My hardware agent has been abandoned - how do I un-abandon it?

[mafiltenborg]

On feb 6, 2021 I bought a yellow hardware agent which has been functioning up till - well, some time ago, where it stopped communicating. I've not done anything to recover it but recently got an email regarding some sort of recovery procedure needed due to a bad firmware-update. So I decided to jump on the bandwagon and recover mine using the described method and file.
Initial action was to check for function. And lo-and-behold; the device was active. Nice.
it shows as "Abandoned", yet also "Your agent is communicating correctly, and ready to be licensed".

I have NOT tried updating the firmware. Given the device is online, I'll leave it to do that as it sees fit and not interfere.

However, I'd like it to not be in the Abandoned state.

How to proceed?
ID 127572, order #3413.

Best regards,

Martin

[OutagesIO_Support]

Hi Martin,

Actually, as soon as it comes back online, it's status will turn to Active.
However, we're not seeing it communicating with us at all yet.

Some of the hardware agent were sent the wrong firmware which caused them to stop communicating.

There is a really simple way to make sure it's not only running the newest firmware but to get it back online.

https://support.outagesio.com/topic/295/urgent-yellow-hardware-agent-owners

They key here is to use a laptop or PC that is connected only to the agent on the same network, 192.168.1.x as explained in the article.

The second thing is that the trick is to let go of the reset button just as quickly as you see the fifth blinck of the LED to set it to upload the file.

Be sure to have the file already downloaded to your PC/laptop of course.

Give me a try and let's see if we can get you back and running.

[mafiltenborg]

That was easy :)

Dashboard now says:

Thank you for getting my agent back on track.

However; why am I still being shown a 'prestaging dashboard' and a message telling me my agent is 'ready to be licensed'?

[OutagesIO_Support]

Hi,

You said the agent ID was 127572 right? Looking at it, it shows that it is in licensed, running in what's called Extended reports mode.
That said, I do see that it's Disconnected right now.

If you still see it as Prestaging then I'll have to ask the dev to take a look as that is unusual.

[mafiltenborg]

It's licensed by now. I was poking at the RAS feature (advertised at 5USD for an unknown period) but managed to activate an Extended reports one-month sub instead. Let's see what happens once the sub expires.

RAS: is that a one-time buy? RAS forever...

The device is offline now because I've taken it down. I'm at work... It will return in a few hours when I get home.

[OutagesIO_Support]

The RAS feature is active and available with this hardware agent.
The only thing you need is to add data.

We have a 5GB and a 20GB plan for data usage which you can purchase in the available packages page.

These aren't subscriptions, they are use until you run out. If you buy 5GB for example, it doesn't expire, it just gets used up as you use it. Once it runs out, you purchase another one.

The reason the plans seem small is because RAS is not meant for moving large files or using a lot of data, it's meant solely as a way to get into your own network, where the agent is running, without having to open any firewall ports. The connection is encrypted and secure.

You can have different profiles in your RAS config page meaning, one click to reach different devices on the LAN.

The usage case is to be able to get back into your own LAN to reach routers, switches, alarm systems, anything that has a configuration page. If someone locked you out of your LAN for example, you'd still be able to regain access to reconfigure your router or block out the bad guys etc. It's meant for very low traffic.

The RAS page has an 'About this page' help and there is an article in our blog about it;
https://www.outagesio.com/secure-remote-access-without-opening-firewall-ports-or-port-forwarding/

Hope this helps.

[mafiltenborg]

RAS info noted.

Now, let's return to the "prestaging" issue. Can we agree that you have yourself seen that my agent is currently subscribed to Extended reports? If so, then the following question is valid:

Why is my Agent now shown, active, on a Prestaging dashboard, ready to be licensed?

[OutagesIO_Support]

This is what I see.
The sub was created yesterday and then canceled on the same day.

There was a bug where if a sub was created and canceled the same day, it would expire the agent right away.

Let me pass this on to the dev because it should still be in the Extended reports mode for 30 days so we'll get that fixed shortly for you.

[mafiltenborg]

@OutagesIO_Support said in My hardware agent has been abandoned - how do I un-abandon it?:

The sub was created yesterday and then canceled on the same day.

There was a bug where if a sub was created and canceled the same day, it would expire the agent right away.

Correct, i canceled the same day as I was after the RAS but failed to execute the difficult task of hitting the correct one out of two "Click here to buy"-buttons:

Anyways, we can now see that there still is a bug where if a sub - etc.

Still, I don't understand the "prestaging"-thing. What's that all about?

[OutagesIO_Support]

Your agent is now in Extended mode so once you get it back online, it should be fine but remember that you canceled your subscription so at the end of the month, it will fall back into Prestaging. At that point, you can renew or just leave it until you want to use it again.

Prestaging is when you're getting your agent ready for a subscription.
There's no point in purchasing a subscription until your agent is properly communicating.

It's a way to make sure people don't waste their time and money buying a sub for an agent that's not correctly communicating yet.

It's not really a bug but a logic thing that we thought we solved :).