2wire router forgot my port forward for Elk

[mikefamig]

Happy Easter if it applies!
 
While I was out today my iphone became unable to connect to my Elk M1 via xep. Long story short I discovered that my 2wire router no longer had the port for the xep being forwarded through the firewall. The pinhole for the xep was missing. I added the port back to the firewall and it is working again
 
Has anyone ever seen a 2wire router or any gateway router just have a port forwarding entry disappear before?
 
TIA, Mike.
 
 

 

[ano]

Turn off UPnP if its turned on.

 

[mikefamig]

Turn off UPnP if its turned on.

 
I can't find any reference to UPNP on the gateway. I don't know that the Uverse 2wire gateway is upnp capable.

 

[ano]

UPnP allows devices to add port forwarding, but it can mess up also, and the port forward is gone.  Your router could be UPnP cabable, but possibly you can't shut it off.
 
Also, I've seen this every now and then, but a voltage spike can change settings. This isn't very likely, but you may want to add some spike protection, if you don't have it already.
 
Or maybe the router is just defective. It happens.
 
I have a Mac OS X Server that communicates with my Apple Airport Extreme, and this can screw up, but that doesn't sound like you problem.

 

[mikefamig]

I took the time to look at the 2wire gateway and it looks like I can choose an IP address for the Elk from the DHCP pool and then set it as a fixed address so that DHCP does not mess with it. Instead I had set the Elk Ip at an address outside of the range of the DHCP pool. I am thinking that my ISP maybe pushed an upgrade to my gateway and di d reset that caused it to forget the port forward outside of the DHCP pool.
 
At any rate I plan to change it to an address within the pool and see what happens.
 
Mike.

 

[pete_c]

@Mike,
 
What exactly is your 2-wire gateway?  MFG / Model number?  How old is the device. How are you getting to the internet?  DSL, Cable, fiber?
 
A firmware update with a configuration update to a modem can change stuff depending on how old it is.
 
Doing a quick google search of a 2-wire gateway shows a device that appears to be a combination modem / router / switch.
 
Personally here have my multiple internal subnets divided up.  Largest is a bunch of static IPs, small DHCP scope and some assigments of IP based on MAC address.  That said I also change MAC addresses internal and external to my stuff all the time.  IE: my multiple tabletop touchscreens (~20) have static IPs, DNS names and MAC addresses which are customized and in a range of static IPs on one subnet.  Managed switches are configured similarly.

 

[mikefamig]

Good morning Pete
 
I have a 2wire 3801HGV and it is FTTN or Fiber To The Node which is basically fiber to a big box about a block away and then copper wire the rest of the way to the house.
 
Mike.

 

[pete_c]

Good morning Mike.
 
- VDSL2
- Ethernet WAN
- HomePNA 3.1
- 4 Ethernet LAN Ports
- HyperG 802.11b/g Wireless
- Access Point
- 2 FXS (VoIP) Lines
 
You can reorganize the network using Excel.  Easy peasy baby step fashion depending on number of devices you have on the network and their function.  Personally here relating to one network:
 
1 - use static IPs / names for certain devices which never change
2 - Not a whole bunch of wireless but typically utilize dynamic addressing for stuff like floating tablets, laptops, et al
 
It also depends on what access you have to what pieces of this device.
 
Here relating to my FIOS box and being privy to installing it with the Verizon technician I did my own thing using the installation manuals that the technician provided to me (I locked all access to the box from the internet - but that was me).  I only utilize the certain pieces of the FIOS connectivity in one way (televisions and phone) and my internet stuff a different way if that makes sense? 
 
It is a smaller subdivision of 50 homes and I saw over time Comcast rewire their stuff and Verizon install all new fiber doing their stuff.  (easy to see)
 
I was also very concerned on methodologies of how the wiring went in to the house and didn't let him guess such that I totally controlled exactly what he was doing and he did exactly what I told him to do.  (well too I did LV wire the home and knew were the LV / HV wiring was at).  In the midwest created a d-mark of sorts and managed said configuration and installation for the original broadband / cable connectivity.  That person was less technical (well basically he didn't have a clue what it was he was doing).
 
Recently in the midwest I wanted to add a second internet connection using the AT&T Uverse configuration.  Looking at what they did; noticed they did not run anything fiber wise to the subdivision and used the old almost 16 year cable that was originally run which dinged my efforts for an autonmously separate internet connection (really a Micky mouse way that they did this).  I do though have another connection which is 4G/5G but its wireless at this time.  3 would be better.

 

[mikefamig]

Our ISP here is Frontier Communications who recently bought the service from AT&T Uverse.
 
I have five set top boxes, two smart tv's , three IP cameras, one pc computer and an xbox connected to three of the router's four  wired ports with the help of a Netgear 16 port switch using cat5e. The Elk is wired directly to one of the ports in the back of the router and does not go through the switch and is the only device with a fixed IP. There are also a bunch of wireless devices including  Iphones, Ipads and pc's.
 
I ran all of the cat5e for the system years ago when Uverse first became available in the area and don't regret it. The video quality has been good and dependable even in the detached garage which is a pretty long run.
 
Mike.

 

[pete_c]

If you are OK with the box and its functions leave it alone and document how you have it configured. (also save the configuration).
 
If you want to reorganize your network to something you want to manage then redo it all.  Easy to do with some basic networking skills in a slow baby steps fashion.  (note I say network but it is also relating to firewall / router / switch (managed) set up)
 
That said relating to the FIOS box I utilized I separated its functions and added my own personal firewall to the mix.
 
1 - Stock FIOS box provides router / firewall / STB / VOIP / wireless / network - I have the wireless OFF as the box is in a can.
2 - I bridged one network port to another firewall while retaining the use of the built in firewall of the FIOS box providing two internal networks. (well plus one wireless autonomous network)
 
The FIOS box was locked by me and cannot be updated firmware wise as I used the technicians service manual to do this and it did include "stuff" that wasn't in the user manual of the device.
 
Relating to the "smart TV" stuff I do not use that or will ever use it with a preference to a "smart TV" device sitting next to the LCD TV which I can shut off and totally control.  But that is me.  I don't really care about what the STB's are doing because they are on an autonomous network and never touch my personal stuff.  The STB's are Motorola and initially the HDMI connections didn't work which dinged my wiring chases for my LV wiring stuff.  Firmware updates to the box have been Verizon TV services centric more than fixing the HDMI output of the box (which really did tick me off).  Really it was a concern of the DRM stuff over the basics of functionality of the box(es) (well it makes more money for them).
 
Note the above stuff is relating to the historicals of use of:
 
1 - broad band cable internet connectivity
2 - Verizon's FIOS methodology of fiber to the house
3 - AT&T Uverse methodology of fiber to the big box that serves to distribute catXX to the residence.
 
Personally my favorite methodology is direct fiber to the home.
 
The AT&T methodology is a cheaper means (to cut costs?) and put big ugly boxes coffin like boxes in subdivisions.  That is only my opinion though. (cheap ass broad band architecture methodologies).

 

[Del91574]

Mike,
 
Since you're (relatively) local to me, Frontier has been pushing FW down to the GW's and rebooting them. I've had all of my custom settings disappear about 3 times since the takeover. Zero to do with DNS and/or static IP's.
 
That said, when they first took over they had massive DNS issues for a day or two.....I think I made the tech support person's head spin around when I rattled off everything I tried and proved it was their issue.

 

[mikefamig]

Mike,
 
Since you're (relatively) local to me, Frontier has been pushing FW down to the GW's and rebooting them. I've had all of my custom settings disappear about 3 times since the takeover. Zero to do with DNS and/or static IP's.
 
That said, when they first took over they had massive DNS issues for a day or two.....I think I made the tech support person's head spin around when I rattled off everything I tried and proved it was their issue.

 
I spent some time on the phone with Frontier myself and they made my head hurt until i got elevated to a competent technician. He was kind enough to give me his phone extension which has made my life with Frontier Comm better.
 
Mike.

 

[mikefamig]

Mike,
 
I've had all of my custom settings disappear about 3 times since the takeover. Zero to do with DNS and/or static IP's.

 
My gateway did not loose all custom settings, only the one port that was addressed outside of the range of the DHCP address pool. There are other ports opened up and they were ok, only the Elk port was affected.
 
Mike.

 

[Del91574]

Same here.
 
Lost all my pinholes on the M1 set to DHCP reserved. Nothing else modified. I had to go digging through old XEP docs because the older units had more ports opened up compared to the later units (2.X). I've gotten pretty good and fast at setting up the M1 pinholes at this point.

 

[pete_c]

Personally why bother anymore with this stuff. 
 
What is it you are using on the internet to get to your home Elk panel?
 
If you are using a PDA phone then configure it with an encrypted tunnel to your home network Elk device. 
 
It is easy to do this these days.
 
1 - Buy a cheapo ($20) TP-Link micro router and update it with Open-Wrt
2 - power it with the Elk
3 - install OpenVPN on the Open-WRT OS
4 - configure your firewall to pass a VPN tunnel from the TP-Link VPN
5 - configure the Open-WRT firewall to pass whatever you want to the local network
 
Personally here my microrouter inside of my OPII can has not melted running 24/7 now for a while.