ReadyNAS Ultra 4 interfering with network traffic

[dkarlton]

Starting a few days ago, my ReadyNAS Ultra 4 running RAIDiator 4.2.28 is somehow interefering with network traffic on my home network. When I have the NAS disconnected from my router, all of my other connected devices are able to access the Internet without issue. However, when the NAS is on my network, I am experiencing periodic web blockage on all other devices. Connections can be exorbitantly slow, almost like I am having DNS issues, but my DNS servers are fine (provided by ISP and using DHCP).

It's an intermittent problem. Sometimes while the NAS is on, everything is fine for a short period, but then it will again periodically block traffic after a few minutes.

I've disabled almost all services on the NAS. I only left CIFS, AFP, and ReadyDLNA running (as I've done for the past 5+ years).

Anyone have any ideas how or why it could be blocking traffic?

Here's a traceroute from my Mac during one such time:

traceroute to www.google.com (195.249.23.153), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
 1  192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1)  1.036 ms  0.576 ms  0.585 ms
 2  lo0.br1-alb.ip.fullrate.dk (90.185.1.166)  20.989 ms  30.328 ms  23.832 ms
 3  90.185.1.208 (90.185.1.208)  29.378 ms  30.111 ms  34.992 ms
 4  188.180.106.9 (188.180.106.9)  28.676 ms
    176.22.75.157 (176.22.75.157)  32.927 ms  34.316 ms
 5  83.88.19.143 (83.88.19.143)  33.492 ms  34.181 ms  29.842 ms
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[StephenB]

It can't block traffic, but it could create interfering traffic (either on the local LAN or on the internet connection).

Do you have ports forwarded to the NAS in the router?  

You could try blocking internet services to the nas in your router, and see if the problem disappears.

[dkarlton]

I don't have any port forwarding set up on the router at all. What kind of Internet services could I potentially block on the NAS? How is this typically configured on a router, from a high-level standpoint?

[StephenB]

With most Netgear routers there is a "block services" screen in the advanced settings UI.

You can block any port range you want from reaching the ReadyNAS, and there is a built-in service for "all".  

Also - are you connecting only one of the two ethernet ports?  Or are both connected?

[dkarlton]

It's a ZyXEL VMG8924-B10A router, provided by my ISP. I'm only using one ethernet port.

[StephenB]

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@dkarlton wrote:

It's a ZyXEL VMG8924-B10A router, provided by my ISP. 

---

You should be able to do this from the parental control screens - page 207 and following here: https://www.zyxel.com/za/en/uploads/images/VMG8924-B30A_V1.00-UG.pdf

The user would be custom, and then set to the mac address of the ultra.  You'd add a service that uses the full port range (1-65535) for UDP and TCP.

[dkarlton]

I got the parental control restrictions set up properly I believe. So far, so good. What does this effectively mean for the ReadyNAS though? Will the automated backups I have through Vault stop working now?

[StephenB]

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@dkarlton wrote:

I got the parental control restrictions set up properly I believe. So far, so good. What does this effectively mean for the ReadyNAS though? 

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Outbound services like vault, readynas update request, ntp time sync should all be blocked

If blocking the internet service solves the network traffic problem, then the next step is to try unblocking the service, and see if the problem returns.

If it does, then there needs to be some deeper analysis on what's happening - checking to see if the NAS is hacked, etc. 

.

[dkarlton]

OK, after a long delay and lots of testing, it looks like blocking the services solved the networking problems on other PC's and devices on our LAN. So, what's the next step?

[StephenB]

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@dkarlton wrote:

 what's the next step?

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It's hard to say, since we really don't know what the NAS is doing to destabilize your network.

One option is to try shutting down the NAS and removing the disks (labeling by slot).  Then insert a scratch disk (not part of the array) and do a factory install.  Configure the NAS network services similarly to your current setup.  Then unblock the internet services, and see if the problem still occurs.

If the issue stops, then that suggests doing a factory reset, rebuilding the NAS, and restoring the data from backup.  Painful and brute-force to be sure, but this problem has been dragging on for quite some time now.

[dkarlton]

If I'm thinking of upgrading to a newer ReadyNAS instead of doing a reinstall, what would be a reasonable newer functional analog to the Ultra 4?

[dkarlton]

I see other forum threads referencing similar symptoms, where DNS seems to be blocked or delayed. But the Ultra 4 doesn't have firewall configuration options as mentioned in these threads.

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Managed-Switches/FVS336Gv2-DNS-Issues/td-p/1058861

https://community.netgear.com/t5/VPN-Firewalls/Easy-Fix-for-Intermittent-Connections-Slowdowns-Timeo...

Is there potentially a known issue that could block DNS?

[StephenB]

Well, those posts are for very different products.  I don't think they apply to your case.  The NAS doesn't proxy DNS, and shouldn't interfere with DNS lookups from other devices.

I'm wondering if somehow your NAS was hacked somewhere along the way.

@dkarlton wrote:

If I'm thinking of upgrading to a newer ReadyNAS instead of doing a reinstall, what would be a reasonable newer functional analog to the Ultra 4?

The RN424 is the closest of the new models.  

There's an older RN314 that is being phased out - you could get that one if you see a good price.  Performance is similar to the ultra, and I don't forsee any support challenges with the older product.

If you do switch, you can do a full factory reset on the ultra, which I think will resolve your issue.  Then you can use it as a backup NAS.

[dkarlton]

I think at this point that the device hasn't been hacked. I can see that when ReadyNAS Vault is enabled, it immediately causes DNS/timeout errors on other devices on my LAN. I have a very slow upload speed via DSL (2 Mbps), and I think Vault is just oversaturating my network. I've configured Vault to run at a trickle during the day, and at max during the night, and it seems OK so far.