Asus 68-U with Merlin port forwarding not required

[patrick sullivan]

Just curious why I do not need to open any ports for this router? My other routers/firewalls required me to open ports for many services:

xbox live
steam
minecraft
ubisoft
etc, etc

Just need to make sure I don't have something turned off that should be on. This was a brand new 68-U flashed to Merlin. Works great, but this is my only concern...

thank you

 

[ColinTaylor]

Probably because Merlin has a working UPnP implementation and the other firmwares don't.

 

[patrick sullivan]

Probably because Merlin has a working UPnP implementation and the other firmwares don't.

So, UPnP must be disabled by Merlin's default. If I turn it on, I would most likely need to open ports?

 

[ColinTaylor]

So, UPnP must be disabled by Merlin's default. If I turn it on, I would most likely need to open ports?

No you misunderstand. UPnP should be on by default. This means that you don't have to manually create any port forwarding rules.

 

[patrick sullivan]

Got it. Thanks for explaining that.....

 

[patrick sullivan]

I checked my settings and UPnP is off on my router. Not enabled. So, if I am understanding that correctly, that is a good thing that I am able to have everything working without needing UPnP enabled. Isn't having that enabled generally a security risk?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Isn't having that enabled generally a security risk?

Not particularly.

There was a problem with some routers years ago where they exposed the UPnP control interface to the internet. That isn't the case here. Another thing people sometimes worry about is one LAN device using UPnP to direct traffic to another LAN device. This is not possible if "UPNP: Enable secure mode" = yes.

So, if I am understanding that correctly, that is a good thing that I am able to have everything working without needing UPnP enabled.

Indeed. The thing that would normally require manual port forwarding or UPnP is online multiplayer chat, or hosting your own game server.

 

[patrick sullivan]

Perfect. Thanks again for the explanation....