A sad tale of ProSupport woe with ReadyNAS Pro Pioneer!

Sun 8/21 @ 8:55 PM

Call Pro Support line and immediately answered call and was with a agent #5116

Was told how to reload OS from flash memory but instructions were wrong - told to use power button to select option not reset button

Called Pro Support back @ 9:01 PM after short time on hold agent #1375 answered

Heavy Indian accent - not technical then passed to #40168

Who:

• Failed to understand network protocol enough to understand that if Telnet to port 80/443 fails then there is no way to connect to ReadyNAS FrontView


• Repeated asked unhelpful questions - I asked to be escalated - more useless questions - I asked what happened to domestic support and told she would collect information for level 3 support


• Asked about number of drives - capacity - model number - my external IP address - asked to open TELNET port through firewall - I told her Telnet (Port 23) is not working inside so why would outside work


• Asked me to open SSH (Port 22) - did so and confirmed working inside - confirmed working outside - told level 3 would investigate and "get back to her and she would get back to me"

11 hours later no response

Mon 8/22 @ 10:37 AM

Called Pro Support and near first ring answer connected to agent #78250

Who explained:

• No need to open port due to prior tech misunderstanding how technology works


• Putting device into TECH MODE actually has it open outbound connection (firewall allows outbound instantiated connections) to NetGear NAS Shell Server


• I had been given wrong instruction and needed to use reset switch not power button to select

Who performed:

• Multiple attempts to fix flashing of OS by remove optional PHP add-on's, attempting to reload OS from new Download


• Having me re-enable Tech Mode and bump up to Engineering with a 24 to 48 hour response time unless identified issue sooner

Meanwhile I received call from MJ (no agent number and another heavy Indian accent) about needing to open port 23/22 to allow static NAT traffic to pass

Agent #78250 called back and believes a fix is in place and I need to reboot unit to confirm but has no idea who MJ is or why I needed to open the port.

Unit reboots and seems to be operating normally. Continue to monitor S.M.A.R.T. errors on slot 5.

PHP Add-ons are still listed and seem to not be able to be removed, but that is for another day.