Re: R7000 V1.0.11.126 -- Remote Management option has disappeared

junglesim · ‎2022-01-02

Hello,

I was just looking on the web GUI and noticed that under the Advanced Tab the 'Remote Management' item in the dropdown section on the left under 'Advanced Setup' is no longer there. I presume this has been replaced with the 'Web Services Management' section, which was revamped possibly after the potential security issue in June 2020. So far so good. When I look inside Web Services Management, I see only one option, to click or unclick 'Always Use HTTPS to Access Router'. Seems reasonable, but what I do find weird is that the Help Center at the bottom of the screen makes no mention of 'Always Use HTTPS to Access Router', but instead, talks about the 'Turn Web Services Management On' on or off option and a few related things. Seems like a bug or a least an inconsistency to me, does anyone know what is going on? Thanks!

Bill-D · ‎2022-01-03

I posted about the elimination of Remote Management in the R7000 a coupe of months ago - https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-WiFi-Routers/Remote-Management-missing-in-R7000-after-upg...

Since then, I've been on '128 in the R7000 routers in both my homes and they have been very stable, but I miss the ability to remotely manage them.

Bill-D · ‎2022-01-03

It appears that Netgear didn't update the GUI Help section after they eliminated the ability to remotely manage the R7000.

junglesim · ‎2022-01-03

Thanks Bill-D. Sorry I did not see your original post, the link was most appreciated. It is poor that someone from Netgear did not pick it up and explain the situation as it is pretty fundamental stuff.

Also, you mentioned 128. My router thinks 126 is the latest version so something is amiss and I don’t know what.

Bill-D · ‎2022-01-03

Mine also doesn't indicate new FW versions. You need to go to "Downloads" to see if there's a newer version.

junglesim · ‎2022-01-04

I had to do the same, which is madness in itself as from the looks of it these are security updates. I am sure you'll agree, checking whether there are updates via the app or the gui should not say 'No updates' or whatever if the Netgear website says there are. Come on Netgear this is basic stuff.

Bill-D · ‎2022-01-04

On the positive side, in both my homes previous FW versions had random drops of connected devices, WiFi drops and random reboots, but v128 has been stable for 3 months so I'm not currently looking to replace my R7000s, but Netgear's continuing sloppiness on the R7000 FW has led me to not buy any other Netgear products.

FURRYe38 · ‎2022-01-04

NG seems to be moving to using the Nighthawk app for some and limited remote management options. Otherwise NG has removed the web broswser based remote access which we can only presume maybe for security reasons.

Bill-D · ‎2022-01-04

As far as I see, the Nighthawk app is only usable locally on the same LAN as the R7000. Even though the app has a setting for "Anywhere Access", turning that on for "Out-Of-Home Controls" doesn't do anything.

FURRYe38 · ‎2022-01-04

Yes access from anywhere should work if you enable it and are away from the home network.

Bill-D · ‎2022-01-04

It won't work for me. Am I missing something?

I noticed the free Netgear DDNS (provided by No-IP) has also been disabled in v128. This DDNS is what I previously used for the URL to access the Remote Management on both of my R7000s.

junglesim · ‎2022-01-05

Anywhere access via the app works for me too. Not that it matters, but it may help, I noticed one slight change: last week when I connected localled or via anywhere when I wanted to change it to the other, it showed me both options, now it only shows me the alternative to how I am currently connected. So if I'm locally connected it'll give the option to connect via anywhere and vice-versa.

As for the DDNS, via noip.com, that seems to work the same for me as before. Just in case you missed it, 12 months ago or so, noip started to be more restrictive with their free hostnames by getting the user to confirm access once a month.

Please do note that on moving to 128 I have not made any changes that would affect these things, they just work for me.

michaelkenward · ‎2022-01-05

@junglesim wrote:

.... I noticed one slight change: last week when I connected localled or via anywhere when I wanted to change it to the other, it showed me both options, now it only shows me the alternative to how I am currently connected. So if I'm locally connected it'll give the option to connect via anywhere and vice-versa.

The prompted me to check my Android app.

The app connects "locally" when started.

To get to Anywhere, I hit the "cloud" icon at the top and get to the Your Products screen where I can choose Anywhere Access for stuff oi the Internet.

Bill-D · ‎2022-01-05

@junglesim wrote:
....As for the DDNS, via noip.com, that seems to work the same for me as before. Just in case you missed it, 12 months ago or so, noip started to be more restrictive with their free hostnames by getting the user to confirm access once a month.

I've continued to answer my DDNS confirm email each month. My DDNS was working OK until my Internet IP address changed. If I ping my DDNS URL now it is still translated to my old IP address, so my DDNS via No-IP is partly working - it is translating my URL to an IP address, but its not updating my IP address from my R7000. Also, if I click on "Show Status" on the R7000 DDNS configuration page, it comes back blank instead of showing the latest update as it always did before.

Bill-D · ‎2022-01-17

FYI - DDNS is working again in my R7000 after the latest firmware update to V1.0.11.130_10.2.118

junglesim · ‎2022-01-17

Glad to that Bill-D, thanks for letting us know. By the way how do you keep abreast of the updates? I have the router set up to update automatically but it doesn't seem to work.

michaelkenward · ‎2022-01-17

@junglesim wrote:

Glad to that Bill-D, thanks for letting us know.

Seconded. Great to have feedback from @Bill-D . Any idea why sanity returned?

@junglesim wrote:

By the way how do you keep abreast of the updates? I have the router set up to update automatically but it doesn't seem to work.

The most thorough way t keep track if to visit the support pages for the router:

Visit the support pages:

Support | NETGEAR

Feed in your model number and check the documentation for your hardware along with firmware.

Look for the model number on the label on the device.

Experienced users tend to avoid the automated update process. They like to wait to see if there are reports here of problems, such as the death of the Remote Management option!

They then prefer a manual update:

How do I manually upgrade firmware to my NETGEAR router? | Answer | NETGEAR Support

That gives control over the process and means that they can update from a local file rather than something retrieved "on the fly" from Netgears's FTP server. That's usually reliable but you never know when your Internet connection is going to die in the middle of a crucial operation. Manual updates don't even need an Internet connection during the process.

The terminally paranoid will even do manual updates when they get a pop-up alert from their routers.

junglesim · ‎2022-01-17

Haha. It is absolutely mad, that when you select to enable automatic updates that the router does not do this. Not realising that the automation does not work or is flakey at best could leave someone with a false sense of security. That combined with the help page for the Web Services Management is out-of-date does not breed confidence.

michaelkenward · ‎2022-01-17

@junglesim wrote:

Haha. It is absolutely mad, that when you select to enable automatic updates that the router does not do this.

It is certainly a touch and go thing.

Sometimes it seems to be down to the nature of firmware updates. In the past there were times when people were way behind the current version, and had to upgrade in stages. The automated process just wasn't smart enough to handle that.

Automated updates seem to be more reliable in Orbi devices. But when something does go wrong people scream blue murder. That's probably why Netgear revived the ability to disable automated updates.

In general, Orbi technology tries to be as consumer friendly as possible, making it easier to manage devices but removing some of the features and settings that "propeller heads" like to play with. This adds up to disgruntled "experts" and confused neophytes.