RT-AX3000 Error Message: "Not a Valid IP Address" for local IP - Configuring Firewall Rule

[WonderWoman]

Hello,

I am trying to set up a VPN on my RT-AX3000 so I can access my QNAP NAS when I am away and traveling with my laptop. I obtained the external IP and CIDR for the NAS and I know the internal IP (I set up a static internal IP myself), I am trying to setup a firewall rule but when I enter the internal IP I get the error: "Not A Valid IP Address". I don't understand why I am getting this error. I can access the NAS perfectly at home and I even have my GoogleDrive syncing to my NAS successfully (with a few minor issues I have to research). Can someone please explain this to me?

Thank you.

Sincerely,
WonderWoman

 

[drinkingbird]

Hello,

I am trying to set up a VPN on my RT-AX300 so I can access my QNAP NAS when I am away and traveling with my laptop. I obtained the external IP and CIDR for the NAS and I know the internal IP (I set up a static internal IP myself), I am trying to setup a firewall rule but when I enter the internal IP I get the error: "Not A Valid IP Address". I don't understand why I am getting this error. I can access the NAS perfectly at home and I even have my GoogleDrive syncing to my NAS successfully (with a few minor issues I have to research). Can someone please explain this to me?

Thank you.

Sincerely,
WonderWoman

Where are you configuring the firewall rule - network services filter? Obviously the IP has to be in the same subnet as your main LAN right? Should be 192.168.x.x if you're using the default or 10.x or 172.x if you've used one of the other private ranges.

However I believe with VPN you want to be configuring access rules in the VPN config and not the network services filter. In reality once you have a VPN connection established you should have access to everything on your LAN assuming you've configured the VPN correctly, no rules needed.

 

[WonderWoman]

Where are you configuring the firewall rule - network services filter? Obviously the IP has to be in the same subnet as your main LAN right? Should be 192.168.x.x if you're using the default or 10.x or 172.x if you've used one of the other private ranges.

However I believe with VPN you want to be configuring access rules in the VPN config and not the network services filter. In reality once you have a VPN connection established you should have access to everything on your LAN assuming you've configured the VPN correctly, no rules needed.

Thanks for the reply.....Yes, my internal IP addresses all are the typical home router/home network configuration with the 192.168.x ... my external IP address for the NAS starts out at 74.88.x ...which is out of my ability to configure because that becomes done by the ISP. I cannot get a static IP address externally for the NAS (nor should I have to) because since this is a residential set up they do not grant static IP addresses for residental clients/customers, only busineses and that would be unaffordable and I have no use for it. I know for a fact that it can work without a static IP because I did have it working before. The possible/probable reason the VPN configuration stopped working might have to do with the fact that I had to exchange the modem because it was having frequent (like 10x per day at least) reboots where my connectivity would just drop for periods lasting approximately 5-7 minutes while the modem was rebooting. Additionally strange was even though my NAS is on my internal network (and also connected to the WAN - as I am syncing to my Google Drive) the access to the NAS would ALSO drop when the modem was rebooting. That problem I probably don't have to research but will still research to see if I have something configured incorrectly.

To get back to the whole configuration issue, I am wondering if I might be confusing a couple of things. Could I be confusing trying to set up port forwarding by incorrectly thinking I set that up through creating a firewall rule? Why can the router acknowledge the VPN connection but yet not let me through to my LAN? That is what I do not understand.

Thank you.

 

[Ripshod]

When accessing your network devices over VPN you don't need any firewall rules. Once connected to the VPN you have free access to anything on your network. If the VPN is not on your router but say on your NAS you only need to forward one port for the VPN to the NAS in the router's WAN settings, either tcp/udp depending on how you connect.

 

[Martinski]

I am trying to set up a VPN on my RT-AX300 so I can access my QNAP NAS when I am away and traveling with my laptop. I obtained the external IP and CIDR for the NAS and I know the internal IP (I set up a static internal IP myself), I am trying to setup a firewall rule but when I enter the internal IP I get the error: "Not A Valid IP Address".

....Yes, my internal IP addresses all are the typical home router/home network configuration with the 192.168.x ... my external IP address for the NAS starts out at 74.88.x ... Additionally strange was even though my NAS is on my internal network (and also connected to the WAN - as I am syncing to my Google Drive) ...

You have not yet clearly explained how & exactly where you're trying to set up a firewall rule, and your description of the "external IP" & "internal IP" for the NAS is rather confusing. Some screenshots would definitely help to understand your situation.

In any case, note that in addition to the ASUS router firewall, the QNAP NAS has its own firewall as well which, IIRC, is enabled by default. If so, you have to add a rule in the NAS firewall to allow the router's VPN Server subnet. See the attached screenshot showing the QuFirewall app on the NAS itself which is used to add/modify its firewall rules.

 

[bennor]

I am trying to set up a VPN on my RT-AX300 so I can access my QNAP NAS when I am away and traveling with my laptop. I obtained the external IP and CIDR for the NAS and I know the internal IP (I set up a static internal IP myself), I am trying to setup a firewall rule but when I enter the internal IP I get the error: "Not A Valid IP Address". I don't understand why I am getting this error. I can access the NAS perfectly at home and I even have my GoogleDrive syncing to my NAS successfully (with a few minor issues I have to research). Can someone please explain this to me?

More information is needed. What VPN have you setup? OpenVPN, WireGuard or some other VPN server on the router? How is the VPN server on the router configured? Maybe post a screen shot or two (with sensitive information blanked out). Do you have DDNS setup on the router for use with the router's VPN server? Most NAS boxes have their own firewalls, have you checked to ensure the NAS box can accept network traffic from the IP address assigned by the VPN router to the remote VPN Client. which router screen/page are you setting up the firewall rules? Are you using the Network Services Filter? Post a screen shot so others can see exactly what you see. Note that there are a number of other discussions (use forum search to find them) of users having problems with Network Services Filter on certain firmware versions. Further Network Services Filter is generally for filtering LAN to WAN not WAN to LAN. It may also help if you post which firmware version you are running on your router.

 

[WonderWoman]

I am using WireGuard and the firewall I am using is exclusively the one on the router itself - the Asus RT-AX3000........Sorry I didn't mention the VPN brand in my OP......I opted not to use the VPN on the NAS becasue it was being a nightmare to setup. The NAS I have is my very first NAS and well, I could have made a better choice in which one I purchased but you learn from your mistakes/bad choices and it still is extremely useful and suits my needs. The NAS enclosure I have is a QNAP TS-932PX and I am right now stuck at a particular firmware version because they made a change in how their firmware processes logging in that "broke" my backup software's ability to automatically connect to the NAS for the scheduled backups. I have been working with both the Acronis and QNAP companies to get this problem fixed and I am not the only one experiencing the issue and it is also happening to people with other brands of backup software including Macrium. Sorry to digress. My QNAP QTS firmware does not offer WireGuard and the OpenVPN was not working at all to allow access for what ever reason....I surrendered on that product.

If there's any other questions let me know....it's appreciated.

 

[drinkingbird]

I am using WireGuard and the firewall I am using is exclusively the one on the router itself - the Asus RT-AX3000........Sorry I didn't mention the VPN brand in my OP......I opted not to use the VPN on the NAS becasue it was being a nightmare to setup. The NAS I have is my very first NAS and well, I could have made a better choice in which one I purchased but you learn from your mistakes/bad choices and it still is extremely useful and suits my needs. The NAS enclosure I have is a QNAP TS-932PX and I am right now stuck at a particular firmware version because they made a change in how their firmware processes logging in that "broke" my backup software's ability to automatically connect to the NAS for the scheduled backups. I have been working with both the Acronis and QNAP companies to get this problem fixed and I am not the only one experiencing the issue and it is also happening to people with other brands of backup software including Macrium. Sorry to digress. My QNAP QTS firmware does not offer WireGuard and the OpenVPN was not working at all to allow access for what ever reason....I surrendered on that product.

If there's any other questions let me know....it's appreciated.

The Asus firewall will not be used then, traffic inside the VPN tunnel is configured via the VPN settings. Once connected you should have access to your whole LAN assuming it is configured correctly.