ZTE MF271 port forwarding

[B0bD]

I am having trouble setting up port forwarding on a ZTE MF271 Hub.

I can easily access the Hub, and can set the IP addresses and the ports I wish to forward, but without success.

I cannot establish external access, and any of the port checking online services show the ports are blocked.

I have the HUB set up for wireless, and I have a Dlink switch connected to the Hub's single ethernet port.

The ports I am trying to forward are connected to the ethernet switch.

I am trying to accomplish the following:

-connect 3 Ip cameras

-connect to a ftp server on my computer

-connect to part of my solar electric system

I have contacted Rogers tech support, who suggested this wa outside their scope and I shoudl contact ZTE.  I did, but have not had any response.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

[RogersArthur]

Hi @B0bD,

Thank you for your post and Welcome to the Community Forums!

I understand you're trying to forward ports in the Rocket hub ZTE MF271 for three IP cameras and an ftp server on your computer. Although this type of configuration is not supported, not to worry your new Community family will definitely try our best to find you some sort of a solution . Because the ZTE Rocket Hub is not designed to work as flexible as a router in regards to managing port forwarding, we may need to find you a workaround. So far I can only suggest adding an actual router into the mix. Or maybe one of our Resident Experts @Datalink, @Gdkitty or anyone in the Community who has used this feature before could help out.

Thanks,
RogersArthur

[Gdkitty]

As to HOW / WHERE you need to do it on the ZTE.. i am not sure, never used one.


But as to HOW to do it.. to be able to connect...

Assuming you have set yup your forwarding correctly..

Say for your FTP.. you set up your FTP port (say 21) and to go to 21 on your PC/Device where the ftp is..

You cant connect to it, via INSIDE Your own network, using the EXTERNAL address.  Most of the device dont support LOOPBACK, so you cant see it via the ext IP address, would have to use your local one.
You have to test from OUTSIDE.

I dont think specifically, that the ZTE is blocking it overall... i know of others on here who have done it..
Though, with the device.. your EXTERNAL IP will change CONSISTANTLY though, unless you pay for a static IP.

[B0bD]

Thanks for the info.

The where/how on the MF271 is strightforward, but the problem is that it doesn't seem to work.

All of the port forwading tests show all the ports are closed.  I have turned any firewalls off, with no change.

I thought that perhaps the problem might lie in my set up, where the devices to which I need access are connected to a switch that in turn is connected to the 271 ethernet port. 

I understand that the IP isn't static; also the MF271 doesn't support DDNS.

Before going through obtaining( or trying to obtain) a static IP, I want to make sure it si going to work, so for testing I am updating the external IP manually.

Based on info n another thread, i am going to try disabling the wifi and DHCP on the 271, and connecting a router to the ethernet port, to see if that somehow is a workaround.

[klock379]

I have the same problem as you. 271 is connected to an external router, and that router has a remote management interface turned on listening to a specific port. On the 271 I enabled port forwarding to the IP address of the external router and the port that the remote management is listening but I can't seem to be able to reach that from the Internet. The browser said the server does not respond... It is supposed to be a very straight forward operation and yet it has been bugging me for the last two days. Are there any restrictions placed on the WAN address that 271 picked up from Rogers? 

[gwmacdonald]

Google "What is my IP"    If the address returned doesn't match the address assigned to your RocketHub, then you've identified the problem.

In my experience, without a static IP, the apparently public address on your RocketHub is not externally accessible.    The so-called external address of my RocketHub is actually a half-dozen routers and 1000 km away from my location.

[klock379]

Ah, I didn't know this. I thought my "public" IP address is addressable from the Internet. Will take a look at it tonight. Thx!

[B0bD]

Could you clarify which IP addresses need to be compared?

I understand about "what is my IP" but is the address assigned to the HUB the one that shows up as the WAN IP address under the information tab?

[gwmacdonald]

My RocketHub is a different model, but yes, the address you want to compare is the WAN IP address (the wide area network).

The other address assigned to the device is its LAN IP address (the local area network) which is a private network address like 192.168.x.x.  The LAN IP address is not relevant to this discussion.   (See the Wikipedia article "Private network" for a list of all the private network addresses.)

[B0bD]

 OK thaks.

So if my Hub info page shows a WAN IO of 25.xxx.yyy.zzz,  and "what is my IP" shows 72.aaa.sss.ddd, indicating that the WAN IP is not really a public IP, then the only way I am going to be able to forward ports is a static IP?

Question may be redundant, just want to make sure I understand.

[klock379]

@B0bD, you got it.

[B0bD]

Well, I am progressing.

I had Rogers set up a public IP, so the IP on the router and the "what is my IP" match.

I set up one port forward ( to my computer) with a range of 21-45000, and I can see port 21 using a web port checker.

But I cannot see any other ports.

I set up one port associated with my solar charger, which I know is listeneing, and that port isn't seen with the port checker.

Not sure what to try next.

[gwmacdonald]

FTP is a tricky protocol for port forwarding.   See http://slacksite.com/other/ftp.html for a description of the challenges.   I suggest that you get the other devices working first before you tackle FTP.    Google "ftp port forwarding" for more information.

First, create an inventory of the devices on your internal network that you want to connect to externally including the IP addresses (preferably static) and the port that each is listening on.

Let's assume that all your devices are accessed via websites listening on port 80.   Let's use DEVICEA, DEVICEB, DEVICEC to represent their internal IP addresses and RH to represent the external IP address of the RocketHub.

Because we have three devices listening on the same port on the internal network, we'll have to use alternate ports on the RH's external address.    The port forward mapping would look like this:

    RH:80 --> DEVICEA:80

    RH:81 --> DEVICEB:80

    RH:82 --> DEVICEC:80

From an external client, you would access these three devices with the URLs:

    http://RH

    http://RH:81

    http://RH:82

respectively.

[B0bD]

Yeah, I have set aside the FTP, all I need to do is access IP cameras and one other device.

Alternatively I can set up a VPN and access things that way.

In either case I need to be able to open ports.

My configuration is a ZTE MF271 hub, with a switch pugged inot the 271's single ethernet port, with my computers and devices plugged into the switch.

I am working on a single port. to a device with a static IP

I previously forwarded this port through a Bell Turbo hub, so I know it works.

I know that the external IP will change from time to time, so before I test the port, I check that the IP registered on the 271 matches what I get from "what is my IP".

Yesterday I found that port 21 was open for a while, but nothing else was.  Later, and today, port 21 is also closed.

I can connect to the device over my lan, using its statip IP and port 502.

When I try to set up another connection using my external Ip and port 502, the device cannot be found.

I am assuming this is because the port is not being forwarded.

I can't figure out how to post a screen shot, but on the port forwarding tab there are the following:

IP address:  i use the static IP of the device, in this case 193.168.0.109

Port range: I enter 502 to 502

protocol: TCP+UDP

comment - a name

This information then appears in a summary: "Virtual Servers in System"

The above is so simple I don't think I am messing that up.

Then I go to one of the port checking web tools and find that 502 is closed.

VERY frustrating.

Any suggestions?

[Ben11]

I'm having a simular issue with the unit and have found that ZTE is useless to talk to. Everything is fine on the unit, but we are unable to get the port forwarding working. The static IP dosn't seem to help with the port forwarding either.

[B0bD]

I have given up.

Instead of what should be simple port forwarding of somew cameras, I have decided to install a small coputer at the site  wish to monitor, and thden use Teamviewer software to remotely take over control of the computer and do what I need to .

There are probably some security concerns, and I would have preferred to not have a computer runing full time at the site, but it appears to me that the MF1271 and the HUB service will not work.

Pity - I used Bell last year for the same thing without all these issues.

Thanks to all for the thoughtful suggestions

[ATITelcom]

I am trying to set up a NVR for remote access I have done the following 

1. Static IP in the NVR 192.168.0.100

2. Added port 7000 in the rocket hub and pointed it at my static TCP/UDP (192.168.0.100)

3. In NVR gateway 192.168.0.1, Static 192.168.0.100, Subnet mask 255.255.255.0, DNS 8.8.8.8

4. Turn on virtual server in rocket hub this allows port forwarding 

I check with open port pool says close, I can not see me NVR from the public

On the local LAN if it type in 192.168.0.100:7000 the NVR does show 

Any suggestions 

Can Ping the 192.168.0.100 from local LAN 

[festerles]

I have the exact same issue.
Open all ports to view dvr for cameras and not working.
Did you find a solution?

[RogersCorey]

Hi @festerles!

This is an unsupported issue from our end so hopefully one of our astute members here can help you along the way to a solution 🙂

Are there any Community members out there that can help @festerles?

Regards,

RogersCorey

[dbut6464]

I bought a ZTE due to my slow internet options at our cottage. If I connect to the DSL my ftp works. If I connect to the hub, it won't connect.

[dbut6464]

Thanks. I just was on the chat with rogers and they said it is unsupported.