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So what I'd like to be able to do is be able to remotely reset the firewalls. It is often that I have to go to the buildings to power cycle the firewalls, sometimes it's just the modem and sometimes it's both. To save time I just power them both and that almost always fixes the issue. I realize that this really shouldn't ever happen, but it does a lot in all 3 buildings. Anyway, it would be very convenient to be able to access the networks in the buildings so I could initiate power resets. Any ideas on how to go about doing this?

I would suggest contacting the Global Service Center.

If the modem is in such a state that you have to power cycle it to fix the problem, the chances are that the firewall isn't even accessible by the Global Service Center. The GSC can't help you with modem problems -- you'd have to look to your ISP. And even if the modem is in a good state, if the firewall has to be restarted, there's a decent chance it won't be accessible by the GSC, either. But if it is accessible, then the GSC does have the ability to restart it remotely. That's not exactly the same as a power reset, but it would fix most problems. I doubt they'd give you that ability, but if they can restart the firewall, they'd probably be willing to do it.

You might try to figure out what's causing the problem; our firewalls (we have both an older ASA 5505 and newer 881W firewalls) run and run for months on end with no intervention required, and high-quality Cisco hardware is designed to stay up. So I'd investigate environmental issues such as power (perhaps investing in a UPS would be prudent if you have power issues) or heat (make sure there is adequate air circulation, that heat-generating components aren't too close to each other, etc.).

aebrown wrote:You might try to figure out what's causing the problem; our firewalls (we have both an older ASA 5505 and newer 881W firewalls) run and run for months on end with no intervention required, and high-quality Cisco hardware is designed to stay up. So I'd investigate environmental issues such as power (perhaps investing in a UPS would be prudent if you have power issues) or heat (make sure there is adequate air circulation, that heat-generating components aren't too close to each other, etc.).

Or running out of IP addresses.

In Australia we have "teleboot" devices installed with all the networking hardware so we can remotely power cycle the hardware as needed. It plugs into the phone line before the modem so it can intercept calls to the ADSL service number, and also plugs into a power board that supplies all the relevant network hardware. It's an extremely effective solution.

For more information on the device itself, go to:
http://www.spence-electronics.com.au/ne ... eboot.html

Lionelwalters, there are several devices that I'd investigated in the past as well, it seems for $150 or so this solution might be available. It would be nice to have it standard (or if we could request it as standard). The issue for me is that sometimes the church is 1 hour away, and the seminary teacher, or FHC director doesn't have a key to the secure place where the equipment is located. I would be nice to have remote reboot capabilities.

I've solved this problem simply by buying a cheap plug in timer that power cycles the cable modem and firewall each night. It's granularity is 1/2 hour so from 2 to 2:30 in the morning or both are off. This has made the calls about no internet much less frequent. Mainly it's the new 881 firewalls that seem to benefit from a power cycle each day. Cisco quality is going down, down, down and this is just the latest example.

That is an interesting idea good tip!

We had same problem invested in a Ups problem went away!