I've got a problem with three Windows Server 2003 machines occassionally losing a default gateway setting. The servers are 2 64-bit 4x 1.5Ghz Itanium CPU with 16GB RAM and 1 32-bit 4x 2.8Ghz Xeon CPU with 4GB RAM. The setup is a little unique in that each server has 3 adapters: each going to different subnets, though none act as routers, so I have multiple gateways configured on the server. I had a lot of routing issues initially but manually configuring metrics for each adapter resolved that so now packets get to their intended destination. The problem is that every now and then for some reason, a server will 'lose' one of it's default gateway settings - that is, it is still configured when viewed through the GUI properties for the adapter but when I do an 'ipconfig /all' the default gateway entry for that adapter is missing. I can't ping the server from a different subnet but I can log on to another server (luckily they don't all have the problem at the same time) and then RDP across and manually edit the gateway setting to something else, then change it back to the proper setting and hey presto - problem solved...until the next time. It happens maybe once a month to one of the servers and strikes at random. They're all patched with MS Hotfix KB 824146 (a great fix for any RDP issues you may be having). Any ideas why this is happening? Any help is much appreciated...

Totally wild guess. Some app is crashing that memory area. This data would have to be on both ram/vram and hard drive. I think it unlikely that the actual data on the hard drive has changed (may still be) but more likely that you have the servers running for a month or so and then some live data area gets overwritten. Guess you could find out where the data is stored and monitor it for changes? Seems odd that it is just that. Guess it could be that after some time the gateway is not reachable then it kicks that off as a choice.

Thanks for your thoughts Jefro - I'll look into the memory suggestion, hadn't thought of that (anything is worth a shot at this stage). I can rule out the default gateway availability as this is a tightly monitored environment and there's no alerts that the gateway's gone down at all.

James Did this get resolved? I have the same issue with ISA servers, using NLB. What application/ service are you running on your servers? The servers are dual-homed without teaming. They are Proliant's with Xeon processors (running Windows 2003). Any help would be much appreciated Bobby Bobby Maheru