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Remote access problems

How to fix remote access problems with qbee

One of the strong selling points of qbee is its simple and reliable remote access both through the UI as well as with qbee-connect. However, sometimes problems can occur and here we try to guide you to fix them as quickly as possible.

Remote access not working

  • Please be aware that it can take 2 agent cycles to get the remote access connected again.
  • A VPN can only work if the time on the device is correct. Please sync/control time on the devices
  • The virtual interface qbee0 needs to be defined. If this does not appear check if CONFIG_TUN is active

Remote access is currently not possible

It takes two agent runs before the qbee VPN is operative. This is caused by the fact that the qbee agent is setting up the VPN and negotiates new secure keys every time(it can actually be dynamically switched through qbee settings). So please wait two agent cycles. After reboot the device tab will also indicate that the remote access is not possible. When it turns green again the VPN is ready to be used again. This applies both to the web based UI but also to qbee-connect.

Most VPN problems will disappear after 2 agent cycles. In the future we will makes this work immediately.

Please ensure that your devices use the NTP service to sync the time. VPN services rely on encryption and this again relies on a time that is synced within a narrow range. Please check your logs or collected metrics if the device time is correct. If you loose VPN access to a remote edge device you can use file distribution and run a script that corrects this.

Remote access has never worked

Usually qbee remote access works out of the box and this is one of the great advantages of qbee. But some prerequisites need to be fulfilled in order for remote access to work. Here are two possible problems:

Linux kernel module CONFIG_TUN is not activated or compiled into the kernel

Without this being active qbee cannot establish the virtual interface qbee0. It is very simple to check if that interface is available by looking into the device tab. The red circles show where qbee0 can be found.

qbee-virtual-interface-qbee0

You could also run the following command to check:

sudo modprobe tun

The proposed fix here is to recompile the kernel with the CONFIG_TUN enabled or to use another distribution with another kernel.