Remote Web Admin Access unreliable

[bawjkt]

We're all familiar with this:

Remote Web Admin Access:
Remote HTTP Port:8080
Remote HTTPS Port:443

Still, I get very unreliable remote access.

On my home router, at moment the HTTPS on 443 works but the 8080 doesn't. On another hospitality router, sometimes both work but for the last week both don't. These are on the same ISP. Overall, remote web access rarely works.

To make it more interesting, the port forwards *do* work. So whereas I cannot log into the router, I can go through port forwards in the router to administer other linked equipment on the remote LAN.

At yet another hospitality location in that area (also with the same ISP) I am running $4,000 enterprise equipment. 3 out of 3 links reply infallibly via https 443 or http 8080. Absolutely never misses a beat. Same ports, same ISP.

So I am just vexed that remote Web Admin Access with Gargoyle is about 80 % unreliable in my experience. Even after restarts we're stuck in the same "should work, but still doesn't" situation. Even on this home router right now, 8080 does not work. 443 does but not 8080.

This is with 1.5.5

Anybody else?

[pbix]

What router are you using and what line speeds do you have?

Performance issues in my experience have to do with not enough RAM or CPU speed.

All Gargoyle users will be much happier with 32MB of RAM.

[bawjkt]

Hi I really appreciate your concern...

I should have mentioned that in the earlier post...

At restaurant the line speed is 12Mbit / 1Mbit up and the hardware is the TP-Link 1043ND.

No problems going through the router via port forward on 8443 to a UniFi controller. That access is *very* reliable, making this issue more confusing.

Remote access to another LAN device via port forward is bulletproof, but remote login to router almost never works. I also have this remote access monitored via Overlook Whiz on Android, which actually checks for a properly formed http reply every 30 mins. A few weeks ago this connection was coming up occasionally, but typically remaining down. Now it just stays down. I just checked the external IP again last night when onsite.

At home it's another 1043ND with 3Mbit / 256Kbit.

[ispyisail]

Are you connected througth the WAN port or are you using some kind of VPN?

[bawjkt]

WAN port, no VPN.

Access to the UniFi controller through a port forward works even as we speak so surprised HTTPS and HTTP are not allowing access to GUI.

This is also a good reality check on the IP address.

This service is cable modem service with DHCP from provider. In practice though, with enterprise gear, only one address in 3 has changed in the past year.

Not so Dynamic after all. With consumer-grade routers however, more frequent address reassignments.

[ispyisail]

I would suggest that you really should be using OpenVPN

if you check your gargoyle router log I suspect that there is a 50% chance that somebody is trying to hack your password.

I don't open my WAN ports any more

[bawjkt]

Good advice I'm sure about the dangers of keeping WAN ports open.
I've been hacked before on a VLC WAN port with a strong password.

At some point I will move to an OpenVPN strategy.

But for now it seems too early for production equipment; I'll wait for another release or two. I have enough moles to whack right now and posts like these don't whet the appetite:

Check this: http://www.gargoyle-router.com/phpbb/vi ... 805#p13820 OpenVPN Problems are not fixed. I have an 1043ND and prolbems after first reboot after OpenVPN Configuration. The configuration is without problems but after reboot of the router its completly unresponsive ...

So I'm stuck with WAN access and a strong password for now.
Any ideas why the WAN access would be so difficult to get?

Also I'd need to ssh in to get the log? I don't see a link to it in the GUI.

[ispyisail]

I'm using Gargoyle OpenVPN and its rock solid so far.

[bawjkt]

This is fixed.

There was nothing wrong with Gargoyle, it was port blocking by the ISP.

What made it confusing is that HTTP 80 inbound access is allowed on the SOHO plan from this provider but not on the Residential service. I wasn't differentiating the two. Also, the ports were only blocked if accessing from other ISPs, not if I was accessing the router from the same ISP and plan. So with those two overlays the results took some time to nail down.

So I set HTTP and HTTPS access on ports 3001 and 3002 and everything works reliably.

I encountered this thread and some pbix wisdom on such port blocking here: http://www.gargoyle-router.com/phpbb/vi ... 8bf#p12131

[ispyisail]

Thanks for the report