Flex H, a rant

ESupport · February 21

Hi,

we sell Zyxeldevices for nearly 20 years now and through the announcement of the new "H"-Series (H stands for speed, you know?) i have the pleasure of setting up my first Flex 100H and what a journey it is:

First the Box had the IP 192.168.168.1, strange but ok. I tried to register it to the Zyxel Portal but couln't, it needed a nebula-Site even if i choose to use it soley on prem.

Now the fun started:

I tried to rename the geX-Ports, no, can't do that. I tried to configure a virtual Interface, no, can't do that. I tried to use multiple SSL-VPN "Servers" so that different users can connect to different networks, no, can't do that. I tried to rename a Policy because of a typo, no, can't do that. I tried to setup the automatic sending of the config-file as an encrpyted zip, no, can't do that. I tried to activate the automatic Geo-IP-Update, no, can't do that. I tried duplicating my policies, i tried to use L2TP for full-tunnel-VPN on my iphone, i tried double-clicking any entries, i tried to use the GUI on anything smaller that Full-HD…. you get what i am saying.

Sorry Zyxel, this uOS is not only rushed, it lacks features that were present in the old USG-days. i HOPE the features are mostly coming back. I know that classic SSL-VPN (SecuExtenderSSL) is defacto dead, i know L2TP is dead and that the Configfile has a complete different style, i can live with that but don't release the "next Generation in Zywall security" and let us be beta-testers.

And btw. I sincerely wish that the Designteam working on the GUI all step on a lego!

kruess · February 21

You've got a nice list, here :-/ and unfortunately, it's still only the cap of the iceberg. We're fighting with one of those devices at a customer's site, too, and whatever comes to your mind to get things going: "sorry, you cannot do that!". 😠

Zyxel_Stanley · March 5

Hi @ESupport
Your feedback regarding the user interface and the challenges with the GUI have also been noted. We understand the importance of a user-friendly interface, and I will personally ensure your comments are passed on to our team. In response to feedback like yours, we have made significant improvements to the user interface in version 1.20. These enhancements are designed to address many of the issues you've highlighted and to provide a more intuitive and efficient user experience.

kruess · February 21

You've got a nice list, here :-/ and unfortunately, it's still only the cap of the iceberg. We're fighting with one of those devices at a customer's site, too, and whatever comes to your mind to get things going: "sorry, you cannot do that!". 😠

PhilippeB · March 1

It's hard to understand why Zyxel has released the H series firewall despite the fact that the product is far away from being ready and useful. It lacks too many features and is quite unstable. We are runnig a 200H in a test environment only.

By the way, does your model updates its signatures? Ours does not.

mMontana · March 2

Thanks @ESupport. This keep telling me "too soon for H series devices, yet".

Zyxel_Stanley · March 5

Hi @ESupport
Your feedback regarding the user interface and the challenges with the GUI have also been noted. We understand the importance of a user-friendly interface, and I will personally ensure your comments are passed on to our team. In response to feedback like yours, we have made significant improvements to the user interface in version 1.20. These enhancements are designed to address many of the issues you've highlighted and to provide a more intuitive and efficient user experience.

ESupport · March 6

https://community.zyxel.com/en/discussion/comment/62682#Comment_62682

Hi PhilippeB,

first the box kept updating just fine but was not stable at all. I factory resetted it and it was a little better but it didn't update, like yours. I had a Teamviewersession with Zyxel and they got me a WKS-Firmware because on top of not updating, the box died after a few days (i think 2 or 3 days) with a memory-bug. You couldn't access it through the GUI (after logon only the turning rings kept spinning in a loop) and it was not possible to get anything done through ssh. It wouldn't show you the running config. With the new firmware that went away for a few hours and the updates were loaded but the box wasn't stable. I kept getting ping-timouts throughout (pinging 1.1.1.1 or something) and it was impossible to use. If you power-cycle it, it worked for some time and then got the same problems. After an hour of searching with the zyxel-tech through teamviewer i decided to return the box to my distributor and i hope i get my money back. I know use the old USG60 and everything works stable as it did before.

Ps. The tech told me that some features will take up to a year to implement and some features of course won't get added.

@zyxel. I know this is a new product and as the tech told me, i shouldn't compare it to the other Firewalls but than don't name it "flex x". I thought i get all the features from the regular flex but with some much needed hardware-boost. At this stage i will stay away from the h-series at least for another year and monitor the firmware-development. A firewall is such an important part of every business-network, this has to be rock-stable and i think most users are not keen on tinkering around.