PIX 501 Firewall not getting IP address

GeraldTheCactus · 14-12-2007, 11:20

Hello everyone,
first post so please be gentle with me.
I only have a BB 4Mb service from Virgin (no phone or TV), which I have had since it was first made available. I live in NE England.
I am an experienced sysprog working for a global IT services company.
Earlier in the year, I purchased a CISCO PIX 501 security appliance to beef up my home net to replace my Belkin wireless router. I managed to get it working and it seemed to give better response than the Belkin, which I reconfigured to be an access point for my wireless network, behind the PIX. The PIX worked fine for months, but one day I had a power cut and since then I cannot get an ip address. I reverted back to the Belkin which did eventually get an ip address, after many power offs and resets. Now I wish to expose a web server to the wild, wild web, but I am reluctant to do this without the extra protection the PIX will provide. Is anyone else using one of these PIX appliances to protect their home net, and if you are, can you give any pointers as to how to resolve this issue?

I have not contacted VM customer services as I had a very stressful experience with someone in a call centre whilst helping a mate with his connection problem.

Regards
G

gazzae · 14-12-2007, 12:45

Is the PIX definately set to DHCP on the outside interface?

How are you configuring the PIX, via PDM or telnet?

GeraldTheCactus · 14-12-2007, 12:52

Hi,
yes, I use the ip address outside dhcp setroute command.
I use SSH to access the PIX CLI.
Regards
G

gazzae · 14-12-2007, 13:18

put in the command

debug dhcpc detail

then put in the

ip address outside dhcp setroute

This, if I remember correctly should show you the steps its taking to get an address, and where it is failing.

GeraldTheCactus · 14-12-2007, 13:20

Hi gazzae,
thanks for that.
I'll try it when I get home from work
Regards
G

BBKing · 14-12-2007, 18:39

At a more mundane level, you have rebooted the cable modem between swapping devices?

GeraldTheCactus · 17-12-2007, 09:25

Yes, I have powered it off & on (& the modem) several times after I connected it.

Update:
I contacted VM Service Desk on the premium rate number, and after 5 mins of "diagnostics" was informed thay my modem is kaput. A new one is going to be sent out within 3 working days (allegedly). I was also informed that I would not be charged for the call, as it was a VM error and not mine. Quite a positive experience really.....assuming the modem does arrive of course....

Thanks for suggestions so far.

I'll update after I try my new modem.

Regards
G

GeraldTheCactus · 29-12-2007, 10:26

Update: Received replacement cable modem yesterday.
Plugged it in, got VM to activate the new MAC address, reset the PIX and got an IP address straight away....
Seems quite faster than before, although I'm not surprised if my old modem had a defective ethernet port.
Speed test results: Sat, 29 Dec 2007 10:24:30 GMT

Test 1: 1024K took 2230 ms = 459.2 KB/sec, approx 3784 Kbps, 3.7 Mbps
Test 2: 1024K took 2216 ms = 462.1 KB/sec, approx 3808 Kbps, 3.72 Mbps
Test 3: 1024K took 3962 ms = 258.5 KB/sec, approx 2130 Kbps, 2.08 Mbps
Test 4: 2048K took 5273 ms = 388.4 KB/sec, approx 3200 Kbps, 3.13 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 3231 Kbps, 3.16 Mbps

Thanks to everyone who offered advice and assistance.