Linksys RV082 PPTP VPN problems

[Dirk Puslich]

Hi,

We just purchased the Linksys RV082 8-Port VPN Router for a small
office. I immediately upgraded the firmware to 1.0.7 (dated mid-Dec
2003).

I managed to get everything up and running okay except for one thing:
PPTP VPN from our Windows 2000 Server to remote Windows XP Pro
Clients.

I have set a static IP for the server (outside of the RV082's DHCP
range since it does not have an IP reservation function like my nice
old Nexland box).

I enabled PPTP pass-though on the RV082 (I suspect this just enables
GRE protocol 47).

I forwarded TCP Port 1723 to the fixed IP of the W2K Server.

I confirmed that the W2K Server is working properly by connecting to
it over the LAN inside the firewall.

The PPTP client is able make an initial connection but then hangs on
"Verifying User Name and Password" and finally spits out an Error 721.

The scuttlebut on the board about this Error 721 is that it means the
router is choking on GRE ("PPTP Pass Through").

Does anyone else have this issue and/or a solution? Linksys hasn't
responded yet but I'm guessing the firmware needs a little polishing?

Great little box but given that it's hailed as a "VPN Router" you'd at
least think they'd button down the PPTP pass-through before shipping
it.

Thanks!

 

[Carl Muffoletto]

I have this exact same problem with a Linksys BEFR41 four port router. I've
tried five different versions of firmware, forwarded every port that even
remotely deals vith VPN's, spent three hours with Linksys on a chat session
and another hour on the phone with their support. They told me it was a
hardware problem but that was just to get me off the phone since the support
person had no clue what was the real cause.

I am out of options, but if you get a respone from Linksys or figure a
workaround, pleas let us know.

Carl

 

[Dirk Puslich]

No response yet. They promise 24 hours but it's 36 and counting. I
suspect they are using the Homer Simpson strategy of "hiding under
some coats and hope that somehow everthing works out".

I understand that Linksys is in a low margin business and can't affort
to spend a lot on tech support, but they don't realize that if they'd
only put out properly tested product that is easy to use with good
documentation their support calls would go away.

I'm cheesed off right now because I promised all of my users that
their VPNs would still work when we upgraded to the RV082 and now they
are all angry at me about it.

 

[Dirk Puslich]

Just to let everyone know that this was a firmware problem. I just
installed v1.0.11 (came out today) and it's working flawlessly now.

 

[Carl Muffoletto]

Thanks for the info. I'll look for a firmware update for my befr41.

 

[ppointer]

Just to let everyone know that this was a firmware problem. I just
installed v1.0.11 (came out today) and it's working flawlessly now.

Be sure to check everything, like SMTP, POP3, etc. I've found over the
past few months that the regression testing at both Linksys and DLink is
poor.

 

[Dirk Puslich]

I spoke to soon. The the VPN can now make the initial connection but
it is EXTREMELY slow. Usually just browsing a folder takes 10 minutes
or times out completely. I've tested it with our old router and it
works much better so I think there are still some problems with this
router.

 

[Carl Muffoletto]

Looks like Cisco (who bought Linksys several months ago) needs to get more
involved with technical things at Linksys. You'd never have these problems
with a Cisco router and if you did, their TAC would have a fix in your hands
in hours. Best customer service ever.

 

[Dirk Puslich]

I finally got it working. Just rebooted my server after doing the
RV082 firmware upgrade and it started working. Looks like I'm finally
happy with the box.

I will say that the performance of the router is outstanding - web
surfing is extremely fast, and our FTP server and VPNs run much
quicker. More imporantly the port forwarding seems to work very well.
I can run emule and other such apps very well with the ports
configured. I have a dlink wireless gateway at home that chokes up
after a couple of hours of running emule.

Good luck

 

[hazardous]

Disregard my last post about the product availability. Did not see
this post. Question, how is the WAN failover? Is it smooth/fast or
does it take a little bit to failover?
Question 2: Can you create choose which WAN interface you want to use
for IPSEC tunnels. IE: create two separate tunnels going to a single
remote location for VPN failover?

Cheers,