=1

//mikhail Galiulin

[glen.grant]

Could be we had that issue once and we ended up putting a static arp entry using SNAP as the encapsulation and it did fix it . It is also possible that proxy arp might work on something like this . Does the machine have a valid default gateway pointing to the router ???