Troubleshooting Proxidize Server Internet Connection
The essential step to completing the Proxidize server installation is connecting your server to the internet. Connecting the server to your router via an ethernet cable should be sufficient to achieve connectivity to the internet. However, things sometimes don't go as smoothly as we'd like, and the server might not connect to the internet by just connecting it a router.
There are a few reasons this might be happening:
The router is not responding to the Proxidize server requests
Faulty cables or ports
Faulty network interface
A firewall is blocking the traffic
In this article, we will go through each of these reasons and along with basic troubleshooting steps to help you isolate and resolve the issue.
Router Not Responding to Proxidize Server Requests
By default, the communication between the server and the router is done via the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). This communication is started the second the server is powered up and connected to the router.
The server sends a DHCP request asking for an IP address from the DHCP server (your router). If there were no communication errors, the router should respond with a DHCP offer that includes an IP address of the IP pool configured on the router, and there you go, you're connected to the internet.
In some cases, the router fails to respond to the requests due to the following reasons.
Router is not Configured to Act as DHCP Server
Some router models are not configured as DHCP servers by default. To fix this issue, you need to contact your system administrator or network engineer to complete the DHCP configuration for the communication to flow.
Router Port is Faulty
To verify if the port is faulty, connect the ethernet cable from the same router port to another device in your network and test if it gets an IP address. If that does not work, you could check the same ethernet cable in a different port on the router and to the Proxidize server or any other device. If that worked, the port is likely faulty (but this is not always true) — a router reboot might also help.
Router Dropping DHCP Requests Due To Router Configurations
There have been some reported cases in which some internal processes/services in the router are stuck, and a reboot of the router is needed to restore them back to working as intended.
Proxidize Server Not Connected to Router Directly
If there is an intermediate network device present, that device should be configured to relay DHCP requests between the server and the router since every network device will drop these requests by default. This is why we highly recommend connecting the server to a router directly.
Faulty Cables or Ports
Although highly unlikely, the fault may originate from the cables or ports. To isolate this problem, you will have to try different router ports or ethernet cables.
Faulty Network Interface
This cause is very rare and requires the intervention of the Proxidize technical support team to confirm if the server's network interface is faulty. In this case, your server will be replaced for free if it is under warranty. Otherwise, you will need to acquire a new server.
Firewall Is Blocking Traffic
If a firewall is blocking your traffic, your server most likely has gotten a new IP address, but packets destined for the internet or returned from the internet back to your server are being dropped at the firewall level.
To isolate this issue, you can bypass your firewall and see if connectivity is restored. If so, consider changing your access rules or security parameters configured on the firewall to permit these packets.
If none of the above worked, or you need more technical experience to go through these steps, contact technical support or visit our community.
The support team is available via the live chat on the website or from your Proxidize dashboard if you complete the installation.