Port forwarding issue....

[houghton19]

Hi everyone, looking for a little help please.

I just got a Asus RT-AC5300 yesterday and i am struggling to setup port forwarding. I have used portforwarding on previous routers (home hub 5&6 ) but still a bit of a n00b.

i have upgraded to Merlin 380.65. Still wont let me forward. I have the firewall off on Routerand pc, pc isnt the problam as I have a sky box and router wont let me access that via port forwarding either.

i have ddns (free) setup with no-ip and was working with hub 6. Asus router says connected to no-ip.com.

any ideas please.

thanks.

 

[martinr]

It might be helpful if you could explain exactly what you are trying to achieve so we can understand the reasoning behind your need to forward port(s). Also, how have you tried to do it so far.


Mire importantly: "I have the firewall off on Router...". Why would you do that? https://www.snbforums.com/threads/disabling-firewall-opens-up-remote-access.28956/#post-222061

 

[houghton19]

Thanks for the reply.

I turned off the firewall to make sure this wasn't blocking my incoming connections.

My basic needs are I have a few programs on my PC and devices on my network. I have an enigma 2 box that I can view my tv on my phone over 4G.

On my PC I have VNC server and viewer so I can log into my PC and use it remotely.

I have tried forwarding to said ports. Going into the WAN option then port forwarding.

I have dns setup so I would normally type xyz.ddns.net:1025 then this would forward to my SabNzb profile. On my hub 6 Port 1025 was open and directed to the IP of my PC (static)

I have tried doing the same thing via the asus menu but noting let's me past my router. Either to my PC of my enigma box.

When I test the ddns it says it's working and no changed in ip from last connection.

Hope this is enough. Ask if you need anything else from me to help.

 

[john9527]

If you turn off the router firewall, you turn off port forwarding as well....

 

[martinr]

So you have ports listening, waiting for a connection from the WAN. Would you not be far more secure setting up OpenVPN server(s) on your router and then logging in remotely from your 'phone via the OpenVPN app? To all intents it would feels as if you were physically back home on your home network. For example, I have 2 Humax DVRs, and I can log into their web interfaces and watch, if I wanted, a recorded program remotely. No need for port forwarding and the only port listening for a WAN connection is the one for the OpenVPN server, protected both by keys and certs as well as username/password login credentials.

 

[houghton19]

I put firewall back on and still nothing.

Martinr thanks for that. I'm looking into OpenVPN but until I'm happy with that I'd like my port forwarding to work until then. Thanks.

 

[martinr]

OpenVPN is unbelievably easy to set up. Everything is done for you; (almost) all you need to do is export the .ovpn config file to your 'phone. Gone are the days of generating your own keys. And you'll be able to sleep soundly at night knowing your router is secure.

 

[houghton19]

more meaning that i need to find a decent provider, i tried cyberghost but non of their profiles work unless you use the software on the pc....... and that stops all traffic into pc.

 

[martinr]

more meaning that i need to find a decent provider, i tried cyberghost but non of their profiles work unless you use the software on the pc....... and that stops all traffic into pc.

No, you don't need a provider. That would be the case if you wanted to set up a vpn connection from your home to the provider, say, to encrypt your traffic originating from your home (and returning to it, but only on the home-provider-home legs of the journey).

You want to establish a vpn connection originating remotely (from your 'phone) to your home (and returning to it). And in this case, you would be the vpn provider. Merlin has incorporated 2 OpenVPN servers into his firmware. They are just waiting to be turned on (one is all you'd need).

 

[houghton19]

seems it was my ddns wasnt updating. thanks for the help and im going to look at VPN.

 

[martinr]

seems it was my ddns wasnt updating. thanks for the help and im going to look at VPN.

The asuscomm.com DDNS system works perfectly. In my 2.5 years using it, I've not had a single glitch.