When an OLT will not connect
The fastest way: open the OLT in the panel and press Troubleshoot connection. It checks the VPN, the forward through your MikroTik, the OLT greeting and the login, one step at a time, and tells you what to check at the first step that fails. Everything the panel adds to your MikroTik has a comment that starts with SmartOLT management.
When the panel cannot read an OLT, it tells you which part of the connection failed. This page explains the checklist on the OLT page, every failure message and what to do about it.
Where to look
- Open Settings, then OLTs. An OLT with a problem has a red dot in the status column. Hold the mouse over the dot to see the last error.
- Press View to open the OLT page.
- At the top you see a red box that starts with SmartOLT cannot read this OLT. It contains the last error, the connection checklist and, when it applies, a note about automatic reads.
An OLT that was never read shows a blue box with Not read yet. and the same checklist.
The connection checklist
The checklist shows the connection as steps, in order. Each step has one of three states:
- Green tick: this step works.
- Red cross with "(Stops here)": this is the step that fails. Fix this one.
- Grey circle: not reached yet. The panel could not test it because an earlier step failed.
| Step | Shown for | If it stops here |
|---|---|---|
| Your MikroTik is connected to the SmartOLT VPN | VPN connections | The tunnel is down. See Tunnel down. |
| The MikroTik reaches the OLT at (OLT IP) port (port) | VPN connections | The tunnel is up but the OLT does not answer. See Unreachable. |
| SmartOLT reaches (address) port (port) over the internet | Direct connections | Nothing answers on the public address. See Unreachable. |
| The device there is a supported Huawei OLT | All | Something answered, but not a supported OLT. See Not a Huawei OLT. |
| The OLT accepts the username and password | All | The login was refused. See Wrong username or password. |
| SmartOLT reads the OLT and its ONUs | All | The login worked but the read did not finish. See The read fails. |
For a VPN connection the tunnel step is checked live each time you open the page. The other steps show the result of the last read. After you fix something, press Refresh on the OLT page to test again.
Wrong username or password
Message: The OLT refused the username or password.
The panel pauses automatic reads at once, so that repeated tries do not lock the user on the OLT. You see: Automatic reads are paused so the OLT does not lock this login. Edit the OLT, enter the right username and password and save.
- Test the username and password yourself with a Telnet client, if you can.
- On the OLT page press Edit OLT settings.
- Type the correct OLT telnet username and OLT telnet password.
- Press Save. Saving resumes the automatic reads and the panel logs in again at once.
Do not press Refresh many times with a wrong password. Refresh always tries a login, and repeated refused logins can lock the user on the OLT.
Manufacturer or command format not recognized
Check the manufacturer selected in Settings, OLTs. Older installations default to Huawei. A ZTE or V-SOL device needs its matching driver. A device with an unrecognized model or firmware command format is reported as unsupported.
The panel recognises a supported OLT by its login prompt. Automatic reads are paused with the note: Automatic reads are paused because this device is not a supported OLT. Edit the OLT if the address was wrong.
- Check the address and port. A port forward may point to a router, a switch or another device instead of the OLT.
- With a VPN connection, check that OLT IP is the OLT and not the MikroTik or another device.
- Check the model and firmware against Supported OLTs. Choose the matching manufacturer instead of repeatedly retrying a different driver's commands.
- If the address was wrong, edit the OLT, correct it and press Save. This resumes the reads.
Unreachable
The message depends on the connection type and on how the connection failed.
Direct connection
| Message starts with | What to check |
|---|---|
| Nothing answered at (address) port (port) from the internet. | The public IP, the port forward to the OLT's Telnet port and the firewall. If the OLT has no public address, edit it and choose the VPN. |
| There is no route to (address) from the internet. | The address is wrong, or it is not a public address. |
| (address) port (port) refused the connection. | The port forward on your router, and that Telnet is on at the OLT. |
| Could not resolve the OLT address | The host name does not exist. Correct it or enter the public IP. |
VPN connection
| Message says | What to check |
|---|---|
| Nothing answered when the MikroTik passed the connection on to the OLT. | The OLT IP and Telnet port. The MikroTik needs an address in the same network as the OLT and must be able to ping it. Then paste the OLT's router commands again. |
| The MikroTik finds no device at the OLT IP on its network. | The OLT IP, and that the OLT's management port is plugged into this MikroTik's network. |
| The connection to the OLT was refused. | Paste the router commands again. If that changes nothing, turn Telnet on at the OLT or enter the port it really uses. |
One more message applies to both types: The connection opened, but the device sent nothing. The Telnet port may be wrong, or Telnet is turned off on the OLT.
Tunnel down
Message: Your MikroTik is not connected to the SmartOLT VPN yet. Paste the commands shown on this OLT's page into its terminal, then try again.
On the OLT page the Connection row shows VPN disconnected with a Diagnose link, and the SmartOLT VPN panel shows Waiting for your MikroTik.
- Check that the router is powered and has internet.
- Check that the router can reach the internet on TCP port 1194. An upstream firewall may block it.
- On the router, open Interfaces and look for
smartolt-oltfollowed by the OLT ID. It must exist, be enabled and show as running. - Copy the script from the OLT page and paste it into the router's terminal again. Pasting it again is safe.
- Press Check again on the OLT page.
The full procedure is in Connect an OLT through OpenVPN and a MikroTik router.
Private address used for a direct connection
Message: That address is inside a private network, which SmartOLT cannot reach over the internet. Choose "Through the SmartOLT VPN" as the connection and enter it there as the OLT IP.
Addresses such as 192.168.x.x, 10.x.x.x and 172.16.x.x exist only inside your own network. The panel is on the internet and cannot reach them directly. The same message appears when a host name points to such an address.
- Edit the OLT.
- Change Connection to Through the SmartOLT VPN (no public IP needed).
- Enter the private address in OLT IP and press Save.
- Paste the commands the panel shows into your MikroTik.
The read fails after a good login
If the last step of the checklist stops, the OLT answered and accepted the login, but the panel could not finish reading it. Press Refresh once more. If you see The OLT is busy with another task. Try again in a moment., another read or action is still running on that OLT. Wait and try again.
If the message is The saved OLT password could not be read. Edit the OLT and enter its password again., do what it says and save.
Slower or paused automatic reads
A healthy OLT is read every 5 minutes. When reads fail, the panel tries less often:
| Situation | Automatic reads |
|---|---|
| Fewer than 3 failed reads in a row | Every 5 minutes |
| 3 to 11 failed reads in a row | Every 15 minutes |
| 12 or more failed reads in a row | Once an hour |
| VPN connection, 3 or more failed reads | Only while the MikroTik tunnel is up |
| Refused username or password | Paused until you save the OLT settings |
| Not a supported OLT | Paused until you save the OLT settings |
The OLT page tells you when this happens, for example: After 5 failed reads in a row SmartOLT now tries every 15 minutes. Press Refresh to try at once.
How to resume
- Press Refresh. Refresh always reads at once, whatever the schedule says. One successful read puts the OLT back on the 5 minute schedule and clears the error.
- Edit the OLT and press Save. Saving resets the failure counters and removes the pause. Use this after a wrong password or a wrong address.
Alarms you may see
Connection problems also appear on the Events page. OLT unreachable opens after two connection failures in a row, or at once for a refused login or an unsupported device. OLT read failing opens when the OLT answers but three reads in a row fail. See Alarms and events.
Still stuck
Open the OLT page and press See history to see what was done on this OLT, with the result of each action. If you cannot find the cause, write to us through /contact. Tell us your site name, the name of the OLT and the exact message. Never send a password.
Still stuck? Write to us and include your site name. No panel yet? Create one for free.