Unknown internet traffic on my RN102

[Flomer]

Hi all,

recently I changed my ISP and got a brand new Fritzbox! 7490. In fritzbox I can monitor the overall amount of internet traffic. I found out (by disabling all other network devices) that my RN draws about 0.8 to 1 GB traffic (95% in and 5 % out) during the night. I switched off all remote services - except dropbox sync. But there is nothing to sync to my dropbox at the moment. Why its using so much internet traffic?

Tonight I'll also switch off the dropbox sync function to see what is the change. But I can't accept this uknown and unwanted traffic.

Any idea? Maybe there is a easy explanation for this.

Br,

Florian

[Flomer · Accepted solution]

Hi kohdee,

thanks for your input. I agree with your explanation. But as you mentioned its a bit too much traffic.

BUT, I found out now what's the problem. The dropbox app causes the traffic (sorry to my RN102). I switched it off yesterday evening and today morning I've seen only 25 MB in the monitor. 

Why it draws that traffic, I don't know, because I use it only for my pictures and I do maximum 50 MB a week. Maybee there is some indexing or sync routine in backround which causes this traffic. 

Thank you all for your inputs! I see this now as closed case.

Best regards,

Florian

[StephenB]

What apps are installed on the readynas (other than dropbox)?  Do you have ReadyCloud enabled?

Also, what firmware are you running?

You can confirm that the ReadyNAS is the culprit using at least three ways:

(a) if the Fritzbox has parental controls, you can block its internet access at night.

(b) You can reconfigure the NAS to use a static IP address, and delete the DNS servers, so it cannot resolve host names.

(c) You can also just turn the NAS off at night.

With all three methods, you should see the night traffic load drop.

[Flomer]

Hi Stephen,

thanks for your reply. The RN is running at the latest version. Ready cloud is disabled. Its also SMB Plus app installed. No other apps or online services active. firewall is also off (because of performance issue when its enabled).

following services are enabled: SMB (plus), AFP, NFS, ReadyDLNA, Rsync, HTTP, HTTPS. 

Thanks for your suggestions. But this doesnt solve the problem. Doesn't matter if its night or day. As soon as the NAS gets only it draws the traffic... 

I use the DNS server for the rsync backup between another RN (which is off at the moment)

The question is why its receiving data and for what?!?

Best regards,

Florian

[StephenB]

---

@Flomer wrote:

 The question is why its receiving data and for what?!?

---

I agree that's the question.  Though I'd prefer starting with positive confirmation that the traffic is to the NAS.  You've tried to exclude the other client devices, but it is possible something else is happening.  For instance, some other agent may be attempting a denial of service attack on the router, and the traffic load might never be reaching your local lan at all (but still in the stats).  Or perhaps a neighbor is (intentionally or accidently) using your wifi off hours.  Windows 10 PCs (and other devices) potentially "wake up" off hours and look for updates.  If your TV service is through the same ISP, perhaps there is some programming sync happening with set-top boxes and/or DVRs. ...

Possibilities like this may seem unlikely, but its good to rule them out before zeroing in on the NAS.  That was the motivation behind the previous post on various ways of blocking internet traffic to the NAS.  Knowing that the traffic disappears when the NAS is off/disconnected is more definitive than knowing that there is traffic remaining when you've disconnected other devices.  

I left one out by the way - just disconnect its ethernet cable.

You have rsync enabled over the internet?  Did you mean rsync over ssh?  What ports/services are forwarded to the NAS in the router?

[Flomer]

HI Stephen,

thanks for your input. I have the rsync service on but use it only on LAN. At the moment the second NAS is switched off.

Tonight I'll disconnect the RN102 completly and will have a look tomorrow morning. If there is no traffic I can point to the NAS.

But my question is also if any other RN OS6 user see's similar behaviour.

Br, Florian

[kohdee]

I'm not specifically sure what would cause your ReadyNAS to consider consuming that much data -- but there are a few tasks that the ReadyNAS runs like firmware update checks (occasionally, including when accessing the UI, updating antivirus definitions, updating the free app collection (which I believe is done daily). I also think there's some ReadyCLOUD discovery server pings here and there but I can't really imagine these tasks consume this nightly, especially if you are not changing files throughout the night with your Dropbox.

The only real way to know what it is is to analyze the traffic, via whichever methods you consider yourself most comfortable with, and find where the traffic is going. 
Also, if you've ever enabled SSH and that was exposed to the internet and someone broke into your ReadyNAS, it could have a worm. 

[Flomer · Accepted solution]

Hi kohdee,

thanks for your input. I agree with your explanation. But as you mentioned its a bit too much traffic.

BUT, I found out now what's the problem. The dropbox app causes the traffic (sorry to my RN102). I switched it off yesterday evening and today morning I've seen only 25 MB in the monitor. 

Why it draws that traffic, I don't know, because I use it only for my pictures and I do maximum 50 MB a week. Maybee there is some indexing or sync routine in backround which causes this traffic. 

Thank you all for your inputs! I see this now as closed case.

Best regards,

Florian

[JennC]

Hello Flomer,

You may mark any of the posts that has the resolution to close this topic.

Thanks for sharing and your contribution to the community!

Regards,