UPNP, Enable or Disable ?

[jim769]

I have been reading about UPNP and don't really know if it's necessary or not. With the 68U does it allow requests from WAN or only from the local network ? Should I disable it all together or is it safe ? Running a UPNP test says my router was not reachable I would assume that's the way it should be. Any advise on UPNP ? Thanks Jim !

 

[AcostaJA]

UPNP is required for efficient p2p networking (skype, bittorent and most Instant Messaging rely on this).

Personally I don't buy a router which lacks this (Apple Airport Extreme), of course if you are of the few people don't use p2p networks then disable it.

 

[AcostaJA]

A good working UPNP register an TCP or UDP port and forwards incoming wan traffic on this port to the station which requested it, so allows external IP to reach internal ip on some port.

 

[AcostaJA]

A way to verify upnp is running OK is to check an bittorent client network status must indicate green and reachable

 

[RMerlin]

UPNP is only accessible over LAN. Any router that allows WAN access is seriously flawed, and this is an issue that would have to be fixed.

So if you trust your LAN, UPnP is fine. If you don't, you will have to manually forward ports used by P2P clients and game consoles.

 

[jim769]

UPNP is only accessible over LAN. Any router that allows WAN access is seriously flawed, and this is an issue that would have to be fixed.

So if you trust your LAN, UPnP is fine. If you don't, you will have to manually forward ports used by P2P clients and game consoles.

I dont have any game consoles but i have been getting a error in my log as if something is trying to open a port then later the rule expires. I dont know what device is requesting this so i figured maybe disabling it might be best for now. Any ideas why a device would request this? I have talked to my kids and they say there not doing it but is it possible there device could be with out there knowledge ?

EDIT: Here is what i see in the log about once a week. miniupnpd[722]: removed 21 unused rules

 

[Asmodian]

An amazing number of things can use UPNP. Pretty much anything on the LAN might; apps on phones, refrigerators, anything.

 

[jim769]

Thanks for the reply's I have a feeling this has something to do with my daughters iphone 5s even though she swears its not. I will have to look into this further.

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks for the reply's I have a feeling this has something to do with my daughters iphone 5s even though she swears its not. I will have to look into this further.

Check the Port Forward page under Logs. I added the chain field a few versions ago, so anything forwarded in VUPNP would be it. It will tell you the device's IP.

 

[jim769]

Check the Port Forward page under Logs. I added the chain field a few versions ago, so anything forwarded in VUPNP would be it. It will tell you the device's IP.

Thanks Merlin did not know this was available. This is what that page says and i believe it shows nothing.

Destination Proto. Port range Redirect to Local port Chain

I dont think the 21 requests went through because shortly after i saw the error it said something like request expired. But it seems something is trying anyway.

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks Merlin did not know this was available. This is what that page says and i believe it shows nothing.

Destination Proto. Port range Redirect to Local port Chain

I dont think the 21 requests went through because shortly after i saw the error it said something like request expired. But it seems something is trying anyway.

If you got a request expired message, then it means the ports were already removed due to inactivity.

 

[jim769]

If you got a request expired message, then it means the ports were already removed due to inactivity.

True but i have to find what tried to open them in the first place. Any idea why a program or app would request the ports and never use them ?

 

[RMerlin]

True but i have to find what tried to open them in the first place. Any idea why a program or app would request the ports and never use them ?

Could be a torrent client that was started, but didn't get any torrent added, for example.

 

[xavierh]

True but i have to find what tried to open them in the first place. Any idea why a program or app would request the ports and never use them ?

Hello Jim
where you able to determine the application that opened the port? i having the same issue and the router just tells me the port and the ip but no idea what application opened the port.

 

[jim769]

Hello Jim
where you able to determine the application that opened the port? i having the same issue and the router just tells me the port and the ip but no idea what application opened the port.

No i never found out what was trying to open the port. I upgraded firmware to Merlins latest 376.45 when it was released and i have not seen this in the log since then.

 

[xavierh]

No i never found out what was trying to open the port. I upgraded firmware to Merlins latest 376.45 when it was released and i have not seen this in the log since then.

weird.... i have the latest firmware from merlin (45) installe don my RT-AC66U router. i have 2 devices (one both ipads) that keep opening via upnp the following ports:

36234 TCP/UDP
24356 TCP/UDP

then after a couple of minutes they both get closed:

Sep 15 11:38:05 miniupnpd[461]: remove port mapping 36234 TCP because it has expired
Sep 15 11:38:05 miniupnpd[461]: remove port mapping 36234 UDP because it has expired
Sep 15 12:21:53 miniupnpd[461]: remove port mapping 24356 TCP because it has expired
Sep 15 12:21:53 miniupnpd[461]: remove port mapping 24356 UDP because it has expired

 

[xavierh]

Found the culprit......Skype