VMB5000 flashing amber. New install

[BevLekx]

I have a new Arlo Ultra 2 system with 2 cameras and a VMB5000 SmartHub. The SmartHub has never come online. When I plug it in I get a flashing Amber LED. I can see the hub is getting an IP address. And I can see the hub's WiFi pop up on my laptop. So there appears to be something working at least. However I cannot discover the hub on the Android app on on the browser on my laptop. I have moved the hub so it is plugged in directly to my router. And I have connected my laptop to the same Ethernet cable as used by the hub.

I think I need to pack it up and return the equipment for a refund.

Any help would be appreciated.

[StephenB]

 Did you try the paperclip reset?  https://kb.arlo.com/1057976/How-can-I-reset-my-Arlo-SmartHub-or-base-station-to-the-default-values

[BevLekx]

Thank you for your response @StephenB .

Yes, I did try the paperclip reset. After the hub reset, it returned to the flashing amber condition.

[Edinburgh_lad1]

I'm confused what you're trying to do: connect to the hub using your phone/computer? This isn't possible. You need to connect the hub to your router (via the ethernet ports) and then download the app. Once you've done it, you need to ensure that you're on the same WiFi as the router, to which the hub is connected. Ensure that your router's firewall isn't blocking access to the hub. 

If the above doesn't work, reset the hub. And if it's still doesn't work, reset the app. 

In terms of flashing orange, here is a list of what flashing lights mean: https://kb.arlo.com/000039100/What-do-the-LEDs-on-my-Arlo-SmartHub-or-Base-Station-mean  

Once you've connected the hub to the router, you then need to install it in the app. 

[BevLekx]

Hello @Edinburgh_lad1 ,

My apologies for the confusion.

The SmartHub Ethernet cable is plugged into my Internet router. As a test, I unplugged the Ethernet cable from the SmartHub and plugged it into my laptop. So the laptop was plugged into the router using the same Ethernet cable and router port. The idea was to verify that I had Internet access using the Ethernet cable and router port. Using my laptop I was able to browse to various Internet sites. This test eliminated the Ethernet cable and router as a possible cause of the problem.

I have reset the hub.

I am unable to discover the SmartHub in the app. The SmartHub is flashing amber. I believe this indicates it cannot connect upstream.

So at this point I have eliminated the router and the Ethernet cable. I have good Internet connectivity and speed. I have reset the SmartHub several times. I have moved the SmartHub to another router port and tried a different Ethernet cable. I followed the user manual steps to attempt to troubleshoot this issue. So far I have had no luck.

[Edinburgh_lad1]

There's no point connecting the smart hub to your laptop. The smarthub needs to be connected to your wireless router using an ethernet cable (any LAN port; *not* WAN port).

You're not confirming that you're on the same WiFi as your router (not 4G or others). 

Being on the same WiFi as your router (not an extender or mesh), you then need to 'add' the hub to your account using the Arlo app. 

Before you use the Arlo app to do that, I'd recommend that you clear cashes etc. of your Arlo app. Or to reinstall it. 

If all above fail, contact Arlo support. 

[BevLekx]

I am not connecting the SmartHub to my laptop. I agree that would be pointless.

The SmartHub is on the same network as everything else.

My Internet router is not a WiFi router. It is a Cisco ASA 5506 firewall. I have tested the router port by connecting my laptop to it.I have also moved the SmartHub to a switch that is shared with other devices.

I cannot add the hub to my account. It always comes back with the "No Arlo device found" error message. I get this message when I try to add the hub from the app or from a browser.

I will try again to contact support.

[jguerdat]

You say the router is not WiFi so how is the phone connected to your home network? Are you using a VPN? Also, it may be that you're using a Cisco firewall may mean that you need to open ports 80, 123 and 443 to arlo.com for things to work.

[BevLekx]

Hello @jguerdat ,

My WiFi router is internal. I am not using the WAN port of my WiFi router. So WiFi connected devices connect via this WiFi router to get access to the wired network. This is how my phone connects.

I can browse to arlo.com from my computer and my phone. So outgoing ports 80, 443, etc. are all open. Are you saying that I need to open incoming ports 80 and 443? Did you have to do this on your WiFi router?

I can certainly see the need to allow outgoing ports 80 and 443 to be open, but I would be surprised if incoming ports 80 and 443 need to be open. I don't see anything in the user documentation with this requirement. Is this documented anywhere?

[jguerdat]

I agree incoming ports wouldn't need to open and would be a problem. However, the outgoing ports may be the issue. I have no experience with the Cisco firewall but I expect that would be the likely issue. As a test, what happens if you plug the hub directly into the firewall? If that fails, what about directly into your modem (assuming the firewall requires a modem)? You may need to power cycle these to get this configuration to work.

[BevLekx]

I agree outgoing ports may be an issue. Although I cannot determine which port (if any) is the issue.

I have connected the hub directly to the firewall with the same results.

On this same firewall port I connected my laptop. I can connect out to arlo.com and other sites.

The Cisco ASA 5506 is configured to allow all outgoing ports. So I don't believe I am blocking any ports at the moment.

The firewall does not have a modem. My ISP supplies an Ethernet cable so a modem isn't necessary.

It is possible there is an issue upstream within the ISP. Not sure what that issue might be and I have no evidence of this. I think I will setup a managed switch so I can capture some network traffic. Hopefully this will shed some light on the issue.

Thank you to everyone for your help on this issue. I have a ticket open with support and am waiting for them to answer.

[Edinburgh_lad1]

You have a rather complex setup. Firewalls should really be at the point of entry, but it's not clear what is connected to what in your case. 

Your Arlo base station needs to be connected to whatever WiFi access point you're using, which, I presume, is then connected to your cisco firewall. Also worth checking is whether your WiFi access point has its firewall on. If it does, since you're using your cisco one, shouldn't it be disabled? 

Also, if your ISP provides your Internet through an ethernet cable only, how are you authenticating on their network? 

You shouldn't have to open any ports on cisco or WiFi access point to use Arlo, unless you want to access the storage from anywhere in the world. 

[BevLekx]

Thank you for your feedback.

My setup is actually not as complex as it sounds. My description is a little disorganized which makes things sound complicated.

My firewall is the single point of entry to my network from my ISP. The connection is Ethernet, the protocol is pppoe. There is an authentication phase with pppoe.

I am using only the internal switch ports of my WiFi router. The firewall and router part of the WiFi router is not actually used.

So the Arlo hub only goes through a switch to reach my firewall. There is nothing blocking traffic internally.

I am going to capture network traffic to and from the hub to see if I can find where this is breaking. Hopefully this will help.

[BevLekx · Accepted solution]

I have it working now.

I setup a managed switch so I could monitor traffic between the Arlo hub and anything else. The issue turned out to be my DNS server (or at least, Arlo's response to my DNS server).

I have a DHCP and DNS server running on my internal network (ISC dhcpd and ISC bind on a Raspberry Pi). At one time I had a registered domain that I used for a number of purposes. The internal DNS server for that was my Pi. When the Arlo hub used DHCP to get an internal IP address, it also received a list of DNS servers. 2 of these are external (OpenDNS) and one is my Pi. The Arlo hub would query each DNS server plus the Google DNS servers. My DNS server replied with "refuse" because it did not serve the requested domain. When the Arlo received this response, it started all over again. So the network traffic was a continuous stream of DNS requests and responses.

The solution was to remove my DNS server from the list of DNS servers in the DHCP response. Then I reset the Arlo hub. The light turned blue and I could add the hub and my cameras.

I added all of these details in case it helps someone else.

[StephenB]

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@BevLekx wrote:

I have it working now.

I setup a managed switch so I could monitor traffic between the Arlo hub and anything else. The issue turned out to be my DNS server (or at least, Arlo's response to my DNS server).

I have a DHCP and DNS server running on my internal network (ISC dhcpd and ISC bind on a Raspberry Pi). At one time I had a registered domain that I used for a number of purposes. The internal DNS server for that was my Pi. When the Arlo hub used DHCP to get an internal IP address, it also received a list of DNS servers. 2 of these are external (OpenDNS) and one is my Pi. The Arlo hub would query each DNS server plus the Google DNS servers. My DNS server replied with "refuse" because it did not serve the requested domain. When the Arlo received this response, it started all over again. So the network traffic was a continuous stream of DNS requests and responses.

The solution was to remove my DNS server from the list of DNS servers in the DHCP response. Then I reset the Arlo hub. The light turned blue and I could add the hub and my cameras.

I added all of these details in case it helps someone else.

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Thx for sharing this info!