topic Re: Static routes stop working on Business Smart Hub 2 in Broadband

Static routes stop working on Business Smart Hub 2

tpca — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 10:09:15 GMT

I have a recurring problem with static routing on a Business Smart Hub 2 on the FTTP service.

At our location we use network 172.16.10.0/24 as our main network. This is set up on a Cisco layer 3 managed switch and Cisco Mobility Express wireless setup. On the Cisco side I configured a secondary address on the relevant SVI / VLAN interface of 192.168.1.1 and set the default route from our network to be the BT hub at 192.168.1.254. The BT hub has a static route configured to point traffic for 172.16.10.0/24 to 192.168.1.1. Very basic stuff (this little setup is at a community centre I help to run as a volunteer, my day job is as a senior network engineer for a large company).

Anyway... this works well for a few weeks at a time, and then it stops working. The broadband connection is still up (if I connect to the default wireless SSID on the hub with a 192.168 address everything works, and I can see it up in the hub web interface). Traffic just doesn't get routed to the internal network. Rebooting the hub doesn't fix it.

What DOES fix it (repeatably and reliably every time) is to go into the hub settings, delete the static route, and re-create it... EXACTLY as it was so nothing should change but deleting and re-adding that static route fixes the problem. Every single time.

Clearly there's a bug of some sort in the hub code, but I have no idea where to start in getting this addressed. I'm sure if I try calling BT support I'll just get a call centre agent that will tell me to turn it off and on again (which I know won't fix it). Is there any way to get hold of somebody that can permanently resolve this recurring issue? Who deals with bugs in the hub software?

Re: Static routes stop working on Business Smart Hub 2

bakery — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 21:50:21 GMT

BT are not good re informing customers about hub firmware changes / fixes etc

Since initial BT Business Smart Hub 3 installation version - 5 subsequent firmware updates in 5 weeks clearly shows there are significant issues with the hub 3.

I asked BT "Are there any online BT release notes / status for BT Business Smart Hub 3 firmware updates?"

BT Administrator reply December 2023
Hi bakery

We do not publish the release notes for the BT Business Smart Hub 3 publicly.

^BethM

see

https://business.forums.bt.com/t5/Broadband/BT-Business-Smart-Hub-3-DHCP-IPv6-settings-allocation-mode-off/td-p/90427

Re: Static routes stop working on Business Smart Hub 2

tankfish — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 11:09:46 GMT

I have exactly the same problem. I just posted about it here before I came across your post. In my case it seems to occur after the hub is rebooted perhaps due to a firmware update applied by BT or after a power outage.

Could it be the same for you, or does the problem occur even if the hub has not been rebooted?

Re: Static routes stop working on Business Smart Hub 2

BethM — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 08:06:27 GMT

Hi tankfish

I will reply to you on your post.