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Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

duncan_bayne
Aspirant

notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

Hi All,

I thought I'd let you know that I've started work on a Ruby Gem that will offer programmatic control of the DGN3700v2 via its web interface. I'll be structuring the code such that it ought to be easy to extend for different devices in the future.

The project is on GitHub at:

https://github.com/duncan-bayne/notgear

As of now it's just a skeleton, which I hope to get working with rudimentary functionality (internet connection status, reboot) over the next week or so.

If anyone has a feature request, please let me know by posting here, sending me an email, or better by creating an issue on GitHub.

I'll post a release notification here once things are at a suitable level of quality & reliability.

Yours,
Duncan
Message 1 of 24
jmizoguchi
Virtuoso

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

To forum user who are interested in third party firmware. Installing third party firmware can results of void warranty and/or corrupt your router.

With this understanding make your own judgement and contact OP with this third party or flash third party firmware.

Forum is user to use basis so we do not limits your decision.

:):):)
Message 2 of 24
duncan_bayne
Aspirant

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

jmizoguchi wrote:
To forum user who are interested in third party firmware. Installing third party firmware can results of void warranty and/or corrupt your router.


notgear is designed to control the router through the router's web interface. It is exactly equivalent to a user manually controlling router functionality through a web broswer.

There is no third-party firmware involved, and no need to change any software or settings on the router at all. My understanding is that the use of notgear shouldn't impact Netgear warranties in any way.
Message 3 of 24
jmizoguchi
Virtuoso

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

Just clear all your legal statement when you post such.

🙂
Message 4 of 24
duncan_bayne
Aspirant

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

jmizoguchi wrote:
With this understanding make your own judgement and contact OP with this third party or flash third party firmware.


To be 100% clear about this: it's not firmware at all. It's software you run on your computer that communicates with the device over the web interface.
Message 5 of 24
duncan_bayne
Aspirant

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

jmizoguchi wrote:
Just clear all your legal statement when you post such.

🙂

Well, the usual disclaimer is: I'm not a lawyer, and I haven't run my opinions past one. But given that no modification to the hardware is necessary, I'd be unpleasantly surprised if the use of notgear would impact a Netgear warranty.

Perhaps this could be confirmed by a Netgear staff member, assuming there are some monitoring these forums?
Message 6 of 24
duncan_bayne
Aspirant

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

I tried logging a support request through the Netgear website, but received the following error:

We regret to inform, Your Request Could not be processed at the moment due to technical difficulties.... Please try again later.


The text of the request was as follows:

Hi,

I'm writing software to control the router through the web interface, by automating the steps normally taken by a user with a web browser.

Will use of this software effect the warranty on my router (DGND3700v2), and if so, why?

Discussion of the software in question can be found on the commnunity forum here: http://forum1.netgear.com/showthread.php?t=79106

Thanks for your time.

Yours,
Duncan Bayne


Hopefully someone here can give us an authoritative answer?
Message 7 of 24
w3wilkes
Prodigy

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

I'm not a Netgear employee, but here's my 2¢. You are correct, you are not altering the firmware so there should be no effect on the warranty of the device. If you're hoping a Netgear emp is monitoring the forum, I think you're dreaming! Too bad you're not modifying the firmware, I doubt you would do any worse than Netgear already is on both the v1 and v2 of the DGND3700. :eek: Maybe we'd actually get something that worked as advertised.
Message 8 of 24
duncan_bayne
Aspirant

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

Okay, so I have the official word from NETGEAR support: using notgear won't void your warranty. Here's the transcript:


Welcome to NETGEAR Live Chat

Arianne
Support Operator

Arianne
Thank you for choosing NETGEAR. How may I help you today?

Thank you for contacting NETGEAR Support, Mr. Bayne. My name is Ariane, Expert ID: 46186, your NETGEAR Expert.

Duncan
Hi Ariane.

Arianne
Hi, Duncan.

Duncan
My name is Duncan. I'm writing some software to automate certain functions on a DGND3700v2 router. It uses the web interface to control the router, e.g. to reboot it.

My question is: will the use of that software in any way invalidate the warranty on the device?

The software is discussed in more detail on the forum: forum1.net…om/showthread.php?t=79106

Arianne
Okay, please give me a minute to check on that link.

Duncan
Sure 🙂

Arianne
Thank you, Duncan.

Thank you for waiting.

The firmware that has been discussed here is third party. jmizoguchi said that it will void the warranty of the router.

That is true, Duncan. Installing a third party firmware on the router will void its warranty.

Duncan
Sorry, perhaps I didn't make myself clear. It's not firmware. notgear is software that runs on a PC, and connects to the router through its web interface. No firmware changes are made to the router.

You know how the user opens a web browser and uses that to control the router? Well, that's how this software works: it makes requests to the routers built in web interface. No modifications to the router or router firmware are necessary.

Arianne
Oh, I see. Thank you for the clarification.

Duncan
I'm writing it specifically to avoid having to make any modifications to the device itself 🙂

Arianne
I believe that you are referring to the NETGEAR Smartwizard or NETGEAR Genie.

I see.

No, Duncan. Using it will not void the warranty of the router.

Duncan
Awesome, thank you for the clarification 🙂

Arianne
You are very much welcome. Would there be anything else you would like to ask for today, Duncan?

Duncan
Just to be 100% certain on this: I'm not asking whether using the Smartwizard or Genie software will void the warrant.y

I'm asking whether automating that software, through software I write and run on my own PC, will void the warranty.

Sorry to be pedantic, I just want to make completely sure that I'm getting the right answer.

Arianne
No, Duncan. As long as you will not modify the software of the router it will not void the warranty.

I understand.

Duncan
Excellent, thank you very much for your time. Have a lovely day 🙂

Arianne
You are very much welcome. You, too.

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Message 9 of 24
duncan_bayne
Aspirant

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

So, back on topic. Any feature requests beyond those I'm already planning?
Message 10 of 24
jmizoguchi
Virtuoso

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

Forum does not allow netgear support name posted.

Refrain from posting names next time
Message 11 of 24
w3wilkes
Prodigy

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

I've been through the forum policy extensively and can't find anything about using netgear support names. I'd like to see a specific link and quote of that policy.
Message 12 of 24
jmizoguchi
Virtuoso

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

they used to have some link but seems took it off.

If you search through from old thread like this. Myself and other mention on this.
Message 13 of 24
duncan_bayne
Aspirant

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

w3wilkes wrote:
I've been through the forum policy extensively and can't find anything about using netgear support names. I'd like to see a specific link and quote of that policy.

I don't wish to sound rude, but how about on a different thread? This one has already suffered one topic derailment courtesy jmizoguchi; two would be a little much 😉
Message 14 of 24
jmizoguchi
Virtuoso

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

duncan_bayne wrote:
I don't wish to sound rude, but how about on a different thread? This one has already suffered one topic derailment courtesy jmizoguchi; two would be a little much 😉


It is not derailment. Make sure things are posted correctly and in place.

Detail disclaimer etc on non netgear firmware/software need to be posted by the users to tell it is not netgear related firmware/software
Message 15 of 24
TheNavigator
Aspirant

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

Getting back on thread, I have to agree that if the intention of this utility does not involve any direct change in firmware then no warranty rights with Netgear would be impacted.

However, a disclaimer should be given up front that making alterations in router configuration settings can have a positive or negative impact on operation; as such it is recommended that the configuration is backed up to a good known working point before committing any adjustment to settings through the application; thus allowing a suitable restore.

I would also suggest that if any adjustments are made via the software and problems experienced after this time, then rather than reporting immediately to Netgear as an issue, these changes should first be rolled back via either a restore or undo of the changes made.:cool:
Message 16 of 24
jmizoguchi
Virtuoso

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

Good work...
Message 17 of 24
duncan_bayne
Aspirant

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

TheNavigator wrote:
However, a disclaimer should be given up front that making alterations in router configuration settings can have a positive or negative impact on operation; as such it is recommended that the configuration is backed up to a good known working point before committing any adjustment to settings through the application; thus allowing a suitable restore.


Thanks for the suggestion, but as it's good practice to backup your configuration before making changes, I don't think adding a nag to the software will achieve anything except cluttering the output.
Message 18 of 24
theTechman05
Aspirant

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

duncan_bayne wrote:
Hi All,

I thought I'd let you know that I've started work on a Ruby Gem that will offer programmatic control of the DGN3700v2 via its web interface. I'll be structuring the code such that it ought to be easy to extend for different devices in the future.


Yours,
Duncan


Just for thought make sure netgear hasn't already done this for your router. Readynas remote for the "Readynas" has the option built in with their September 2012 version. If it works with this or is opensource that may help expedite your build.

Also you could also do this simply by using a dyn dns account and directing to your router with the enabling of remote management. Its free for one address or $20 U.S.D for a non expiring address a year.
Message 19 of 24
duncan_bayne
Aspirant

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

theTechman05 wrote:
Just for thought make sure netgear hasn't already done this for your router. Readynas remote for the "Readynas" has the option built in with their September 2012 version. If it works with this or is opensource that may help expedite your build.

Also you could also do this simply by using a dyn dns account and directing to your router with the enabling of remote management. Its free for one address or $20 U.S.D for a non expiring address a year.


Thanks for the tip - I've checked it out but neither approach works as what I want is something that offers programmatic control. So e.g. inside a bash script you could do:

notgear reboot --address 192.16.8.0.1 --model dgnd3700v2



... and that would reboot your router.
Message 20 of 24
_AC
Aspirant
Aspirant

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

I take it that this would not work for the v1, right?
Message 21 of 24
theTechman05
Aspirant

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

duncan_bayne wrote:
Thanks for the tip - I've checked it out but neither approach works as what I want is something that offers programmatic control. So e.g. inside a bash script you could do:

notgear reboot --address 192.16.8.0.1 --model dgnd3700v2



... and that would reboot your router.


Just a note that you'd need to use the outside ip or have a way to track it so you can do this outside of your home network. If you use the internal its not going to work well for you. I'm sure that was only an example but I thoughts I'd mention it for thought.

Just my thought as well but I'd think the model number would be more in a display log "Model x rebooting" . At least if you do it that way you can add more models once you get this one working and find if the commands are the same or similar.
Message 22 of 24
duncan_bayne
Aspirant

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

theTechman05 wrote:
Just a note that you'd need to use the outside ip or have a way to track it so you can do this outside of your home network. If you use the internal its not going to work well for you. I'm sure that was only an example but I thoughts I'd mention it for thought.

Absolutely. I had intended that it would be used internally only - I'd be very uncomfortable deliberately exposing the admin interface of my home router to the Internet at large.

theTechman05 wrote:
Just my thought as well but I'd think the model number would be more in a display log "Model x rebooting" . At least if you do it that way you can add more models once you get this one working and find if the commands are the same or similar.

Well, that's the intent. For example, if I got around to adding a DGND3700 (not just V2) you'd instruct it to reboot with:

notgear reboot --address 192.16.8.0.1 --model dgnd3700



My assumption is that it wouldn't be easy to auto-detect the model. But I might well be wrong about that. If I am, then you wouldn't have to specify the model, which would be even nicer. The fewer options the better 🙂
Message 23 of 24
theTechman05
Aspirant

Re: notgear: programmatic control of DGND3700v2

It shouldn't be hard to detect but I've never dealt with it but in old Ms Access version you could run a command to know PC(like winver) and a program vistumbler has a model list to tell what devices it detects by Mac address. I think its opensource though they do have a donation jar if you find their stuff usefull.

I hope all is going well with your project,

Me
Message 24 of 24
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