Restarting Router regularly?

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PhilANZ

352 posts

Ultimate Geek

#173879 9-Jun-2015 15:48

Just wondered what the norm is for restating routers. Before this year our router was never seen or heard from. We've had a new "better and improved" router (Belkin) this year. We're generally impressed - except that we seem to have to restart it when performance degrades. It might not be the router - but we haven't figured out what else it could be. Certainly the restart fixes problems.

So what is normal / expected. Currently we plan to restart weekly - a far cry from our old cheaper more basic router.

Thanks

Inphinity

2780 posts

Uber Geek

#1320399 9-Jun-2015 15:56

I generally only restart my RT-AC66U when I do a firmware upgrade, or make a configuration change that requires a reboot.

sidefx

3711 posts

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#1320402 9-Jun-2015 16:03

As above, I have both a modem\router (fritzbox) and second router (tp-link) running gargoyle, and the only time either gets restarted is for firmware upgrades (So extremely infrequently, like almost never)

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Aredwood

3885 posts

Uber Geek

#1320438 9-Jun-2015 16:36

Same here.
My Ubiquity Edge router only gets restarted for firmware upgrades. Same with the fritz box which I use for wifi. Will check tonight what it's uptime is currently.

Jase2985

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#1320459 9-Jun-2015 16:59

same as above there should be no need to restart the device at all unless you do a config change that requires it or you suffer a power cut.

Most ive seen was about 100 days on mine prior to getting an UPS installed, now im sitting on about 40 days and i can see it going for much longer, unless there is a power cut longer than about 8h or the UPS fails.

nathan

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#1320471 9-Jun-2015 17:17

Are you torrenting or something that might use up all the routers RAM?

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#1320474 9-Jun-2015 17:22

Only times router is rebooted here is when there's a power outage (go figure..), Most updates are done live. Only other exception is the occasional segmentation fault when i tinker a little too much! - the fun of bsd i suppose ;)

Really there isnt any reason apart from maintenance to reboot network hardware imo.

If your having occasional performance issues with it, it may be worth looking into why that is actually happening.

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PhilANZ

352 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1320486 9-Jun-2015 17:31

Thanks for the feedback - I've never had problems in the past but figured there might be more to learn. Have a UPS which keeps me going in power cuts (3 hours longest so far).

As for torrenting or something that might use up RAM - I ony vaguely know what that is - don't do anything complex.

So I'll consider calling in someone local to have a look - but don't hold high hopes there.

Thanks - needed to know what the norm is or if I'd just been lucky in the past.

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Sideface

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#1320554 9-Jun-2015 19:15

PhilANZ: Just wondered what the norm is for restating routers....

Never, except for firmware upgrades (3 months ago).
Ubiquity Edge router with UPS.

Sideface

michaelmurfy

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#1320565 9-Jun-2015 19:33

My home router went for 117 days before getting a reboot.
Another router I managed went for 482 days before rebooting for a security update ;)

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freitasm

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Geekzone

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#1320677 9-Jun-2015 21:17

PhilANZ: Thanks for the feedback - I've never had problems in the past but figured there might be more to learn. Have a UPS which keeps me going in power cuts (3 hours longest so far).

As for torrenting or something that might use up RAM - I ony vaguely know what that is - don't do anything complex.

So I'll consider calling in someone local to have a look - but don't hold high hopes there.

Thanks - needed to know what the norm is or if I'd just been lucky in the past.

I was testing a DLink here and had it going for 31 days and only restarted it because of a power cut that lasted a couple of hours. My MP264 goes on for months without a restart.

I used to have Belkin before and if you had lots of connections it will need a restart. This could be (as mentioned before) due to torrents (downloading content using BitTorrent for example) but also if you have lots of devices (smartphones, tablets, laptops, media centres, streaming devices, network printers, NAS, everything counts).

Aredwood

3885 posts

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#1320756 9-Jun-2015 22:47

Sideface:
PhilANZ: Just wondered what the norm is for restating routers....

Never, except for firmware upgrades (3 months ago).
Ubiquity Edge router with UPS.

My Edge router is currently on 5 months, 3 weeks, 6 days. Mem usage on 11%

And that is despite a bug in firmware Ver 1.6 that causes some Edge routers to restart by themselves. (NMI gets triggered) My uptime would be higher if I didn't get that bug myself. I only knew because my uptime for awhile was only around 2 to 3 weeks. (don't know how it fixed itself without me changing anything)

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#1320764 9-Jun-2015 22:57

My telecom one needs to be restarted every few days, as devices seem to drop off wifi. But it is on the way out I think, and will get a new one when I signup to my next ISP contract.

sidefx

3711 posts

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#1320944 10-Jun-2015 10:11

Aredwood:
My Edge router is currently on 5 months, 3 weeks, 6 days. Mem usage on 11%

This got me curious about my routers too. Fritzbox PPP connection has been connected since 29/12/2014 (Not sure how to see real uptime but it's obviously at least this long, or longer) Gargoyle router isn't too far behind with 138 days.

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman

Sideface

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#1321966 10-Jun-2015 11:19

Aredwood: ... My Edge router is currently on 5 months, 3 weeks, 6 days. Mem usage on 11%

And that is despite a bug in firmware Ver 1.6 that causes some Edge routers to restart by themselves. (NMI gets triggered) My uptime would be higher if I didn't get that bug myself. I only knew because my uptime for awhile was only around 2 to 3 weeks. (don't know how it fixed itself without me changing anything)

I'm running firmware v.1.6.0 on an EdgeRouter Lite and have never had a unplanned reboot.
Memory usage is 10%, 3 months after last boot.

Sideface

PhilANZ

352 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1322371 10-Jun-2015 18:16

This may be totally off the wall, but at times I use XAMPP to play with Joomla locally rather than playing on one of my live websites. I used it today for the first time for a few days - and suddenly my internet is slow again.

Now there could be 1000 factors at work here - but it just occurred to me the two could be related (and if you're laughing at this remember I'm a real novice at this stuff). I wouldn't have thought it would affect it - after all the idea is to run Joomla locally. But what do I know? Might do some more testing.