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Re: Client no more connecting to VPN on a NetGear ProSafe FVS318N

EricBrunel2
Aspirant

Client no more connecting to VPN on a NetGear ProSafe FVS318N

Hello all,

We're having a problem with a connection to a VPN on a NetGear ProSafe FVS318N and we just don't understand what can be happening, so I wanted to check if anyone here had any idea.

Here is our configuration: I'm working at home and access my company's LAN via an IPSec IKEv1 VPN configured on a FVS318N. I have 3 machines, a Linux box, an iMac and a Mac Book Pro, using different VPN client software. The connection goes through a home router provided by my ISP, then connects to my company's ISP router, which is at a fixed WAN IP address. This router has a DMZ configured to forward all traffic to the FVS318N.

All this has worked fine for months, if not years: the clients connected without any issue to the server and I had access to my company's LAN. But a few weeks ago, I went on holiday and when I came back, the VPN connection just didn't work anymore: none of my 3 computers would connect, and the error is always the same: “connection timed out”, with no other detail. I had one of my colleagues testing it from his home, and he gets the same issue.

We double-checked everything we could think of, client-side and server-side: client configuration, server configuration, DMZ on the company's ISP router, and so on. Nothing seems to have changed in any way. We tried to reconfigure everything, rebooted all the equipment we have access to, but nothing works, I still cannot connect to the VPN. We had a look at the FVS318N logs, but we can hardly see anything related to the VPN, and nothing appears when I try to connect from any of my clients. Needless to say: my Internet works fine for everything else. My company's ISP router also has a remote administration feature, and when it's turned on, I can access the administration page by using its fixed IP address. So there's no Internet connection issue between me and my company.

Does anybody have any clue about what could possibly happen here? We've just tried everything we can think of, and we're still completely stuck. Also, how can we configure the log on the FVS318N to make sure it shows something when I try to connect a VPN client? And once it's correctly configured, what is supposed to appear when a client tries to connect? We never had any issue with this VPN, so we simply don't know what to look for.

Thanks!

Model: FVS318N|ProSafe Wireless N 8 port gigabit VPN firewall
Message 1 of 5

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EricBrunel2
Aspirant

Re: Client no more connecting to VPN on a NetGear ProSafe FVS318N

Hello, and thanks for your answer.

We actually found the solution to our problem yesterday after days of investigation: my company's Internet router behind which was the FVS318N apparently got a buggy firmware update, preventing the UDP connections on port 500 to be forwarded via the DMZ to the Netgear router. So the FVS318N never got any connection from the outside, and therefore the VPN log didn't record anything.

We solved the issue by creating an explicit NAT/PAT rule on the Internet router forwarding UDP connections on port 500 to the FVS318N, and the VPN connections now work as they used to.

Just in case other people have the same kind of issue, we're in France, and the ISP is Orange. The Internet router is a Livebox Pro v4; this is the one that got the buggy firmware update.

Thanks again anyway!

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Message 4 of 5

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EricBrunel2
Aspirant

Re: Client no more connecting to VPN on a NetGear ProSafe FVS318N

Sorry for "upping" this but could at least someone tell me how to configure the FVS318N system log to see when there's an incoming VPN client connection, and what is supposed to appear in the log when that happens? It would help a lot figuring out where the problem is.

Thanks!

Message 2 of 5
JohnC_V
NETGEAR Moderator

Re: Client no more connecting to VPN on a NetGear ProSafe FVS318N

Hi EricBrunel2,

 

Welcome to our community! 🙂

 

It seems that you are having issues with the IPSec VPN client. May you be able to share the VPN logs from the router and client so that we can determine what seems to be going on? You may send it to me via pm.

 

Regards,

 

JohnCarloV

NETGEAR Community Team

Message 3 of 5
EricBrunel2
Aspirant

Re: Client no more connecting to VPN on a NetGear ProSafe FVS318N

Hello, and thanks for your answer.

We actually found the solution to our problem yesterday after days of investigation: my company's Internet router behind which was the FVS318N apparently got a buggy firmware update, preventing the UDP connections on port 500 to be forwarded via the DMZ to the Netgear router. So the FVS318N never got any connection from the outside, and therefore the VPN log didn't record anything.

We solved the issue by creating an explicit NAT/PAT rule on the Internet router forwarding UDP connections on port 500 to the FVS318N, and the VPN connections now work as they used to.

Just in case other people have the same kind of issue, we're in France, and the ISP is Orange. The Internet router is a Livebox Pro v4; this is the one that got the buggy firmware update.

Thanks again anyway!

Message 4 of 5
JohnC_V
NETGEAR Moderator

Re: Client no more connecting to VPN on a NetGear ProSafe FVS318N

@EricBrunel2,

 

That's great! It seems that the problem isn't the FVS318N. Thank you for sharing the solution! The NETGEAR Community looks forward to hearing from you and being a helpful resource in the future!

 

Regards,

 

JohnCarloV

NETGEAR Community Team

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