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Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

Message 51 of 148
mcrs969
Luminary

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

@simonpjonesthat's one example I meant with "competitors", consider that also Synology are not perfect devices. As I said to @mdmg I like NETGEAR products so I am confident of their help. My files are not at risk but thanks for the procedure, I guess with live version (usb or burnt on DVD) of Ubuntu (which I also have installed) we can recover data.

 

 

Message 52 of 148
Hornets_Nest
Guide

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

@simonpjones I have been looking at Synology enclosures as they do get good reviews - I know it's a long shot but I don't suppose you could hot swap the HDD from the Stora straight in.

Whilst I appreciate teh Stora is an old unit I don't really buy into the advice that people should be relying on backups and basically looking to replace the unit. I always thought my HDD would give up the ghost 1st and that the Stora would probably carry on, I never realised I would be getting these server related issues. In hindsight people should have been given the option to either set up the Stora as 'local only' or with full internet capability - if this had been done many people would not be suffering issues, though I appreciate some still would. I also think that providing whilst providing quite terchnical solutions is helpful to some for many people who are not very savvy when it comes to UBuntu it simply isn't feasable for them to jump thru so many hoops.

As with others I've purchased a number of Netgear products over the years and to be fair this is the first real issue I've had. That said the longer this drags out the more reputational damage there will be. 


Message 53 of 148
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

The Stora uses XFS.

 

Even if the filesystem is the same as a different NAS it most likely wouldn't be a simple matter of moving disks from one NAS to another.

 

We are still looking into what we can do.

 

It is an old product which we stopped making years ago and hasn't been receiving software updates for quite some time.

Message 54 of 148

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

@Hornets_Nest - no the Synology NAS formats the drive(s) on set up.......my current state is I've added one of my drives and reformatted (but I have my Stora data on USB HDD and second NAS drive). I'm going to copy my files from USB HDD to Synology NAS and then add the second drive and see if it then formats the second drive and then mirrors.

 

@mdgm-ntgr what's happened to mystora.com?

Message 55 of 148
forca
Initiate

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

what's happened to mystora.com?

 

it is a very good question!! I dont need any bugfixes or updates, I just need to complete inital setup to be able to login (web/ssh). But it is only possible, if the fu..ng wizard is completed and you have created at least one user.

If it get ready again, I reflash it to openwrt and do never back to stock firmware. I can not believe, that you need mystora.com to complete inital setup, WTF?!

Message 56 of 148
zcobra
Star

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

As for NetGear stating that it isn't as easy as flicking a switch to get the servers back on line.... I'll take a guess that besides the changing of hands in the ownership of HipServ, perhaps internet security has changed and HipServ was based on old tech that no longer is robust enough with today's browser standards for security.   It seems those that developed HipServ have abandoned any hope of keeping their product active.... They've moved on and left us with hardware that only half works...If that. 

 

In my internet searching...A few years back, it stated that Axentra's HipServ app had reached 400,000 users.... WOW.... Pretty impressive.  Even if 1/8 of those users are still around today using the technology, wouldn't it seem enough to keep the servers going?  

 

I've directly emailed several people who were associated with Axentra/HipServ/HipPlay and none have responded to date.  The HipPlay website..which one gets forwarded to when trying axentra.com, has a copyright date of 2016 on it.... And the domain is set to expire soon.   My guess is they are done/business closed and now those manufacturers of the hardware end are trying to figure out how to help their customers.  Keep in mind...It's not just us here using Stora... Many other big computer hardware companies were using HipServ for a while....

Message 57 of 148

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

I would be happy enough if you could just get hipserv to run the service for 1 more month. Judging from the amount of companies that used the technology, this should be no financial problem. Make a public announcement Hipserv will be discontinued, so at least everyone gets a chance to switch firmware/products.

If done right people will even consider buying another NAS, which is an ideal moment to sell some products and earn some of the investment back.
Message 58 of 148
mcrs969
Luminary

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

Agree,

we did not get any warning before the issue occurred and now we have to handle it with all the consequences, also I am not more so confident to buy a "NAS" which OS is proprietary as the risk may be behind the corner.

 

I also did not get any reply from several contacts in the Axentra/Hipserv chain of contacts. This worries me as the issue seems to be a not easy problem as @mdmg stated.

 

I'm just surprised that big companies (like those in "clients" page of hipplay) using hipserv did not study or calculate the possibility of discontinuation of support from hipplay.

 

The thing is that this responsibility cannot go to the Customers so I really hope we get some help as we payed at the moment of purchasing the device and, at least me, we payed also for premium membership.

Message 59 of 148
gh58
Guide

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

Hmmm, despite the age of the product, I only got mine a couple of months ago via Scan, not knowing it was something Netgear was shelving, as such. I chose it because it seemed to be well regarded and had external access available off-the-shelf. So... before anyone assumes we have no reason to complain (because we have had our money's worth out of our Storas), that doesn't apply to everyone.

 

I would very much prefer to retain the offering that was provided via HipServ and the HipServ website still seems to be up an running. It is just the mystora.com element that seems problematic. This implies some breakdown of comms between Netgear and whoever runs HipServ now. That must be resolvable. If we have bought premium subscriptions for life, that implies "our" lives, not some arbitrary deadline from Netgear. You have a contractual obligation to everyone who bought into the product, surely?

 

If necessary, I can manage to use my Stora for local access only and VPN into the house to get remote access, but that was lumped on me by this issue. Can we at least know what is being investigated and what progress has been made in restoring the linkage between Netgear and the HipServ folks?

 

In the meantime, OpenStora seems to have ideas about how to may the Stora non-reliant on HipServ to operate. That may help others in this forum to get access in the interim.

Message 60 of 148
andygeo
Tutor

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

Agree with @gh58 . I purchased mine from Currys in 2014 and I've just been checking my emails, I upgraded to the premium service on the 2nd June 2015

Message 61 of 148

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

I'm as pissed off about this as the next person....... I've tried emailing, using Facebook, using Twitter to NetGear, Axentra, HipServ etc. There are no phones numbers advertised anywhere - I've got really frustrated by it all but......there's no point speculating about what's happened to Axentra/HipServ etc. etc.

 

@mdmg has said they are looking into it, surely we can trust them to be looking into it.

 

Maybe Axentra/HipServ have switched it all off (and it's not just a flick of a NetGear switch to bring it back online), perhaps support for Stora is no longer but maybe, just maybe, @mdmg is trying to find a way to get our Stora back up and running (for at least internal network usage) or in a state to be able to rescue files.

 

No there was no warning, and yes - everybody is pissed off with the situation. 

 

At least we seem to have someone with NetGear looking into the issue, which is a far better situation than it was for the 2 weeks previously.

Message 62 of 148
Hornets_Nest
Guide

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

The fact it is an old(ish) legacy product should mean it doesn't get new firmware and upgrades it should not mean that services outside of the control of the customer should be withdrawn. I trust that Netgear will be looking into this but my suspicion is that if a low cost solution is not available we will be left as we are at the moment which in the longterm means looking for a new product for some. 

Message 63 of 148
Roscoaus
Star

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

@gh58 can you please provide a link to the OpenStora ideas which may help in the meantime?
Message 64 of 148
gh58
Guide

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

Regarding my reference to OpenStora, I used the link:

  http://www.openstora.com/wiki/index.php?title=Disable_mystora.com_redirection

to set up redirection cancellation. I haven't tested it yet.

 

To date, I used putty to SSH into my Stora on my LAN. vi was used to add the rule override and I restarted the http daemon. My Stora is responding very slowly - presumably the lack of access to mystora.com, as reported by others. To warn others, when you SSH into the Stora, you enter a user name and then it goes away for about 5 minutes before prompting for a password (is it looking to mystora.com for account confirmation?). If you don't provide the password quite soon, it times out. I missed it about 5 times before I finally got access (late at night, short attention span with migraine... :-()

 

I am looking next into what needs to be done to prevent the Stora looking to mystora.com for start up authorisation. If I get that sorted, I will attempt a reboot and let you know how I get on. I am hoping that it will restore the performance too.

Message 65 of 148
Roscoaus
Star

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

Thanks @gh58. This issue I have is the I have reset my Stora therefore it has no username loaded so I'm not even sure if I can login as root? Would root exist already and if so what would be the default password?
Message 66 of 148
gh58
Guide

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

Unless you have set up a root account, there isn't one. You SSH in as an existing user (must have Admin rights) that you previously set up on the web interface. Then you can gain root access and set up a root password to log in directly as root.

 

See http://www.openstora.com/wiki/index.php?title=Easy_Root_Access

 

Do you have any access to your Stora? You can try get to it using

  https://[storaipaddress]/?local=1

 

If you set up a fixed IP address, that is straightforward. If not, look up the IP address in your DHCP server tables on your router.

Message 67 of 148
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

The company we partnered with to bring the Stora turned the server off. It's my understanding that they did so without consulting us. We are extremely disappointed that they turned the server off without any warning being given to our customers.

 

We are working to try to resolve this.

Message 68 of 148
zcobra
Star

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

When partnered companies fail to provide their end of a partnership.... I would conclude that legal action could be a step towards resolution.  As stated before in my posts,  the developers of HipServ partnered with many well known hardware manufacturers.  Seems like a bunch of good companies (NetGear, LaCie, Seagate, Verbatim...to name a few) are now being held responsible for a decision that was not in their control and came without warning...Legacy hardware or not, we all concluded that our Stora (powered by HipServ) would be working for a "lifetime" as many of us upgraded to a premium account.  Our hardware didn't fail...Just the support and backbone to access the service did.  

 

If I were in that position with a company that just simply pulling out in the deal, I certainly would have my company's attorney looking over the agreement and a resolution.

Message 69 of 148
wide_inside_too
Aspirant

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

+1 unhappy customer. It's now hit and miss whether or not kodi on my Sheild TV android box connects at all. Fails at the verification stage by the look of it.
Message 70 of 148
Vyacheslav
Aspirant

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

I look sadly at the useless box. Now it's just a cube of plastic, metal and a handful of radio components.

--

Печально гляжу я на бесполезную коробку. Теперь это просто  кубик из пластика, металла и горсти радиодеталей.

Message 71 of 148
apuk2004
Guide

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

@mdgm-ntgr thank you for clarifying what's happened and fingers crossed the service comes back online soon.

I've missed my STORA the last 2 weeks and have been tempted to take the drives out and extract the data via Linux (like others here have done) but I think I'll wait a little longer to see if the service comes back, and if it does, hopefully I'll be able to carry on with the recovery as per my other post.

Besides I'd have to go out and buy more hard drives to recover the data which I'd rather not do.

To all the other posters here I'm glad I'm not alone with this issue but let's not slag off NETGEAR if it's AXENTRA that have caused this outage. If they can get it sorted then it will restore my faith and I'm more likely to upgrade my STORA with another NETGEAR product in future 🙂
Message 72 of 148
Hornets_Nest
Guide

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

wide_inside_too With regard to Kodi - I am using it with an Amazon Fire TV box.

The latest version of Kodi will access the Stora using UPNP but not SMB (it keeps asking for a username/password and goes no further) so I am able to access certain media types.

But much of my media is in the form of ISO & to access this I have installed an old version of XBMC which accessing the Stora using SMB or UPNP. Fortunately for me I can have both Apps installed and choose which one to run. 

Message 73 of 148
mcrs969
Luminary

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

Dear @mdgm-ntgr, it is great to hear from you that NETGEAR is dissapointed and you've found the root cause of the issue. I'm hoping in a solution, this would make me think that NETGEAR is a reliable choice also in terms of storage (as I have more Network devices than storage devices) and I can keep thinking that soon or late I could upgrade (actually it is not a real replacement, I'll also install a ReadyNAS but I don't see why I should turn off my STORA that makes excellent work!)

 

So please help us and let us know if we can do something, I believe that this post is showing a little portion of still active STORA Users which are upset and I believe this can help you to claim your partner the right and ethic partnership that should exist in businness.

 

I keep hoping as now many functionalities (also local) are lost!

 

Ciao,

Michele

Message 74 of 148
Roscoaus
Star

Re: mystora.com NOT ACCESSIBLE

I second the messages from @mcrs969 and @puk2004. Thanks @mdgm-ntgr for keeping us up to date.
Message 75 of 148
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