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Internet Outage and Network Troubleshooting

Trevor Bernhard
Updated

The article will provide insight into what happens to Rhombus devices when the internet goes down, provide some troubleshooting for your network, and also provide some helpful links to other KBAs to help get Rhombus devices connected to the network. 

Rhombus Device Activity During Network Disconnection 

During a network disconnection, and while the cameras still have power, our Rhombus cameras will still record footage and save it to the cameras' onboard storage. Once the camera's connection has been restored, all the alerts and movement events will be added to the camera's timeline. 

During a network disconnection, while the Door Controllers and Door readers have power, our access control devices will still accept credentials, and individuals can still badge into the facility. During network loss, credentials can not be updated or changed. Once the network connection is restored, credentials can be updated or added.

Network Troubleshooting 

When a network goes down it can be for multiple reasons. Here are some common steps to troubleshoot a network and hopefully identify the issue. 

  • Check the Hardware - We recommend checking all the wires to see if they are plugged in across the network and ensuring all the switches are connected to the correct ports. Next, we recommend power cycling the modem, router, switch, and other devices through the network. This is the most common solution. 
  • Check network address - Using either a terminal (macOS) or Command prompt (Windows) you can check your network address. Using the command ipconfig in Windows or ipconfig getifaddr en0 in macOS will pull up the current IP address for your computer. If your computer’s IP address starts with 169, the computer is not receiving a valid IP address. If it starts with anything other than 169, your computer is being allocated a valid IP address from your router. If your IP address starts with a 169 we recommend contacting your ISP(Internet Service Provider). 
  • Ping a website - If you are getting a network IP with an address other than 169, and your router is working fine, the problem could be between the router and the internet. The next step would be to run a ping test on a Google DNS server (8.8.8.8) in the terminal (macOS), or command prompt (Windows), type "ping 8.8.8.8." This will provide you with either the time it takes to reach the server or more troubleshooting on the issue. 
  • Perform a DNS check - Use the command nslookup to determine whether there’s a problem with the server you’re trying to connect to. If you perform a DNS check on, for example, google.com and receive results such as "Timed Out," "Server Failure," "Refused," "No Response from Server," or "Network Is Unreachable," it may indicate the problem originates in the DNS server for your destination. (You can also use nslookup to check your own DNS server.)
  • Contact the ISP - If issues are still happening with your network we recommend reaching out to your Internet Service Provider. There could be a possible outage in the area, and your ISP should be able to troubleshoot your network for you. 
  • Check on virus and malware protection - Next, make sure your virus and malware tools are running correctly. Verify that they haven’t flagged anything that could be affecting and stopping part of your network from functioning.

The Network is Up, but the Rhombus Device is Down

If your network is running without issues and your Rhombus device relays a 'Disconnected' reading we recommend performing the steps below. 

  • Check the Hardware - We recommend checking all the wires to see if they are plugged in across the network and ensuring all the switches are connected to the correct ports. Next, we recommend power cycling the modem, router, switch, and other devices through the network. This is the most common solution. 
  • Check the port configurations - If the camera still shows a disconnection error, we recommend checking the port configurations on your firewalls and also making sure you have the proper URLs whitelisted. Here is a link to a KBA with more information. 
  • Reach out to Rhombus Support - If the camera is still having issues connecting to the network or is now showing a 'Contact Support' option, we recommend reaching out to our support team at , , or click here.

Helpful Links

Contact Support or Sales

Have more questions? Contact Rhombus Support at +1 (877) 746-6797 option 2 or support@rhombus.com.

Interested in learning more? Contact Rhombus Sales at +1 (877) 746-6797 option 1 or sales@rhombus.com.

 

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