PeerNest and wireless networks

Usage and Config Platform
1

We’re facing some issues with PeerNest and Wireless networks and wanted to know if anything specific needs to be configured for PeerNest to work correctly on Wireless networks.
We’re having 9.5.13 environment (Client/Server) and PeerNest is configured for all sites that don’t have local relay available.
Checking the logs for clients connected to LAN (=Wired) PeerNest is working just fine, however when checking this on Wireless it’s not working and peerdebug.log shows timeout

log not working
At 12:09:33 +0300 PeerNest: Sending peer message 3 for file e4f46f54ab78b4dd2dcef193ed573737661e5a10.
At 12:09:33 +0300 PeerNest: sent ipv4 peer multicast UDP message.
At 12:11:39 +0300 PeerNest: Timeout reached: 120
At 12:11:39 +0300 PeerNest: Sending peer message 3 for file e4f46f54ab78b4dd2dcef193ed573737661e5a10.
At 12:11:39 +0300 PeerNest: sent ipv4 peer multicast UDP message.
At 12:14:04 +0300 PeerNest: Timeout reached: 120

Extract working log
File: MS20-AUG: Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8 for Windows 10 Version 1903|1909 - Windows 10 Version 1903 - .NET Framework 3.5/4.8 - KB4569751 (x64)
Peer debug log
At 16:22:02 +0200 PeerNest: Asking for file 99e0fedbc8108ac53c27032c7d2fa08e21bcd22f
At 16:22:02 +0200 PeerNest: Sending peer message 1 for file 99e0fedbc8108ac53c27032c7d2fa08e21bcd22f.
At 16:22:03 +0200 PeerNest: File 99e0fedbc8108ac53c27032c7d2fa08e21bcd22f is available on peer 1078858428 with priority 100.
At 16:22:03 +0200 PeerNest: File 99e0fedbc8108ac53c27032c7d2fa08e21bcd22f is available on peer 1082161772 with priority 100.
At 16:22:12 +0200 PeerNest: File 99e0fedbc8108ac53c27032c7d2fa08e21bcd22f is available on peer 548605945 with priority 100.
At 16:30:50 +0200 PeerNest: Download peer URL https://155.128.67.107:29450/99e0fedbc8108ac53c27032c7d2fa08e21bcd22f

Like to have this resolved as we have aggresive schedule to deploy our monthly OS Patches and currently facing issues on sites with high WAN Utilization due to PeerNest not working as expected.

PeerNest configuration
//maximum diskspace used for peer sharing 8GB
//minimum is default of 2GB
setting “_BESClient_PeerNest_DownloadsCacheLimitMB”=“8192” on “{now}” for client

//files can be removed to make space after X days
setting “_BESClient_PeerNest_MinimumCacheDays”=“5” on “{now}” for client

//files are removed after X days regardless if space is needed
setting “_BESClient_PeerNest_MaximumCacheDays”=“20” on “{now}” for client

//recommended per HCL documentation where IPv6 may be disabled
setting “_BESClient_Comm_IPCommunicationsMode”=“OnlyIpv4” on “{now}” for client

setting “_BESClient_PeerNest_Enabled”=“1” on “{now}” for client
setting “_BESClient_PeerNest_Priority”=“100” on “{now}” for client
setting “_BESClient_PeerNest_IsPassive”=“0” on “{now}” for client

//enable debug logging for peer
setting “_BESClient_PeerNest_DebugOutPath”="{pathname of data folder of client & “\peer_debug.log”}" on “{now}” for client

Any suggestions are welcome.
Rgds
Denis

2

IIRC message 3 is used to inform other peers that you’re actually downloading that file, so that if any one is in need of it they know that there is already someone downloading it and that they should just wait. The timeout is strange though :confused: Did you have the chance to actually check if the endpoint is downloading the file through monitoring the network?

3

Would like to ask the question again to this forum about PeerNest. We’re currently working with our network team on configuring this and having mixed results.
When clients are connected “Wired=LAN” the PeerNest feature works just fine, we can confirm this from the client logs and peer_debug logs.

The issue is happening when trying to do the same Wireless (even using the same workstations where PeerNests worked when they are LAN Connected).

The Info I get back from the network engineer is that they see the traffic on the Wireless controller, but it does not seems to be acknowledge by the client, the Peer_debug logs show timeout for this.

Question from the network engineer, to this forum, are there any specific setups required for enabling this feature over Wireless? We have Cisco environment and are there other customers in this forum that have successfully implemented PeerNest using Wireless networks with Cisco equipment?

We would like to get this working as our company has 80% of users connecting wireless at the office, so it’s must to have this working, as current workaround we have been installing local relays at these sites but that’s not really sustainable as it requires additional support, making sure these local relays (Windows 10 - Desktops) are on-line, patches, available etc.

Thx again.