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Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues - Update 10/25

BretD
Admin

BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues - Reply Thread

Insight Instant VPN RouterInsight Instant VPN RouterUpdate Oct 30, 2019

Dear NETGEAR BR500 customers,

 

Over the past two weeks we have experienced extreme instability with our VPN cloud ecosystem.  We believe it is due to the scale of customer base combined with our design tradeoffs on passing cloud status. We are working around the clock to identify a fix, test it and roll it out to production with as little ongoing disruption as possible. Unfortunately the current situation requires us to regularly reboot our cloud servers which is causing the disruption you are experiencing.  

 

We are committed to having a robust and reliable VPN service and realize that we have not achieved this. For this we are truly sorry and we will continue to work on this until we have achieved this objective. We will be posting regular (several a day) updates on our corrective action status at this location in our community until we have completely resolved this issue. If you would prefer to get these status updates sent to you directly, please visit this locked update thread in the community and for instructions on subscribing to updates. You can alternativly reply or subscribe to this current thread, but will be updated anytime anyone responds.

Sincerely,

NETGEAR BR500 team

How-To-Subscribe-Community.png

 

 

Update Oct 26, 2019 Thank you to the members that have provided feedback on the latest firmware. We are aware that the issue has not been fully resolved. We are continuing to work around the clock to stabilize the VPN service connection and hope to have a permanent fix soon. For those of you who have upgraded to the firmware provided in this thread there is no further action required on your part. We'll provide another update as soon as it becomes available.

 

Update Oct 25, 2019 We would like to give you an update on the intermittent issues with BR500 VPN services that we notified you yesterday. Our teams worked continuously since yesterday and found the cause of this issue. We have a temporary fix with a new firmware V5.7.0.6 posted here [Note: Link Removed - please stand by for updates.]  in NETGEAR Community. You can download and update your BR500 router(s) to this new firmware and it should be able to re-establish the VPN connection.

Our teams are also working on the VPN server side fix that will fix this issue completely, expect that in a week or two.

If you have any question or new issue, you can contact us at insight-feedback@netgear.com .

 

Oct/24/2019 - We are experiencing intermittent issues with BR500 VPN services. This issue may impact both Site-to-Site and Client connectivity. Our teams are diligently working to isolate and fix the issue. Please stay tuned and we will keep you updated.

 

Thank you for your patience in standing with us going through this resolution process.


Thank You,
NETGEAR Insight Team

 

Message 1 of 241
EKKO_Coleman
Guide

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues

Is there any kind of manual overide we can do to get site-to-site for the BR500's to connect?  To be honest I am confused and angry that the BR500 needs to have a constant connection to your servers for them to operate propery.  I would think once the BR500 makes a site-to-site connection with my other BR500 (using your server's to negoiate the handshake) it wouldnt need to rely on your servers to conitnue operations.. I guess its just another dissapointing "feature" of these devices.  I am really starting to regret rolling these devices out to all my locations spread across the US.  I have an entire company of 300+ employees unable able to work today becuase of this.

Message 2 of 241
NathenB
Apprentice

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues

You may want to look into setting up IPSEC VPN. While you are in the management console, go to devices, and then double click on the device, on the left you should see IPSEC VPN. It does take a little work to get both ends setup though. (I will say that I have pretty regular drops, but that those recover just as fast, and if you have alerting on, your phone, and email will be full of these alerts) The BR500, with their services, can make settting up a VPN between sites much easier, as long as it is up and working.

Message 3 of 241
EKKO_Coleman
Guide

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues

@NathenB, thank you for your suggestion.

Can IPSec and "InstantVPN groups" being running at the same time?  Can I connect 3 BR500 to each other using IPSec or is it only a one-to-one type of connection?

Message 4 of 241
AV75
Initiate

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues

Same as Ekko Coleman I am really starting to regret rolling these devices out to all my locations spread.

For us the problem has been recurrent for November 2018 and has a financial impact on our daily work.

Since then we have been waiting for a permanent and lasting stability of the service.

The question is : Who's going to pay for all these days of technical unemployment ???

Message 5 of 241
MounirdeBrussel
Aspirant

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues

J'ai exactement le même problème que vous. Ce produit n'est vraiment pas abouti du tout.


 

Message 6 of 241
EKKO_Coleman
Guide

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues

I got three BR500 about 5 months for three different locations that are several hundred miles apart from each other.  Since day one I have had to deal with random disconnects, which would require me to reboot the routers.  I have also had a real difficult time managing these things remotely since you are REQUIRED to be connected to the management port to do some of the most basic things like port forwarding.  Driving several hundred miles to a location just to setup a new port forwarding rule is not an option.  So I have had to setup a computer at each location with LogMeIn so I can remotely administer them, which I think is totally stupid, but I see no other option.  They advertise this great "Insight Cloud" portal and app, which I had assumed would allow me to do all these basic things, but no.  Not to mention when the first firmware update came out, I niavely tried to update the router via the app, since the app was nagging me to do it and I wasnt about to drive 100 miles to do it.. Well it bricked that device during the update and I had to return it.  Which put that location offline for several days and meant a drive out to that location.

 

We have several servers that are required for accounting department, warehouse and sales and when these connections go down, litterally the entire company comes to a halt. Needless to say my employer is not happy paying 300 employees to sit around and do nothing, not to mention all the lost sales and upset customers.  All the heat falls on me, the IT guy, which is not fun.

 

I understand these are only $300 routers and its probably niave of me to assume I could pull off such a task with "cheap" devices, but they were advertised as "enterprise" solutions.  Ontop of that, I am paying a monthly subscription fee for this service that doesnt work.  I have gone from being a "super-star" IT guy for setting up a failry complex VPN network for cheap, to the excuse for all lost productivity, sales and customers. 

 

The whole reason I got these devices was becuase I didnt know anything about setting up a multi-site-to-site VPN network and this looked like the perfect solution and Netgear has (in the past) been a brand that I respected and trusted.  Today my company has been shut down ALL DAY, I have no idea if things will be working tomorrow, but I most likely wont have a job if its not.  

 

Thanks Netgear, I have learned my lesson.  You get what you pay for.

 

Message 7 of 241
bertieprice
Initiate

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues

In Reply to Ekko_Coleman

 

#############################################################################

 

Our experience with this product is almost the same as yours.

While the concept of the cloud based VPN is brilliant - it has not performed at all as we all expected.

My customer is also pretty upset at this point in time.

So far downtime from yesterday is 18 hours and counting ......

While the Netgear support guys in South Africa have been great - it does not help that the BR500's and cloud based VPN fall over all the time.

I cannot believe that a company with a great reputation like Netgear has allowed this product to be launched.

Yes - you would expect the odd issue, and maybe an hour or two of downtime - My Netgear experience so far is days of downtime !!!!!

 

Netgear has had nealy a year to iron out all these bugs and put backup cloud services in place.

They dont seem to be too concerned in resovling these issues timeously, and end user frustration persists !!!!!

 

I have used Netgear products for over 15 years and this is the first product I would definately not recommend .....

 

Message 8 of 241
rjwerth28
Guide

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues

Yes indeed, yet another VPN outage.  Netgear has dragged its feet since I bought my BR500 kit so that I can no longer return it.  They refused to even extend the warranty of this clearly flawed product.  The support for this is so poor that I'm switching to Ubiquity after using Netgear stuff since it had "by Bay Networks" written in small print on my first router.  This BR500 system will certainly be my last Netgear purchase.

Message 9 of 241
Francis78
Tutor

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues

Bonjour,

Je suis possesseur de 2 x BR 500 depuis plusieurs mois et client Netgear depuis de nombreuses années (routeurs, switch, borne wifi, readynas...)

Je subis depuis ces derniers achats, de nombreuses déconnexions intempestives qui privent une agence de se connecter au siège de l'entreprise.

Sur le papier, la solution proposée était simple à mettre en oeuvre et à contrôler.

L'ajout ou la suppression d'un utilisateur, le contrôle de mes produits Netgear étaient à la portée de mon téléphone.

Dans les faits, la réalité est tout autre...

Je pense connaitre désormais l'ensemble du personnel technique Netgear France et le niveau 3 en Allemagne, je leur prépare même les logs par avance parce que je sais qu'ils vont me les demander, ainsi que l'activation du mode diagnostic, la connexion via Teamviewer, le changement des mots de passe pour qu'ils puissent faire leur tests... mais il n'y a pas de solution stable.

Cela fonctionne 2 ou 3 semaines puis le VPN est "cassé"... Nous en sommes à la troisième MAJ du firmware depuis le mois de mai 2019 et la deuxième MAJ d'Insight.

Ce qu'ils ne vous disent pas, c'est que leur solution passe via des serveurs Amazon et cela ne semble pas être "top".

Parallèlement, nous avons des véhicules de livraison Renault déposés chez notre concessionnaire pour réparation qui ont été bloqués tout l'été car la logistique de délivrance des pièces détachées s'appuie sur des serveurs Amazon qui ont eu de gros bugs selon les informations de notre agent.

A force de tout vouloir (devoir) externaliser, nous ne maitrisons plus rien.

De plus, mes anciens routeurs étaient double WAN avec un failover (FVS336G).

Avant de les changer, le chef produit m'avait indiqué qu'un des ports LAN pourraient bientôt, via l'interface du routeur, être attitré en port WAN. Cette idée semble abandonnée depuis.

Je vais de déception en déception.

Etant moi même distributeur de produits informatiques et membre de plusieurs groupements de chefs d'entreprises, je ne vais plus vanter la qualité des produits Netgear, c'est du passé.

Cordialement,

Francis 

 

 

Model: A6150|AC1200 Dual Band WiFi USB Mini Adapter, BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 10 of 241
TuKool
Guide

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues

I am still unable to connect this morning. Has anyone else been able to connect?

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 11 of 241
rjwerth28
Guide

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues

Nope.  Two days in a row with no VPN.

Message 12 of 241
tetrawest
Apprentice

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues

Any update on VPN outage? I replaced my perfectly working Prosafe FVS336G (V3) because the Prosafe are no longer supported (Since 2017). On those I used a direct IPSEC connection. I am also paying a subscription to use the Insite service and the VPN. And I can't get the direct VPN for my PC clients to actually work on my work router.

 

 

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 13 of 241
EKKO_Coleman
Guide

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues

Two days now, this is a complete disaster!  Can we please at least get some update, and some ETA on when this will be working. Maybe some details on whats going on?

Message 14 of 241
mdminded1
Aspirant

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues

Hi, I currently have the BR 500 and don’t know how to use the VPN service with my iPhone. I’m confused and would appreciate some help on how to configuring the VPN . When I bought this router it said it had VPN services built into the router.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.
Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 15 of 241
NathenB
Apprentice

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues

I have been doing reboots through the app, but went on site to reboot with the physical power button, and seem to have some connectivity back. (This may have been a coincidence though). 

 

There is also an option for OpenVPN but you have to access the router directly, and I believe it was under advanced setup. I was successful in getting a connection, but it did not pass traffic. After the reboot, this is working as well.

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 16 of 241
YeZ
NETGEAR Expert
NETGEAR Expert

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues

Yes, you can use IPSec and Insight VPN services at the same time. The IPSec setup would be more difficult and it will require you to create on the local router a profile for each remote router.

Message 17 of 241
BretD
Admin

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues - Update 10/25

Update Oct 25, 2019 We would like to give you an update on the intermittent issues with BR500 VPN services that we notified you yesterday. Our teams worked continuously since yesterday and found the cause of this issue. We have a temporary fix with a new firmware V5.7.0.6 posted here in NETGEAR Community. You can download and update your BR500 router(s) to this new firmware and it should be able to re-establish the VPN connection.

Our teams are also working on the VPN server side fix that will fix this issue completely, expect that in a week or two.

If you have any question or new issue, you can contact us at insight-feedback@netgear.com .

Thank you for your patience in standing with us going through this resolution process.


Thank You,
NETGEAR Insight Team

Message 18 of 241
TuKool
Guide

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues - Update 10/25

Updated firmware. Rebooted Router. Rebooted remote computer. Still no VPN connection. Very frustrated!!!!

 

Did the firmware update work for anyone else?

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 19 of 241
YeZ
NETGEAR Expert
NETGEAR Expert

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues - Update 10/25

The computer with the VPN client might still have the residue effect of the issue. Can you go to Insight, delete the VPN user and invite again, then try again to see if it helps? In our internal tests, there was one particular user/computer who had to do so, then it worked with the new firmware. 

Thank you.

 

Message 20 of 241
mdminded1
Aspirant

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues - Update 10/25

There are more issues I experience with notifications from insight that indicates my router is noine and offline when my BR500 is working, that issue has been going on since I bought my BR500 and should be addressed. I also get notfcations from insight regarding my RN426 NAS and that too has been an issue. These notifications are annoying and it's netgear insight monitoring both my router and  my RNS426 NAS. Sadly I also get these apparently false notifications with my WAC510 wireless access points and my Netgear 28 port switch all purchased at the same time all of this to me points to netgear and firmware and or insight.netgear.com to my devices.

 

I hope Netgear can fix these issues 

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 21 of 241
TuKool
Guide

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues - Update 10/25

No Go.

 

Deleted the user form the Insight Cloud Portal. Resent the invitation. Rebooted the router. Rebooted the remote computer.

 

Still no connection on the VPN!!!

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 22 of 241
mdminded1
Aspirant

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues

Agreed! There needs to be accountability and a Quality Control group at a large company like Netgear getting on top of all of these issues. Management should "Start their engines" _ Start having meetings with you engineering groups, quality control and development groups so you can better serve your customers--your a public company on NYSE and should hear your customers because we paid for your products and services.

Message 23 of 241

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues - Update 10/25

This new firmware did not resolve the issue. We are still down at multiple facilities. Did anyone even test this release before stating it was a fix? Several days with no VPN service is unacceptable.

 

We will be recommending replacing these devices ASAP. They are clearly not ready for production use - they feel like a beta product. 

 

 

Message 24 of 241
tetrawest
Apprentice

Re: BR500 VPN Currently Experiencing Intermittent Connectivity Issues - Update 10/25

I have upgraded one router. I'll swing by the office a little later to update the other. If not, I will have to put my FVS336G routers back into operation. This is CRAZY!

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 25 of 241
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