Port Forwarding troubles - AX88U, 386.1_2

[adampk17]

Howdy - long time no post for me. Since this forum doesn't seem to work with Tapatalk any longer I hardly stop by any more. :-(

Anywho, I'm having issues with port forwarding on my AX88U which is on release 386.1_2. I've used port forwarding for many years for a few servers I run - Plex, BitTorrent, Teamspeak, etc. It's never been an issue in the past to get working but now they don't and I can't figure out why. My setup

• Router: AX88U on 386.1_2 - It's the master router of an 3 node wired AiMesh network in the house
• The services that I use port forwarding for all run on an Intel based Qnap NAS that is wired directly to the AX88U
• AiProtection is off
• QoS is off
• Open NAT has the "Enable Port Forwarding" slider activated (is this new?)
• UPnP is on. I've let Plex use UPnP for years with no issue - but I've tried a static port and it doesn't work either

Like a dummy, I don't know exactly when my Port Forwarding stopped working. In the last month I updated the router to 386.1 and 386.1_2 but I can't say the the issue is related for sure.

Any suggestions?

 

[GSpock]

Quite obvious but this you check this one : (yes, Open NAT port fwd is new and when you put it off it also put the below off as well):

 

[adampk17]

Quite obvious but this you check this one : (yes, Open NAT port fwd is new and when you put it off it also put the below off as well):

View attachment 32368

Yes sir. That slider is ‘On’

 

[GSpock]

Can you pls further detail/explain what is not working now ? access to your NAS remotely, .... ?

 

[adampk17]

Port forwarding. We’ll start by focusing on my Plex server. It normally has worked fine with UPNP but I noticed that was not working (or listed) a couple days ago. So I tried setting up a manual port forwarding of port 32400.

That at least is listed in the router list of forwarded ports but Plex isn’t accessible from the outside and port scanners say port 32400 is closed.

 

[GSpock]

Port forwarding. We’ll start by focusing on my Plex server. It normally has worked fine with UPNP but I noticed that was not working (or listed) a couple days ago. So I tried setting up a manual port forwarding of port 32400.

That at least is listed in the router list of forwarded ports but Plex isn’t accessible from the outside and port scanners say port 32400 is closed.

.. so Plex server is running on, your QNAS correct ? I ask because I think I remember having seen on this forum a fellow mentionning the same kind of issue as your, and it was related to a change in Qnap ... will try to find it back.

Can pls dump the result of the following command:

iptables-save |grep VSERVER

 

[adampk17]

.. so Plex server is running on, your QNAS correct ? I ask because I think I remember having seen on this forum a fellow mentionning the same kind of issue as your, and it was related to a change in Qnap ... will try to find it back.

Yes sir, running on my QNAP NAS

 

[tonybb8]

Yes sir, running on my QNAP NAS

Hi I have AX88U and Synology NAS running Plex Media server with no problem at all!
Did you manually specify public port number on plex media server (Setting -> Remote Access) and make sure that same as AX88U port forward setting?

 

[adampk17]

Hi I have AX88U and Synology NAS running Plex Media server with no problem at all!
Did you manually specify public port number on plex media server (Setting -> Remote Access) and make sure that same as AX88U port forward setting?

Yes, I have tried manually specifying the port in Plex and in the router.

 

[tonybb8]

Yes, I have tried manually specifying the port in Plex and in the router.

Can you post the plex remote access and ax88u port forward screen capture?

 

[adampk17]

Can you post the plex remote access and ax88u port forward screen capture?

Sure!

Plex:

Router:

CanYouSeeMe

 

[tonybb8]

Sure!

Plex:
View attachment 32377

Router:
View attachment 32378

CanYouSeeMe
View attachment 32379

your setting same as mine, the different between us that I use different external port number 19651.
Have you tried using a different external port?

 

[adampk17]

your setting same as mine, the different between us that I use different external port number 19651.
Have you tried using a different external port?

I could try that, but remember, my issue isn't just Plex. All of my port forwarding is no longer working. All of these worked previously just as they are set now.

Is there a way that I can confirm that the router actually has these ports open or not? That way I could focus on or rule out the router.

 

[tonybb8]

I could try that, but remember, my issue isn't just Plex. All of my port forwarding is no longer working. All of these worked previously just as they are set now.

Is there a way that I can confirm that the router actually has these ports open or not? That way I could focus on or rule out the router.

First, I think you better disable "Port forward" in OpenNAT. I never enable this gaming feature. I only enabled port forward in WAN -> Port forward.
If you want to check those ports are opened or not in AX88U, you can go to Advanced Setting -> System Log -> Port forward. It will list all ports are opened.
On the other hands, did you test the plex server using internal IP and port (eg http://[plex Server IP]:32400 )?

I think the problem that you enabled some new functions (eg OpenNAT) that we dont know.
I recommend you to save the router setting into file. And reset the router setting to test again.

 

[adampk17]

First, I think you better disable "Port forward" in OpenNAT. I never enable this gaming feature. I only enabled port forward in WAN -> Port forward.
If you want to check those ports are opened or not in AX88U, you can go to Advanced Setting -> System Log -> Port forward. It will list all ports are opened.
On the other hands, did you test the plex server using internal IP and port (eg http://[plex Server IP]:32400 )?

On my router if you turn on port forwarding it turns OpenNAT on automatically. I've played with this.

The local/internal URL for Plex, as you listed it, works.

System Log - Port Forwarding does show that port 32400 is forwarded. I'm just not sure I'm ready to 100% believe it as this point.

 

[tonybb8]

On my router if you turn on port forwarding it turns OpenNAT on automatically. I've played with this.

The local/internal URL for Plex, as you listed it, works.

System Log - Port Forwarding does show that port 32400 is forwarded. I'm just not sure I'm ready to 100% believe it as this point.

You are right. turn on port forwarding it turns OpenNAT on automatically! My mistake!
May I know that which merlin version upgrade to 386.1_2 ?
I remember that if version too old to upgrade have to reset router, I read from other thread.

 

[adampk17]

You are right. turn on port forwarding it turns OpenNAT on automatically! My mistake!
May I know that which merlin version upgrade to 386.1_2 ?
I remember that if version too old to upgrade have to reset router, I read from other thread.

I upgraded from 386.1, and before that it was the latest available too. I pretty much never skip releases.

 

[archiel]

I am also on an AX88U, 386.1_2, AiMesh (1 node) and running both Plex and Emby servers on a Win 10 box rather than a NAS. UPnP is disabled, AiProtection is disabled, I use Cake for QOS and I use static ports (not the defaults) for both Plex and Emby. The static ports are accessible and and both Plex and Emby are working as expected.

It may be that you need to do a full reset and rebuild, but it could be NAS related. Is BitT also running on the NAS (it has a different IP address) and is its external port accessible?

if everything is on the NAS, then you could try setting up a service on another box (windows or linux, actual or VM) and see if port forwarding works - that would at least narrow down the problem.

 

[adampk17]

I reset my router to defaults today and.... no change in the port forwarding behavior.

So I set up my bit torrent client on my Windows PC rather than my NAS, set up port forwarding on the router accordingly, and..... it works.

So now the QNAP is the suspect.

@GSpock You mentioned earlier that you thought you saw something a mention of something like this issue on another forum. Any luck finding that, sir?

 

[GSpock]

@GSpock You mentioned earlier that you thought you saw something a mention of something like this issue on another forum. Any luck finding that, sir?

May be it was this one:

Unable to get ports forwarded

Hello! Had this issue with my plex, but didn't think too much of it at the time since it still worked. However, getting a QNAS, I now need some assist. I got everything the way I see it fully working. WAN -> Virtual Server/Port Forwarding I have the ports opened up and all! And yet, if I go to...

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