is it good to shutdown your router every once in awhile?

[holden j caufield]

Or does it not matter.

 

[spidey07]

If it ain't broke, no need to fix it. I've had routers that haven't been rebooted since Y2K.

 

[Crusty]

No reason to unless you are having problems with it.

 

[JackMDS]

Actually, it is a good idea to shut the Router down once in a while.

The Entry-level Routers are actually small computer with Puny memory. The firmware is the OS the Puny memory does not allow a sophisticate self maintenance of the device/

Like any other computer, they tend to accumulate Garbage Bytes that reduces the available memory,

Shutting them down for few minutes cleans the Garbage out.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
Actually, it is a good idea to shut the Router down once in a while.

The Entry-level Routers are actually small computer with Puny memory. The firmware is the OS the Puny memory does not allow a sophisticate self maintenance of the device/

Like any other computer, they tend to accumulate Garbage Bytes that reduces the available memory,

Shutting them down for few minutes cleans the Garbage out.

True, no software is perfect especially in the SOHO world. A soft reset would clear all state machines, tables, state tables, etc.

 

[Crusty]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
Actually, it is a good idea to shut the Router down once in a while.

The Entry-level Routers are actually small computer with Puny memory. The firmware is the OS the Puny memory does not allow a sophisticate self maintenance of the device/

Like any other computer, they tend to accumulate Garbage Bytes that reduces the available memory,

Shutting them down for few minutes cleans the Garbage out.

Of course, but those issues usually bring about performance issues or the software crashes forcing a reboot before the garbage really has any harm to the device. So long as it's performing fine I see no reason to reboot it.

 

[JackMDS]

Originally posted by: CrustySo long as it's performing fine I see no reason to reboot it.

On the other hand what is so scary about rebooting a Router? 😕

 

[NickOlsen8390]

I agree, if a reboot is a viable plan then go for it. don't hurt no one but you if the internet is down for a few
If your a ISP rebooting a router that routes both voice and data could be bad. What if someone was trying/on a call to 911?

I personally don't like rebooting i'm up to 53days on my mikrotik core router (going for a personal record).
<sortaofftopic>
my friend has a windows box that has been up for like 380 days or some crazy amount of time. And yes you read that right, i said windows box. I'm not bashing windows, i love it but its not the best for years of uptime. He has icons disappear all the time, or like the start button will be gone, its crazy stuff.
</sortaofftopic>

 

[RebateMonger]

With so little available memory, any leaks or corruption in SOHO routers probably shows up LONG before a year.

I've got many clients with SOHO routers in small businesses that haven't been intentionally rebooted for years. (But it's likely that power outages have probably rebooted most of them.)

 

[backroger]

If you want, you can set keep alive and reboot it everyday atleast once.

 

[Crusty]

Originally posted by: JackMDS

Originally posted by: CrustySo long as it's performing fine I see no reason to reboot it.

On the other hand what is so scary about rebooting a Router? 😕

There isn't, especially since I can just reboot it from telnet or the web config. My wrt54g has been up for 70 days and this is it's memory usage.

Total Available 13300 kB / 16384 kB
Free 676 kB / 13300 kB
Used 12624 kB / 13300 kB
Buffers 1356 kB / 12624 kB
Cached 3856 kB / 12624 kB
Active 3712 kB / 12624 kB
Inactive 1524 kB / 12624 kB

As far as I'm concerned there's nothing to worry about those numbers. Granted every router is different, and everybody uses their internet for different things so these numbers have no relative meaning so to speak. Even so my downloads still max out my cable line and my pings are low in games, so I see no reason to mess with it.

 

[JackMDS]

I have a feeling that you are mixing up Reset and Reboot.

Reset would "mees up special settings", Reboot does not do ant thing it is just switching it Off and On.

 

[Crusty]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
I have a feeling that you are mixing up Reset and Reboot.

Reset would "mees up special settings", Reboot does not do ant thing it is just switching it Off and On.

No I'm not. If I wanted to reset my router I'd wipe the firmware. There's no need for that unless a flash goes bad, or I screw something up in telnet.

 

[Nothinman]

On the other hand what is so scary about rebooting a Router?

Nothing, just that it's something that should be completely unnecessary. If your router needs periodic reboots then it's a POS that should be replaced.

 

[vorgusa]

It would be nice to know what the router is hooked too.. if it is a home router.. go for it if you are worried about it

Wow this thread has gone on for days without any reaction from the starter. and I love his join date of 12/30/1999 was he worried about the Y2K problem?

 

[Crusty]

Originally posted by: vorgusa
It would be nice to know what the router is hooked too.. if it is a home router.. go for it if you are worried about it

Wow this thread has gone on for days without any reaction from the starter. and I love his join date of 12/30/1999 was he worried about the Y2K problem?

No, the Fusetalk forums database was started in 11/1999 I think, so he was probably one of the first people to join 😛

 

[JackMDS]

AnandTech Formus started few year before 1999.

At switch to a new system at 10/25/1999.

You would find many users with this date or close to it. Many of them actually joined well before Oct-Nov 1999, and were reseted toward the end of 1999.