Connections form Arlo not permanently online

Spacemaster

Dear Support,

since I installed the f-secure sense, my Arlo camera systems is not permanently online anymore.

Every 2-3 minutes it goes offline. 

Without Sense, the system works without problems.

Same with my alarm system.

 

 

FS_Simo

Hi,

 

Thank you for the report and apologies for your trouble. Can you elaborate which exact Arlo devices and alarm system are you referring to? We will see if we can acquire these devices and reproduce the issue.

 

We would also need a bit more information about your network:

 

1) What is your ISP and the make/model of the router in front of SENSE and the type of your connection (dsl, cable, fiber..)?

2) What device you used to set up sense (phone model/ OS version etc.)

3) How is SENSE connected to the internet (over cable / wifi, through another router or directly to the wall?)

 

To narrow down the problem:

* What security features are enabled on SENSE and does turning off any / all protection settings make a difference in this scenario?

* If SENSE is the first router connected to the internet (set the other one in front of it to bridge mode), does the issue go away? (if your connection requires PPPoE auth this won't be possible yet as SENSE doesn't have the necessary configurations available, but they are on our coming feature list)

 

Best Regards:

Simo / SENSE QA Lead

Spacemaster

Thanks for your direct attention.

 

regarding your questions:

 

Netgear Arlo (Standard Cameras)

Smanos L020  Security device

 

 

1) What is your ISP and the make/model of the router in front of SENSE and the type of your connection (dsl, cable, fiber..)?

- T-Online, T-Systems Hybrid Router, DSL/LTE
2) What device you used to set up sense (phone model/ OS version etc.)

- iphone 7, 10.3.3
3) How is SENSE connected to the internet (over cable / wifi, through another router or directly to the wall?)

- Connection over cable through T-Systems Hybrid Router

To narrow down the problem:
* What security features are enabled on SENSE and does turning off any / all protection settings make a difference in this scenario?

- I have disabled every feature. Only this Setting Krepps the Arlo Router online.
* If SENSE is the first router connected to the internet (set the other one in front of it to bridge mode), does the issue go away? (if your connection requires PPPoE auth this won't be possible yet as SENSE doesn't have the necessary configurations available, but they are on our coming feature list)

- this is actually not possible because of the restricted Features of Sense

 

FS_Simo

Thanks for your information. If disabling protection services makes the cameras work, this is an interesting piece of information. Let's troubleshoot a bit more.

 

* Do you get any block events from the Anlo cameras when browsing protection is enabled (if some URL is blocked, it shows as a block event in the events list)?

* Does the security camera tracking counter increase if the tracking protection is enabled (visible in the device details view)?

 

Is there any combination of enabled protection features where the cameras would stay online (like bp enabled, tracking disabled) or does it require turning off the master switch of protection features? i.e. if you leave the protection services master switch enabled, but turn off browsing and tracking protection, does the camera still fail to stay online?

 

Thanks for your effort!

Simo / SENSE QA Lead

Tero_1

I'm having similar problems with Arlo products.  What makes troubleshooting easier is that both Arlo base station with wire free cameras and Arlo Q standalone camera (connected directly to Sense) seems to suffer simultaneous connection problems. So therefore it’s not Wi-Fi problem as the base station is connected to Sense with Ethernet cable. Both Arlo products worked normally with different router.

 

There is some kind of interval that connection is lost. I use 1000mb Telia fiber (Espoo, Finland) connection so it shouldn’t be issue with speed.

FS_Simo

Thank you for reporting the issue. We will look into obtaining some of these devices and see if we can reproduce the problem.

 

The fact that turning off the security services helps is some hint to what may be going on, but we need to reproduce the problem. This may take some time, so please bear with us.

 

@Tero_1, is your SENSE connected directly to the wall with ethernet without intermediate routers?

Tero_1

@FS_Simo my SENSE is connected direcly to the wall.

 

If you are located in Helsinki office, it's a fast 1,5km walk to Verkkokauppa.com to get set of Arlo cameras.

 

 

Spacemaster

* Do you get any block events from the Anlo cameras when browsing protection is enabled (if some URL is blocked, it shows as a block event in the events list)?

- no Blocker events

* Does the security camera tracking counter increase if the tracking protection is enabled (visible in the device details view)?

- no

Is there any combination of enabled protection features where the cameras would stay online (like bp enabled, tracking disabled) or does it require turning off the master switch of protection features? i.e. if you leave the protection services master switch enabled, but turn off browsing and tracking protection, does the camera still fail to stay online?

 

-yes, any combination Runs into temporary offline situation

FS_Simo

Thanks for the additional information.

I've ordered the Netgear Arlo camera system, hopefully we'll get it soon and we can replicate the problem.

FS_Simo

I've now tested the Netgear Arlo (model VMS3330-100EUS with 3 cameras).

* F-Secure SENSE running production firmware (p-1.2.11.744) / setup using iOS
* SENSE connected with ethernet cable through a consumer cable connection
* Arlo basestation connected to the SENSE lan-port
* Arlo app on iPad Mini 3

Here are my findings:

1) Initial out of the box setup got stuck with an Internet connectivity issue (_possibly_ related to what was reported), so I turned off SENSE security features and that allowed the the setup to finish.
2) Installed the available firmware update for the Arlo basestation
3) Synced the Cameras with the basestation
4) There were firmware updates for the cameras, I installed them all

I set the subscription to "basic" (free)

I am able to succesfully stream live video from the cameras to the iPad Arlo app even with all security features enabled, both in LAN and through the internet.I have ~10 or so various other devices also in the SENSE network, but they don't seem to have any specific impact on this scenario. My SENSE device is running otherwise "default" settings and there are no port forwarding rules.

It appears that I am at the moment unable to reproduce the reported issue at least with the latest Arlo device firmware. Could you please verify that you are running the latest firmware on your Arlo devices. Have you made any changes in the SENSE network configuration or is it running "defaults"?

Maybe some more information about your network layout / configuration is also needed to troubleshoot this further.

 

It's also possible that when Arlo was moved from the old network there is some internal settings stored which interfere with the operation in the SENSE network, perhaps resetting the Arlo system could be tried and installing it exclusively in the SENSE network. Soft-resetting SENSE and installing it from scratch (using the same SSID / password) could also be worth a try just to rule out a glitch on our side that happens only when the system runs for a longer time.

 

Thanks for your patience

Best Regards:
Simo / SENSE QA Lead

Spacemaster

I'll try a complete reset.

Spacemaster

Dear Simo,

I tried a reset of my basis station with a reconnect of all cams. 

Now it seems to work with no temporary internet disconnect. 

 

The reason for that behavior I still don´t understand.

 

Thx for your support !

Spacemaster

sorry, I have to cancel my last message. It is still the same :-(

FS_Simo

I'm still unable to reproduce the issue, our Arlo's work fine. I'll move them to a different environment and see what happens there when I have the time.

 

@Spacemaster There's a way to get a basic diagnostic log from SENSE by browsing to http://sense.router/diag.log (or http://192.168.71.1/diag.log assuming default SENSE ip address is in place), but please do not paste it here as it may contain things like your public IP address.

 

Right after the connection drops from Arlo, try getting that log and send the file through sense-feedback( at )f-secure.com. You can reference this discussion so I'll know it's you. I can take a quick look if there's something obvious in visible the log (like the ethernet interface dropping for some reason). Also let me know which ethernet port is Arlo using from the back of the router (they are numbered) in your e-mail.

 

There's an auto-reply from that address and I won't be answering there directly, but I'll report my findings here.

 

Best Regards:

Simo / SENSE QA Lead

FS_Simo

I got your log and took a look, there are some observations there:

 

Topmost LAN port (marked 3) the connection keeps going up and down quite frequently (the number on the row denotes time in seconds). Is the Arlo connected to that one?

 

[547979.590000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link DOWN
[548013.630000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link UP
[548032.670000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link DOWN
[548033.670000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link UP
[598346.430000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link DOWN
[598353.440000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link UP
[598354.460000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link DOWN
[598356.470000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link UP
[598376.520000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link DOWN
[598377.530000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link UP
[598795.850000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link DOWN
[598797.860000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link UP
[598798.870000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link DOWN
[598799.890000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link UP
[598819.920000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link DOWN
[598821.930000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link UP
[601586.900000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link DOWN
[604898.260000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link UP
[604917.290000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link DOWN
[604918.300000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link UP
[605631.880000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link DOWN
[605638.910000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link UP
[605659.920000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link DOWN
[605661.930000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link UP
[605837.040000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link DOWN
[605940.120000] RTL: Link Status Changed - Port0 Link UP

 

It can be perfectly normal behavior for whatever device is connected to that port if it's a device that goes to sleep / turns off, but then again it could be a defective cable or something else. Or have you manually been connecting / disconnecting something from there?

 

Have you still tried rebooting SENSE or resetting and re-installing SENSE and see if that helps the issue (just in case there's some issue we have not yet been able to discover)?

User2028

I just purchased a Sense and my Arlo Pro base station is also frequently disconnecting from the network.  No problems when connecting to my old router through the same modem (TP-Link Archer CR700 using Spectrum/Time Warner internet).

Tero_1

Dear All,

I was able to keep both normal base station with wireless cameras and Arlo Q online by turning off the SENSE Protection. I didn't found any other way. I have to keep trouble shooting after my holiday.

 

This is pretty annoying since Arlo system is essential part of my smart home installation and SENSE firewall is there to protect all of my devices.

 

Is there possibility to shut down SENSE protection on specific devices not all of them at once?

 

Spacemaster

Yes, Arlo is connected to port 3.

I´ll try a new cable and get back to you.

Spacemaster

Found another cable. It is still the same, also in logfile.

Unknown

Try a cable from a working device and connect the arlo to a port which has different device but a working one connected, as in switch ports on the sense and also the cables.

Also try reseting the sense to factory settings and also reset the arlo device, do not configure anything that is not necessary to see if it works, as in no specific configurations that are not really needed in order to see if it just works after resets.

User2028

I did all of this and more.  I have all default settings on the Arlo and the Sense and it still frequently disconnects.  After a week with the Sense, this appears to be the only device I am having issues with.  Anyone from F-Secure care to chime in again?

FS_Simo

We have been unable to reproduce the issue with the Arlo device we have obtained. It is possibly a combination of issues in your network which lead to this scenario.

 

Some fixes in the DNS handling are coming in the next firmware update. Let's see if the situation improves after the next update.

User2028

"A combination of issues in my network"?  So, we all share the same combination of these issues?  Works fine when I plug it into two other routers or my modem.  Looks like it is the Sense, not my network.  Maybe I should return it now while I still can.  When is this update coming?

FS_Simo

We apologize for your trouble,

 

What I mean by "combination of issues" is that possibly the network environment you have in conjunction with SENSE somehow results in this problem. There are enough reports here to show that some users have some kind of an interoperability issue with these cameras. It is completely plausible that there is some kind of a bug in SENSE, we just have not been able to reproduce and identify the problem yet. Once we do it's possible for us to investigate and figure out what exacly is wrong.

 

 Can you please provide some more information about your enviroment so that we can try to pinpoint the problem better

- What's your ISP, Router make/model in front of sense, connection type (cable, dsl etc.)

- How is SENSE connected to the internet (wifi / cable?)

- Please also send your diag.log (see earlier instructions) to sense-feedback(at)f-secure.com from the point where Arlos disconnect and reference this discussion in your e-mail. Do not paste it here, please.

 

In my two separate test environments the Arlo webcams appear to be working normally. Sometime when I launch the app it appears that the arlo webcams are offline for a moment as the application establishes communication with them, but they eventually go online and appear to work properly.

 

We are expecting to release the new firmware version in a couple of weeks time (obviously as soon as possible), there are still a few things to sort out regarding upcoming features and it needs to be thoroughly tested. That work is ongoing as we speak.

 

Thanks for your patience and best regards:

Simo / SENSE QA Lead

User2028

Thank you.  I am using a TP-Link Archer CR700 cable modem connected to Time Warner/Spectrum cable internet.  The SENSE is connected to port 1 on my modem, as this is the port Time Warner says they want routers connected to on this modem (although, I did try other ports as well and the same thing happened).

 

I can tell when my Arlo Pro hub consistently loses its connection because the middle light on the hub keeps going from green to amber for a bit.  My cameras do not record during these periods.  This does not happen when the Arlo hub is connected to my other routers or directly to my cable modem's built-in router, and the middle light remains green.  It even works fine when attached to my Asus RT AC5300 router connected to a CUJO firewall device.  The CUJO protects the Arlo without connectivity issues.  Note that I do NOT use the CUJO in conjunction with the SENSE, so that is not the issue here.

 

I will send the requested file later today.  Thank you for investigating.

FS_Simo

Thanks for the log file, indeed it's also visible there that the Arlo device interface keeps going up and down, which explains the connectivity loss. It is likely there is some internal logic in Arlo, which restarts the network interface in some conditions we have not yet been able to determine.

 

I took a look at one of my devices that has been running longer and I can also see the interface bouncing. Only after several days of continuous operation this started happening, at least I have some kind of a reproduce now so we can try to figure out what's actually wrong.

 

User2028

Good news that you can replicate, somewhat.  Good luck fixing it.

Spacemaster

Same behavior after reset of Sense device as you requested. So please keep me informed.

User2028

Is this being actively worked on?  Thanks.

FS_Simo

Yes, this is one of the issues we are working on,

 

the Arlo problem is more difficult to reproduce. In my test the arlo app succeeds to connect with the app every time even though it is offline for a while in the beginning and streaming from the cameras continue to work uninterrupted. I can see that arlo goes "orange" occasionally, but it doesn't appear to have a big impact on the user visible behavior when you launch the app and access your cameras.

 

We have another data streaming bug under work from another device category, which is relatively easy to reproduce.  I believe it could be related. Hopefully if we figure out the root cause for those it can help the arlo case also.

 

Please bear with us and thanks for your patience.

Best Regards:

Simo / SENSE QA Lead

User2028

Thank you.