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

tetrawest
Apprentice

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

Updated Office router. No joy. The VPN is still down. I'll check again in a couple of hours.

 

I even tried rebooting both routers. Still no VPN.

 

I tried "Test VPN Server" on both routers via the Insight app. It says both have a good connection. But still not VPN.

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 26 of 241
seattle_
Aspirant

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

I recently purchased an BR500 and have experienced a number of problems related to this firmware update. One of the most frustrating problems is that when you created a VPN user, the netgear account became blocked. I got this error "Account locked after too many attempts" ... after 3 days of dorking with this I was able to replicate it on the .04 firmware - create the VPN user, soon after the account is locked, remove the vpn users, soonafter the account is unlocked. This happened with 3 different emails. 

 

I updated the firmware, removed the vpn groups and router and users from the insight portal and re-added it all. Also removed the VPN client and reinstalled it .

 

That error has stopped but I'm still not able to connect using VPN it hangs up. It looks like it gets a IP from the service but it never adds the device to the network. 

 

Hopefully someone can help. Support has been pointing to this conversation. Thank you! 

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 27 of 241
Repair-my-pc
Guide

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

Ok, so you have a fix...great, but for those dealing with remote sites, how are we supposed to install the new firmware apart from going out to the remote sites and doing the install.

 

Seems to me that the process is flawed.

 

Here in the UK we have the sales of goods act, looks like I might have to raise this as there is no dedicated support status page for netgear BR500

Message 28 of 241
Repair-my-pc
Guide

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

So I have swung by both sites at my own expense (Thank you netgear) and have updated both BR500's  The software VPN is now seeing the deives but unable to connect to any resources and the devices advise unable to connect to insight VPN

 

Thsi needs to be fixed asap, you claim this is enterprise grade kit, yet in the post you advise that this is going to be fixed within a couple of weeks...Is this some kind of late April Fools joke???

 

Message 29 of 241
tetrawest
Apprentice

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

Checking using the Insight App this morning and it showed my VPN is now up. I have verified that it is running. Please chime in as to whether your VPN is working or not.

 

FYI - I updated the second BR500 about 10PM last night and when I checked at midnight, it was still not working. 8AM this morning it is now working. 

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 30 of 241
warsawtech
Tutor

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


@BretD wrote:

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


Well the firmware didn't fix crap. As per the course the update tanked my routers and spent the night on the road having to go from site to site to restore configurations back to each router locally. Let's hear it for paying and using the Insight cloud premium. Looks pretty and does work great for WAP and Insight switches but for the BR500 it is lacking in so many ways.

A fix in a week or two WTH Netgear needs to get the engineers working on this more Redbull and powerbars. I mean Microsoft may have degraded service on some things, but back to full strength in 36-48 hours....not weeks

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 31 of 241

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

Day 3 outage - how does Netgear think that this is acceptable? Netgear should be embarrased and ashamed by the support this product recieves. We have been dealing with constant outages for days a a time since April. How can you release a "fix" without testing it to confirm actually resolves a problem (esp since it was a manual image that required to be onsite)? The proposed "permadent resolution" being weeks later is not okay.

 

We are pulling these devices from Production and replacing with another solution. It is marketed as a business solution that just works. This is clearly not the case - they feel like a product that was rushed to market with the infastructure not in place to support.

 

Netgear, you need improvement. We will never recommend\purchase another product from you. 

Message 32 of 241
tetrawest
Apprentice

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

Update:

 

At 10AM this morning, the Insight App is showing the VPN link as up and running fine. But the VPN is now no longer working. When i rebooted the VPN Router at my office, the Insight App (while rebooting) is showing the VPN link is up and fine. So now even the reporting tools are suspect.

 

After several minutes, the App did finally show "Broken".

 

 

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 33 of 241
mdminded1
Aspirant

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

I completely agree. Perhaps Netgear is going thru some internal restructuring or being acquired by or merger with another company and these issues will all be fixed.
Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 34 of 241
warsawtech
Tutor

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

I liked the idea of the BR500 in the beginning as a good solution that was cost effective for my small clients. Heck I'm a Netgear Powershift Partner so of course I promoted their products. I was going to be deploying these to my clients around the country. Got 8 still in the box stitting on the floor that are not going to be deployed. I just finished ordering 6 Meraki MX67 to replace the ones in production. It is costing us around $3500 for hardware and licensing, plus around $2000 in labor to change out and we are eating the cost.Our clients expect service when they hired us for their IT support and what kind of MSP would we be if we told clients that I'll get things fixed in a couple of weeks. Sad Netgear, very sad

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 35 of 241
TuKool
Guide

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

Was up briefly last night. But this morning it is back to no connection.

 

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 36 of 241
Habanoskid
Initiate

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

Morning All!

 

I'm new to this community but have been lurking since Thursday when my Insight Managed VPN tunnel broke.  Thank s to everybody for their suggestions!

 

I woke up excited that the Netgear VPN problem was fixed.  That "excitement" was short lived though.  After updating the firmware to 5.7.06, the VPN broke again!  Had to drive 80 miles to re-establish the IPSec tunnel.  Based on suggestion of the "support team", I stupidly disabled the IPSec tunnel remotely in favor of the Insight Managed tunnel.

 

Did anybody receive the email from Netgear the day before the Insight Management issues occured?  It stated that they were making some "exciting changes to NETGEAR Insight 5.7 ...".  I don't know if this change has anything to do with the current Netgear Insight problems, but I wouldn't be supprised  Frankly, this is excitement I could live without!

 

I should have known better than to re-up with Netgear after they wanted to replace a broken SRX5308 (lifetime warranty) with an FVS336v3 with half of the throughput and half of the WAN ports!  At least the SRX's gave me over 10 years of relatively trouble-free service.

 

 

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 37 of 241
NathenB
Apprentice

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

I had the same results TuKool. I had a couple staff call me within a few hours saying that they were back down again. I have most staff on a paid subscription for Splashtop for the time being. I am hoping that will keep them somewhat working, even though the functionality is severly limiting their work. ( I am not reallly up to retraining staff, unless this is going to drag on into next week) The BR500s and the services have a great area that they fill in the marketplace, but reliability is going to have to improve before I field any more. I have 3 currently deployed and around 9-12 staff that use them for remote work, but I may have to pull these devices and work up a new solution, as this could potentially be life threatening to some of their clients.

 

I have always been a supporter of Netgears devices, ranging from their ProSafe products, to their desktop switches, and their FVS Firewalls, even though they could be a bear to get up and running, they have always been solid. Hopefully this next fix, resolves the issues at hand, and helps the MSPs show their clients what kind of products Netgear really does provide. 

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 38 of 241
mdminded1
Aspirant

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

I’ve had a similar problem for months now and it started with the ReadyNAS, the reporting tool insight needs a lot of help. It shows me devices online then offline 3 minutes apart.

I really love my Netgear hardware, it’s build quality is quite superior to other equipment out there HOWEVER, all of the software components need to be overlooked with meticulous detail.
Message 39 of 241
tetrawest
Apprentice

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

I had to put in my old unsupported routers. I am back up. I'll keep an eye on this thread.

 

As a side note, I have my personal VPNs back up and running! I was never able to get the personal VPN working. I expect in a week or so I will work towards an IPSEC solution for the BR500s and ignore the Insite managed VPN. 

I know this has been the worst of it, but I've been fighting this VPN for 3 months. It goes down all the time and requires rebooting both routers to become operational again. I occasionally lost my VPN previously, probably dynamic dns issues. But this has just been a stupid amount of work with little sucess. The sad part is that I might have chosen a different NAS but for the BR500 routers I purchased 4 months ago. My whole network is NETGEAR. Come on NETGEAR. Get it together. 

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 40 of 241
mdminded1
Aspirant

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

I had more problems with understanding the flow of the VPN setup on the BR500 router more than using a 35$ raspberry Pi 3 and PiVPN and no-ip.com ddns using UDP port 1194. I could literally hop on my internal network from anywhere!

I was able to use port 443 alongside of port 1194 and use Nextcloud and it was a really good experience.

Hopefully some people at netgear can do some integration with the BR500 and allow 3rd party open source like Nextcloud and redesign their BR500 software like PiVPN or just buy out PiVPN and call it their own 🤣.

I would love to see the interfaces redesigned. It has a lot more potential and what currently we see is slow,sluggish and outdated.

A faster web interface and iOS and Android interface would and could make Netgear leap as a top network gear company.

Message 41 of 241
rjwerth28
Guide

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

Netgear, you have really done it this time.  You seriously need to consider giving every Br500 customer the following:

 

- Free extended warranty and support

- Full VPN refunds for every month this service has not worked

- Free Insight credits

- Free Premium Insight.

 

None of us have asked to be beta testers for your released products.  We have paid good money in both hardware and VPN services expecting business-class service and we have yet to get it.

 

Anyone interested in a class-action lawsuit on this one?

Message 42 of 241
warsawtech
Tutor

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

This morning my VPN's are up

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 43 of 241
tetrawest
Apprentice

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

I'm going to let all of you test the BR500s for a week before I re-implement. 

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 44 of 241
warsawtech
Tutor

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

Okay going on 48 hours and VPN still up on one of my clients.

NOTE: On these two BR500 I did not upgrade firmware to the 5.7.0.6. Both routers remain on 5.7.0.2. I wasn't going to drive 200 miles to upgrade the firmware onsite since when I did 4 others it wiped my config and I had to drive onsite to restore config. This mess brought one site down as the default on the router engaged DHCP knocking their server DC DHCP off.

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 45 of 241
MrJoshW
NETGEAR Expert

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

Hello,

 

To the users who have upgraded to the 5.7.0.6 firmware and still reporting VPN issues can you verify for me the setup you are running into an issue with? 

 

-Client to site?

-Site to site?

 

Can you please enable remote support on the unit and private message me the port number so that I can have engineering review the unit? This can be enabled by going to IPADDRESSOFDEVICE/support.htm

 

Message 46 of 241
NathenB
Apprentice

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

My issues are with client to site, I have the firmware released in this post installed. I am using the latest client ending in .21. The clients are getting dropped, typically just trying to disconnect and reconnect is working. (Before, I had to logout and exit the client, and then kill the VPN service, and then relaunch the client and connect) I have a ticket open on the issue, and have provided the requested info in that ticket thread. I also provided logs before and after the firmware update. Case ending in 8876.
Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 47 of 241
MrJoshW
NETGEAR Expert

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

I received an update from engineering. One of the VPN servers was dropping connections which was causing the VPN connection loss issues that were reporting. This was addressed and customers should now be able to connect, this may require a reboot of the router to re-establish the connection and no need to upgrade to the 5.7.0.6 firmware. 

Message 48 of 241
Repair-my-pc
Guide

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

As of this evening the site to site vpn is still down and even the software vpn to site is down.

 

I am unable to get to the remote sites due to their location at this time, but keep getting assuarances the VPN is up and running.

 

I supplied Netgear Tech the logs from both routers diagnostics last night from within the app and also confirmed that the app is confirming as working.

Since passing this information on I have not heard back from Netgear in regards to the Tech Support Team, I have read online the issue was caused by Server Issues in the US, this does not explain the EU as isnt netgear a global company.

 

Think its time to get theregister.co.uk involved and see if they can turn up the heat.  After the issues with Netgear pulling out of the UTM Market a couple of years ago, I would have thought they would have fixed all their internal issues.  Just shows how wrong one can be, This wouldnt hurt so much but i am also a powershift partner.  

 

Have phoned the UK Head Office to be told they know nothing about this.  Anyone else still having issues?

Model: BR500|Insight Instant VPN Router
Message 49 of 241

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

NETGEAR, could we please get an update? The last update was posted on the 26th. We are still having issues several days later with both the site to site vpn and the client app.
Message 50 of 241
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