RV220W - ipv6 Firewall and Ping Questions

[doug_counsil]

I have just recently been messing around with ipv6 on our RV220W.  The only reason for turning ipv6 on was to get upnp to work after a reboot.

I have setup ipv6 using a 6to4 tunnel (using the automatic tunnelling feature, awesome feature by the way), as well as, through a tunnel broker (tunnelbroker.net).  Both methods were super simple to configure.

I have run into a couple of road blocks though.

1.  I can't find any firewall features for ipv6.  We have a Cisco E4200 that has ipv6 and ipv6 firewall support so I am sure the RV220W either has ipv6 firewall options or will have it very soon in a firmware upgrade.  Am I correct on either account?  Without a built in firewall, ipv6 has really exposed our PCs, Mac's, etc to attack.  I ran some ipv6 firewall port scanners and found that we have several ports open (4800, 4900, 5263, etc).

2.  I found that ipv6 is a bit flaky.  For example, I experience a 15-50% packet loss when pinging an ipv6 website (ie ipv6.google.com).  It occurs on all of our PCs (Windows XP and Windows 7), as well as, our Mac OSX Lion Macbook Pros.  All of the more popular ipv6 test websites out there show that we go back and forth between ipv6 being turned on and off.  I am sure it has something to do with latency and/or failed pings.  Are there known issues with ipv6 on the RV220W?

I have opened a case (620246731) with Tori regarding the upnp issues that we encounter with ipv6 turned off.  Basically upnp works flawlessly when you turn it off and then back on after a reboot.  Unfortunately we have to reboot our RV220W due to slow downs, etc about once a week (of course it doesn't help that I have been updating the configuration off and on here lately) and upnp not working correctly after a reboot is quite frustrating.  I have even reflashed the latest firmware, reset to defaults, and made minimal configuration changes (going through the setup wizard, reserved some IPs by MAC address, etc) and upnp sill doesn't work after a reboot.  Therefore I don't think it has anything to do with my configuration.

I have a few take-aways from Tori and I's conversation.  I need to provide her with our configuration backup, some Wire Shark traces with unpn working and not working, as well as some screenshots of the upnp port map table showing that upnp is actually populating the table.  i should have the time to perform this maintenance/testing soon.

I will keep you guys posted, but please post here if there are known issues with upnp and/or ipv6 so I don't keep jacking with these things trying to get them to work needlessly. 

[Joergen Thomsen]

It is quite common to introduce artificial limits in routers to increase sales of higher priced units.

I do not agree with this policy, but I do expect, that the quality of the actual product sold, is acceptable, leaving room for bugs not easily detectable in the lab.

When an immature product is sold, it must be on the condition, that the turnaround time to fix bugs reported by customers is short. This is unfortunately not the case at CISCO.

The CISCO support is better than that of many other companies, but it is worthless, when after half an hour on the phone, the supporter has to give up on the problem due to a software bug.

I have tried this, and I see clearly, that CISCO could save a lot on the support budget by increasing the quality control budget and reducing the time between new firmware releases.

So this is my New Year wish for CISCO.

[doug_counsil]

I agree to a point.  The engineers have to draw the line somewhere because there is only so much RAM and flash memory to work with versus their other routers that have expansion capabilities.

The last thing I want is a router that is chaulked full of bells and whistles but doesn't have the juice to run them. 

If Cisco can get the major bugs worked out on the RV220W they won't have any trouble finding loyal customers willing to pay more for an RV router with say 512 MB - 1GB of RAM and 128 MB - 256 MB of flash RAM.  Then they could add more bells and whistles and charge a couple hundred more $ for it.

I'd definitely buy it because I'm more of Linux fan.  I would probably change my mind if I took the time to learn IOS though.    I just don't like the idea of paying yearly maintenance fees for a cheap SMB router though.  They need to find a happy medium.  I originally thought the RV200W as that happy medium...

[Eric Moyers]

Hi, My name is Eric Moyers. I am a Network Support Engineer in the  Cisco Small Business Support Center. Thank you for using the Cisco  Community Post Forums. Just wanted to drop in a note to let you guys  know that your post on our RV20W is greatly appreciated and that your  concerns and opinions are highly valued.

Mr. Thomsen, great to hear from you again, I hope that you are doing well.

The  issue with IPV6 is a recognized, and it is currently being worked on.  Software development timelines are very delicate. There is a process  that we have to go through with any development of new code. When you go  back and do any type of re-coding, it is then even more imperative that  we add in regression testing to ensure we don't break one thing while  fixing another.  

Currently there is not a date  for when this fix may be out. I will research this and see if I can find  some information for this thread.

Thanks

Eric Moyers

Cisco Network Support Engineer

SBSC Wireless and Surveillance SME

CCNA, CCNA-Wireless

1-866-606-1866

[Joergen Thomsen]

Eric,

I do not at all disagree with you, but in a rapidly changing market I am criticizing the allocation of man power to and lack of interest in customer involvement in this process.

I am often thinking about the Lou Gerstner book about IBM:  Who Says Elephants Can't Dance ?

In 1990, IBM had its most profitable year ever. By 1993, the computer  industry had changed so rapidly the company was on its way to losing $16  billion and IBM was on a watch list for extinction -- victimized by its  own lumbering size, an insular corporate culture, and the PC era IBM  had itself helped invent.

Laurels are great for cooking, but not for resting on.

[Eric Moyers]

Mr. Thomsen,

I would disagree that there is a lack of interest in customer involvement. If that were truly the case, then Cisco would have never created this community forum for customers. The entire basis for this forum is so that customers have an opportunity to converse and mingle with peers and Cisco engineers. Here we trade ideas and help one another. Not in the least is having a forum to express displeasure in products or processes, like we have here.

I am also involved with an issue with the WAP4410N, where the customers are expressing their issues with the product. Cisco is listening to the post through agents like me and then they are working to make the product better. Just like we want to do with the RV220W

Code development to me, and I was a mainframe programmer in a earlier life, is similar to tying shoes. Two people can work on it, one could tie the right and one the left. However it is counter productive for two people to tie the same shoe. Just like coding, more than one person can work on the entire program or firmware, but two people working on the same block of code can lead to wasted coding time.

I entirely respect your opinions, but I truly beleive that Cisco is working to solve these issues as quick as possible.

Eric Moyers

[adam.baldwin]

Hi Eric,

Thanks for checking in with us here. I've got a couple questions for you if I may. Before I pose them to you though, I wanted to emphasize that I certainly understand that software development is fickle and subject to delays, so if some of the dates that I ask you about slip a bit, I'm not going to lose my sanity =)

- What does Cisco see as the biggest issues (both in terms of bugs and feature deficiencies) in the RV220w right now?

- What is the projected release date for the next version of RV220w firmware?

- Is there a process where customers can gain access to beta version of the RV220w firmware with the understanding that these are beta versions, bugs are likely and users running beta versions will not be supported?

- If we, as (perhaps overly =)) vocal RV220w owners, want to create a feature request/bug tracking list, perhaps with some proposed priorities for guiding software development time, what is the most helpful way to communicate that to the developers/project managers in charge of the firmware (especially considering it will be a living document).

Again, thanks for your help here. I know it's not necessarily fun tackling some of the issues that you face here, but it's certainly appreciated.

Cheers,

A.

[Eric Moyers]

Hello Mr. Baldwin

Thank you for the e-mail.

- What does Cisco see as the biggest issues (both in terms of bugs and feature deficiencies) in the RV220w right now?

  A. There is a wireless meeting coming up next week I believe, I will put this question out there to see what they say.

- What is the projected release date for the next version of RV220w firmware?

  A. I have not heard, they really do not like giving me hard dates. I will see what I can find out.

-  Is there a process where customers can gain access to beta version of  the RV220w firmware with the understanding that these are beta versions,  bugs are likely and users running beta versions will not be supported?

  A. Yes there is a process. When one is available it is freely available with the signing a a form, (basically state what you said, "This is a beta version,  bugs are likely" a little more lawyer speak than I write write)

-  If we, as (perhaps overly =)) vocal RV220w owners, want to create a  feature request/bug tracking list, perhaps with some proposed priorities  for guiding software development time, what is the most helpful way to  communicate that to the developers/project managers in charge of the  firmware (especially considering it will be a living document).

  A. Anything thing you send me, I can get to the right people.

I have always been one of those people that when you yell "Fire", I don't run for an exit, but look for the Fire. Being a tech support engineer, you definitely see a wide variety of issues. Those of us here in the Small Business Support Center unless, we are on the UC540/560 side pretty much cover everything else on the phones. A few of us also monitor the Community Post to help customers as well. There are days that things can get overwhelming, being in the middle of the customer and the Development teams. But it is even more rewarding when we hear back from customers that all is well and issues are resolved.

I will keep this thread posted as I learn information and if you mouse over my picture you can find my e-mail as well.

Eric Moyers