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Forum Discussion
baconneggs15
Mar 17, 2021Aspirant
R7450 Wake on Internet
I currently have an R7450 router and CM1000-100NAS modem. I would like to be able to remotely access my Linux Mint (Ubuntu) server via Remmina while traveling but don't want the PC to be left on a...
baconneggs15
Mar 17, 2021Aspirant
Thanks for the quick reply antinode
Here are sources for the aforementioned "options":
1. DMZ setup for WOI via Android
2. SSH WOI from Linux to Linux
3. Telnet into router for ARP entry
4. VPN sounds promising but still unsure if that can be done for my needs through Netgear's feature.
Android is giving me general parsing errors trying to import the 'client_phone.ovpn' file Netgear is spitting out.
I'll keep trialing the OpenVPN soltion for now. May end up leveraging the always-on Pi connected to the router if all else fails... Really appreciate the help either way.
baconneggs15
Mar 18, 2021Aspirant
So OpenVPN works fine for access when PC is powered on, but the router 'forgets' the PC's IP a few minutes after power off. (i.e. WOL is useless after that tiny window after shutdown). Even testing with port forwarding, firewall exceptions and NAT filtering disabled I can't get this to work via Android...
Apps used:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.uk.mrwebb.wakeonlan
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bitklog.wolon
- antinodeMar 18, 2021Guru
Again, bear in mind how much I know abou WoL, ...
> [...] but the router 'forgets' the PC's IP a few minutes after power
> off. (i.e. WOL is useless after that tiny window after shutdown). [...]There are two addresses of interest for this stuff: the IP address
and the MAC address. Port forwarding (and, I assume, your VPN) works at
the IP-address level. WoL works at the MAC-address level. The router
might remember the IP address longer than you think (DHCP lease time =
1 day?), but the IP-MAC association might evaporate much sooner. The
connection between the two is ARP:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_Resolution_Protocol
And ARP relies on link-layer broadcast messages (MAC address
"FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF") which is the kind of thing which I might expect to
get blocked by an IP-level transport like, say, a VPN.That's why having a gizmo like a Raspberry Pi on the LAN is
advantageous for something like remote WoL. You can talk to it at a
high (routable) level (SSH, say), and it can shout at its immediate
neighbors using low-level (link-layer) broadcast messages.Port forwarding in a router (or use of a VPN?) can get a message
addressed to the destination LAN IP address, but, unless the router can
translate that IP address into a (local) MAC address, that's the end of
the line. Which may be why that third article talks about stuffing the
router's ARP cache with an artificial (permanent?) ARP entry.
But "permanent" is a relative thing, and you'd need to do that every
time the router starts, unless you can find a way to jam those data into
the non-volatile firmware storage.As for Telnet access to your router, which might let you do any of
that, I wouldn't depend on it. Netgear appears to have been removing
that (undocumented, unsupported) feature from various models in recent
times. Whether that's intentional or just another blunder is not
obvious. See, for example (different model):https://community.netgear.com/t5/x/x/m-p/1786837
You can try it, but I wouldn't be amazed by a failure, and, even if
it works today, the next firmware version could break it.Everything's complicated.
- baconneggs15Mar 19, 2021Aspirant
Got that right antinode :smileylol: I think the Pi is the solution. Also thinking smart strip probably quickly/cheaply solves my travel needs here.
Reboot at end of any VNC session. Cut power at login screen via smart strip app, then restore for next VNC session and repeat...
Either way, afraid I'm tapping out of the router config solutions for now. Thanks again for all the help.