SmartLink Login Persistence Issues

K1SZO

How do we get on a notification list of when the OAuth issue is resolved? It was quite annoying to have to find out the hard way that it was broken.

I would have expected to get an email notifying me of the problem. :(

Francesco Doenz

Yes would be nice to be notified as soon as smartlink is operationnal...!

Rick Wykoff

Getting concerned that this issue will take much longer to correct than anticipated. Flex engineers, please update us! We paid top dollar for your gear and not to be able to use it remotely, other than on apple platform, is getting old. You have always been very repsonsive to my 6400 issues over the past few years so I am thinking this issue is much much more complex than Flex realized.

Gary Clarke

Yes it would be nice to have some idea when they expect the issue to be resolved. I understand that the guys at flex have to get this right and testing is required but at the moment we are completely in the dark as to timescales. It would be nice if maybe they said we hope to get you guys back on the air using Smartlink by Friday for example but for us not to hold them to account if it isn't rectified by that time. I'm sure we could all deal with that, but at the moment we have absolutely no idea how long this is going to take.

Steven Lott Smith

making arrangements for one of my ops to join me as in real-world join me face to face,

versus virtually with remote for CQWW CW this weekend

CQWW CW Multi op

it's either that or purchase a MacBook at this point in time

following this weekend I plan on Softether VPN

I can't help but wonder how Remote Ham's uses their own software, allowing user access by simply use of a browser

Yet we are all dependant on SmartLink

Steve KG5VK

EA7JQA

Sorry, does anyone have a file where was a guide on how to set up a Raspi and install Softether for Flex ? I have sawn the K6ozy video, but I would like to have a file where I can see step by step what I have to do until the end. I have a Raspi at the station, my friend Gabriel EA7PW who owns a 6600M, helped me to use the rotor, and the switching on and off of devices with the pi, but we are seeing how to use the raspi as a VPN server, and tomorrow I´m going to the station place. We don't want to use a pc for this having a raspi swicht on. So I have sawn softether works, but every vpn who works is apreciated. Tnx 73

KD0RC

I don't have a Raspberry Pi, so I just use a second laptop to run Softether VPN Server and TeamViewer. My remote laptop runs Softether VPN Client and TeamViewer.

Once SmartLink is operational again, I will run SmartSDR on SmartLink, ACLog on the VPN and DDUtil on TeamViewer. In the meantime, SmartSDR over VPN works great.

Steven Lott Smith

woops cqww cw is end of month duh

Back on Topic.......

EA7JQA I found an article on using the pi

through a search For SofTether VPN for the Flex

I will see if I can find it and report back

I do have the pdf file if you want me to email it to you

send me your email address to KG5VK@ARRL.NET

Cheers!

Steve KG5VK

Steven Lott Smith

found the online link to the pdf which may help someone...........

https://nrrlcontest.no/ln2hq/software/VPN/Server%20Side%20-%20VUCG%20-%20N1MM%2B%20WAN%20Setup%20for%20AT1HQ%20Remote%20Stations%20over%20VPN-%202017.pdf

steve KG5VK

KD0RC

Thanks Steve, this write up looks great. I have everything working except remote operation of my TeensyMaestro, and this just might have what I need to fix that.

N5NHJ

The point is should we go looking for network solutions when one of the main reasons (at lasst for me) to buy a Flex was, indeed, "remoting" capabilities? Also, someone raised a concern about how long this thing needs to be addressed and the lack of follow up from Flex. I was impacted by the SmartSDR previous buggy release and now this. It has been almost 2 months I couldn't use the radio. Well, I'll try the Mac version, but maybe I'm not smart and knowledgeable enough for it...

Max

Steven Lott Smith

Max

It is not whether any of us are Smart we are ALL frustrated

At least I know I am, I am not an IT guru

But I think it is time I find and build a backup solution

I am working on mine still as I share what I have found

Cheers!

Steve KG5VK

Lito Herrero

One decides on FexRadio because of its remote ease, a week wasted and we continue the same ... tremendous !!!

73, EA1CH

N5NHJ

Hi Steve, I'm an IT guy and I think I'm smart enough.

My comment was kind of hilarious in relation to what Mike VA3MW said yesterday...

😉

Terry G4POP

> @"Lito Herrero" said:
> One decides on FexRadio because of its remote ease, a week wasted and we continue the same ... tremendous !!!
>
> 73, EA1CH

Yes and the sporadic progress reports don't inspire confidence

Mike-VA3MW

Terry, we are still all over this. There is lots going on and will continue until we can release the software.

Thanks for your patience. (And, no, at this point, there won't be much detail beyond that. Sorry)

Wolfgang

Hello All

We managed today to get the SoftEther VPN Server installed on a Raspberry Pi3 to work. Tested with a Windows 10 Notebook connected over the 4G cell-phone network and SmartSDR v3.2.34.

Many thanks to Hary DL9NDW, who helped me remotely to setup the VPN Server. This is real Ham Spirit. Swiss Chocolate will follow 😄

Next week we are going to install this VPN Server at out remote site in the Swiss Alps at 1'660m in order to be on-air again for the great 6m and 10m season. http://www.hb9ryz.ch/remote-dx-station/index.html

So from this point on, we are independet from SmartLink and the Flexradios are under our "full control".

Best 73 de HB9RYZ - www.hb9ryz.ch

Wolfgang

KD0RC

Hi Wolfgang, That is an impressive remote site!! I am glad you got the Softether solution working. I also have it working, but plan on using it as a backup since SmartLink takes less bandwidth (important for me as my temporary remote sessions rely on a cell phone hotspot).

You might want to consider a way to remotely switch between the VPN and SmartLink - then you would have nice redundancy if either server fails. Don't forget that Softether VPN is a service just like SmartLink and is subject to the same kinds of problems.

Marc

of course we can keep things going without smart link, via VPN or what ever, but this is not the point.

I bought my Flex Radios because of the Smart Link Service and recommended it to many friends who have also invested in FRS.

However, there are many other features that I missed that I didn´t know were missing .. for example (remote "local" cw side tone) during a contest etc.... but we (your customers) always find a way ...

Ok I can use VPN or my Mac or iPhone but this is not the point.

Just offer a P2P for remote operation and there are no complains anymore and you are out of the "remote control job"

There is only one reason for not doing it and it´s the control of the system (radios and users).

P2P you can´t track the users so easy, there log in, operating time, station sharing etc....

No matter the buy it own it days are over, & the future was also better in the past ;)

N5NHJ

You totally right Marc.

I can help you with the remote "local" cw side tone (if you use a local winkeyer).

I also have an idea, (and FR is not going to like it) that is to create a local "fake" SmartLink server and route the packets to that server. It is logically easy, it requires a bit of knowledge but it can be done, at my Company we did it already to reroute some sensors and IoT stuff.

Sorry Flex, you disappointed us and desperate times call for desperate measures.

Ron Koenig

You can read for hours on this forum, back to when the 6000 series was initially released of people begging for direct PTP. I know Michael says we are not smart enough but the time has come. Enough is Enough. FRS Customers are scrambling like roaches to try and patch something together to make their radios usable. It's available on the MAC version, has been since day one and I can find NO record of any issues. THIS NEED TO BE IN THIS NEXT PATCHED RELEASE !

Mike-VA3MW

@Ron Koenig

As usual :) your comments are always passed on to our executive. We actually have had this request many times and we will always reconsider suggestions and run them by the management team.

Keep in mind there is no security as there is no TLS security on a direct IP call to the radio. The last thing we want to hear about is that my radio was hacked. Adding such a feature is not a trivial piece of work.

The VPN that people are using (and have used for over 6 years) is a valid option. It isn't complicated to implement but it does use more bandwidth as the audio codecs are different and there is less compression on the local LAN connection. SoftEther does provide all the key parts. Layer 2 communications, managing changing WAN IP addresses and securing connection to the radio.

For the immediate time frame, SmartLink will continue to be our focus. It has been easy to use and actually very reliable since its implementation.

73

N5NHJ

"Keep in mind there is no security as there is no TLS security on a direct IP call to the radio. The last thing we want to hear about is that my radio was hacked. Adding such a feature is not a trivial piece of work."

Why? just implement a TLS layer inside the radio firmware.

Ted S

I am not expert on TLS and I am probably in over my head. But a TLS server requires a certificate issued by a certificate authority. Installing certificates in every radio managing them and updating them doesn't seem practical. There is cost to getting the certificates and they have a finite life time. Not sure it is realistic to think the radio can be a TLS server.

Best,

Ted, WR4T

Ron Koenig

@Mike-VA3MW

Thank you for passing on my comments but since even the Alpha team has requested this numerous times and it fell on deaf ears I suspect it is just a waste of bandwidth.

I'm certainly not asking you do change Smartlink, assuming you get it working again. Just add the OPTION of true PTP connections.

SoftEther has proven to not be a viable option in several Multi Op Contest Stations, although a couple with Incredible Bandwidth have had better luck.

All I am asking for is a simple box to enter a Radio's IP address. This has been implemented and vetted in the Mac version. This gives the customers the freedom to use their radios in "Other circumstances" If they know there IP Maestro and M models would not be precluded from using their radios for more "Weeks"

Remember: "Remote is not an Afterthought, it's in the box"

While Hacking ham radios may be at the top of the list for some people ? I believe that your customers can be trusted with their own security.... I have not seen any issues with Ransomware or Hacking on RRC boxes that are PTP and have Much better latency and audio quality as compared to the Auth0 / Smartlink configuration. Most Contest stations are using a combination of the 2 with Smartlink only used for the Panadapter... Audio, PTT and LOCAL SIDETONE are provided by the RRC box.

We find ourselves at an interesting crossroads. It will be neat to see how this all plays out. inevitably the Customers will get what they want, it's just a matter of if Flex provides it or some brilliant mind creates it in spite of them.

Understand that after 2 years of construction of our new station we started moving equipment over last week. In the 2 days after we had a 6600 Brick after the update (Back in TX now) and lost Smartlink which halted our testing and necessitated putting the old station back together that we had just dismantled. I bought spare radios for these occasions. Smartlink / Auth0 is the single point of failure that cannot be properly planned for unless Flex gives us the PTP we need.

Ron, WV4P

Lindberg_60

@Mike-VA3MW

After retiring i just put $$$ on Flexradio equipement and the day i try to operate all my setup ( pc-Maestro-6400M ) I cant do nothing, i read there is a issue with server but as im not fully bilingual ( im French) i have trouble to follow everything in the problem... It's now over a week and the problem is not fix.....

At the price we paid our equipement it should be reasonable to have restablish the server in few hours ! or have a back-up plan... Plan B oy plan C !!!!

Hope i can operate as it was intended when sales team promote the value added of Flex and smart.

I saw many talking about VPN can we have version direct in Maestro Head to setup VPN to my personal VPN, i know not all operator are familiar but it could be a plan B to operate remote.....

Jean
VE2DQB

Mike-VA3MW

@Lindberg_60

HI Jean.

We have all the available resources from engineering to Quality Assurance working on this to resolve this as quickly as possible.

If you are able to watch the video we just posted, we hope to release SmartSDR for Windows tomorrow assuming we pass the last phase of the testing. The video is posted in the Community Announcement about the outage.

Our apologies for the length of time and we thank you for your support.

73

Ha Gei

@KD0RC

softethernet is no "service" .

You can, by default, use the DDNS Service from them ( University of Tsukuba , Japan ) but it will work with ANY means of getting your IP .

There is no need to "switch" between VPN and Smartlink. Once smartlink works , it will connect. Even one connection can be VPN ..which is the same as from local Network.. and one from Smartlink

About Security ( VA3MW ) :

How many radios have been hacked at remotehams ( rcforb ) which is point to point after connection established ?

Any type of encryption would be good enough for PC to FLEX6x connection as i guess there is not much more sense in hacking a flex, other to create nasty DOS . You can´t get anyones bank details out of it and i guess worst case replacing some card would free you from a ransom attack to.. "Pay 3Million $ to get your Flex back online"

Harry

DL9NDW

Wolfgang

@ Harry

Thats a good statement.

@ VA3MW

Who cares about a flexradio being hacked - nobody! I don't have any personal data stored on the Flexradio and the Flexradio doesn't need to be GDPR compliant. So the security thing is a bit of a hair pull. What is important from a security point of view is "high availability" in our case. That is what counts for us.

73 de HB9RYZ

Wolfgang

EA7JQA

Good evening from Spain, we have good news, and here in Spain a pair of friends are working on vpn conections, today we were able to conected to the radio. But we have an issue, hi hi. When we conected by a good fiber optic networks, we can not see the panadapter and the waterfall, I can hear the sound and the smeter works and the network is poor. When I conectted to the radio with a shared conection with my celular the network is Good, and I can see the panadapter and the waterfall without problem. i thing the conections betwen good internet lines must be better than with the celular. I don´t Know if we are doing something wrong, the vpn server is installed in a raspberry pi, any idea please?