Sure Signal- Power Light on Red and flashing first light- nothing else

[RachRich160]

Our Sure Signal has been working fine until last week, now the red light is on and the first light is flashing.

I have just called through to Vodafone who told me i they would send me a text with what to do, to call BT and ask them to check the ports, i did this and they said they do not support this?!!

So, now i am stuck! What should I do?

Would a firewall block access to Sure Signal?

Thanks

Rachel

[Retired-Ian_ · Accepted solution]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your posts.

RachRich160 - I can see your Sure Signal hasn't connected to the servers for over 10 days. I've pushed a resync through for you.

To complete this follow the steps below:

• Locate the button on the base of the box next to the Ethernet ports.
• Press and hold the button for approximately 30 seconds.
• Once the lights come back on, release the button.
• The Sure Signal will come online in around 1 hour.

LeonardScott - Is everything ok for you now?

If you do need anymore help, please let us know.

Thanks.

Ian

[RachRich160]

Thanks Ian, we are up and working again!

[nathanrh14]

Here's the connection status of a working Sure Signal box:

telnet 192.168.1.254
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#######
# ###### #### #### #### Technicolor TG582n
# # # # # # #
# ##### #### # # # 10.2.6.9.BX
# # # # # #
# # # # # # # #
# ###### #### #### ####
Copyright (c) 1999-2013, Technicolor
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=>connection list ip=192.168.1.80
Flags Legend for Connections : [I]dle, Respa[W]n, [T]imeout, [L]ong Timeout, Loo[S]e
[F]ixed, Fl[O]at, [E]ven, No reco[V]ery, [C]one
[R]eserved
Flags Legend for NAT helpers : [I]nit seq, [R]esp seq, Compute [C]hecksum, [E]xpected, TCP [D]ata
Flags Legend for Streams : [R]esponder, [D]isabled, [B]roadcast, [M]ulticast, NAT [L]oopback
[I]dle, [A]ccelerated, [S]low path, [P]rioritized, AIP [N]/A
[U]sed
ID proto state substate flags NAT helper Helper flags timeout
-- ----- ----- -------- ----- ---------- ------------ -------
3813 udp ACTIVE 0 [I..L.......] [.....] 2' 11"
INIT: 7626 192.168.1.80:4500 88.82.13.169:4500 [.....I.S..U] LocalNetwork 131924 udp 0x48
RESP: 7627 88.82.13.169:4500 90.246.89.4:57590 [R....I.S..U] Internet 144296 udp 0x00
=>

As you can see the Sure Signal box (192.168.1.80) has an active connection to a Vodafone server (cluster14.vap.vodafone.co.uk 88.82.13.169), connected over UDP to server port 4500, with responses being send to my router port 57590 (which must be mapped to the Sure SIgnal box port 4500: 192.168.1.80:4500). Thus the incoming port mapping of port 4500 on my router (90.246.89.4:4500) to port 4500 on the Sure Signal box (192.168.1.80:4500) is not being used.

Port 4500 is used for IPsec traversal across NAT, which in turn uses UDP port 500 for Internet Key Exchange during (the port 4500) connection initiation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NAT_traversal#IPsec_traversal_across_NAT

Server Port 1723 is used to initiate a Point-to-Point tunnel (PPTP). A PPTP tunnel is instantiated by communication to the peer on TCP port 1723. This TCP connection is then used to initiate and manage a second GRE tunnel to the same peer. It may be that the Sure Signal box initiates a connection to a Vodafone server when this port is used, in which case incoming port mapping of port 1723 on my router (90.246.89.4:1723) to port 1723 on the Sure Signal box (192.168.1.80:1723) is not being used.

A further query of connection status, shows the Sure Signal box synchronizing it's clock with 2 Vodafone NTP Servers (212.183.133.182:123, 88.82.13.174:123), connected over UDP to server port 123, from Sure Signal box ports 50123 and 50124, with responses being send to my router ports 52005, 52006, 52007 (which must be mapped to the Sure SIgnal box ports 50123 and 50124). Thus the incoming port mapping of port 123 on my router (90.246.89.4:123) to port 123 on the Sure Signal box (192.168.1.80:123) is not being used. Logically, one would not expect the Sure Signal box to be providing a public network time service to clients on the internet, i.e. one would not expect a Sure Signal box to behave as an NTP Server, and therefore the port mapping of incoming router port 123 to Sure Signal port 123 is not necessary.

:connection list ip=192.168.1.80
ID proto state substate flags NAT helper Helper flags timeout
-- ----- ----- -------- ----- ---------- ------------ -------
625 udp ACTIVE 0 [I..L.......] [.....] 2' 13"
INIT: 1250 192.168.1.80:50123 212.183.133.182:123 [.....I.S..U] LocalNetwork 15441 udp 0xB8
RESP: 1251 212.183.133.182:123 90.246.89.4:52007 [R....I.S..U] Internet 15438 udp 0x00
2025 udp ACTIVE 0 [I..L.......] [.....] 2' 13"
INIT: 4050 192.168.1.80:50124 88.82.13.174:123 [.....I.S..U] LocalNetwork 962 udp 0xB8
RESP: 4051 88.82.13.174:123 90.246.89.4:52006 [R....I.S..U] Internet 962 udp 0x00
3813 udp ACTIVE 0 [I..L.......] [.....] 2' 12"
INIT: 7626 192.168.1.80:4500 88.82.13.169:4500 [.....I.S..U] LocalNetwork 140634 udp 0x48
RESP: 7627 88.82.13.169:4500 90.246.89.4:57590 [R....I.S..U] Internet 151065 udp 0x00
3868 udp ACTIVE 0 [I..L.......] [.....] 2' 13"
INIT: 7736 192.168.1.80:50124 212.183.133.182:123 [.....I.S..U] LocalNetwork 962 udp 0xB8
RESP: 7737 212.183.133.182:123 90.246.89.4:52005 [R....I.S..U] Internet 962 udp 0x00
=>

As expected, the Sure Signal box is not behaving as an NTP Server, so the need to forward incoming router port 123 to Sure Signal box port 123 is not clear:
ntpdate -q 192.168.1.80
server 192.168.1.80, stratum 0, offset 0.000000, delay 0.00000
29 Jun 21:10:32 ntpdate[4228]: no server suitable for synchronization found

Whereas the Vodafone NTP Servers are, of course, behaving as NTP Servers!

ntpdate -q 88.82.13.174
server 88.82.13.174, stratum 1, offset 0.123173, delay 0.07301
29 Jun 21:13:19 ntpdate[4268]: adjust time server 88.82.13.174 offset 0.123173 sec

ntpdate -q 212.183.133.182
server 212.183.133.182, stratum 1, offset 0.126243, delay 0.07443
29 Jun 21:14:45 ntpdate[4273]: adjust time server 212.183.133.182 offset 0.126243 sec

Also the need to forward incoming ports 8 and 50 from my router to the Sure Signal box is not clear.

I would like to remove any unnecessary incoming port forwards from my router.

So I am left with two main questions for the Vodafone Tech Team:

Do the Vodafone Servers initiate connections to Sure Signal boxes?
Which of the incoming router ports 8, 50, 123, 500, 1723 or 4500 actually need to be forwarded the same port numbers on a Sure Signal box, and why?

[nathanrh14]

Vodafone Tech Team:

I would like to remove any unnecessary incoming port forwards from my router.

1. Do the Vodafone Servers initiate connections to Sure Signal boxes?

2. Which of the incoming router ports 8, 50, 123, 500, 1723 or 4500 actually need to be forwarded the same port numbers on a Sure Signal box, and why?

See above post for further info.

Thanks

[Ben_H]

Hi nathanrh14,

We offer a range of ports as they can vary based on location and your Sure Signal model.

The best way to find out which ports aren't needed in your case would be via process of elimination. By removing each one by one and testing the service, you can find out which are used for your setup.

The servers do initiate the connections as they help to poll for firmware updates daily.

Cheers, Ben

[nathanrh14]

Vodafone Tech Team,

Do the Vodafone servers initiate connections to Sure Signal box port 123?

Thanks

[Retired-Matt_B]

Hi nathanrh14,

Yes, port 123 would need to be opened to ensure the Sure Signal works correctly.

A full list of ports that are required are below:

8          TCP      UDP    

50         TCP      UDP    

53         TCP      UDP      

67                     UDP                                                                

68                     UDP                                        

123                   UDP    

500                   UDP    

1723     TCP      UDP    

4500                 UDP    

33434 - 33445    UDP    

Thanks,

Matt B

[nathanrh14]

Matt B,

Port 123 on my sure signal box is not open, yet the box works fine, why is this?

Thanks

[Retired-Ian_]

Hi nathanrh14,

There are many different routers that are available.

In general, port 123 needs to be be open, but in some circumstances the port can be closed on a router and still work.

You've said that the box is working fine, so thanks for the update.

Ian

[nathanrh14]

Vodafone Tech Team,

I'm asking about the Sure Signal box's port 123 (not the router):

Port 123 on my sure signal box is not open, yet the box works fine, why is this? In what circumstances would port 123 on the sure signal box be open? Please be specific.

There is no point forwarding port 123 of the router to port 123 of the sure signal box, if port 123 of the sure signal box is not open. Port 123 is for NTP (Network Time Protocol).

Unless you can give an reasonable explanation, it would appear that Vodafone are misadvising their customers to open and forward incoming ports on their routers (creating holes in the customer's router firewall) for no reason.  Punching holes through the routers firewall, which is there to protect the customer from computer viruses etc, is a risky thing for a customer to do, and it would appear inconsiderate of Vodafone to request customers open ports of their broadband router without good reason, particular due to the security risk for the customer if this is not completed correctly.

In what circumstances would port 123 on the SURE SIGNALl box be open? Please be specific.

Thanks