SSDR 2.0 WAN Connectivity - Home Network Prep and Considerations

Bill -VA3WTB

Guys, Flex has made some wonderful radios and well thought out, either way I think they will have the same level of standards with this. And remember they need to make this so anyone can get this working. Most of the users would not be experts in any of this, so plug and play.

Jay -- N0FB

I'm with you Bill, they haven't disappointed so far.  You are also spot on about needing to build it not only for the technically advanced but also for the "casual operator". 

SteveM

"Steve, look up "dynamic port forwarding" which is supported by most modern routers."

Most of the auto-forwarding firewall protocols (DPF, UpnP, etc.) are turned off by default or non-existent on older routers. They too seem to fall outside Tim's comment.

Jay -- N0FB

Well Steve, we're just going to have to wait and see how it plays out.  From where I sit, nothing concerned me in Tim's response.  As a matter of fact, I was highly encouraged.

SteveM

Jay,

I'm not really "concerned" myself. I just made the comment that it seems the port-forwarding option is not the solution. The only problem I have with a man-in-the-middle solution is that when the middle-man is gone (and this will certainly happen), the feature is gone.

Jay -- N0FB

11 months ago, I made a suggestion to FRS and the community about group and/or personal permissions/restrictions which could be set by the radio's administrator.   The suggestion to the group can be found here:

https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/user_privileges_log_on

This coincides with what Jim Gilliam posted above:  "Maybe multiple passwords with degrees of usage. Like listen only, transmit and receive, admin."

Jay -- N0FB

Hi Steve.  This is why if FRS goes down the route of a Brokered connection that I would assume (as stated above) they would have a secondary non-brokered connection ability as well. In this case, I don't care if there is a "Man in the Middle".

If the radio becomes obsolete in 15 years, that once in a while a routing path on the internet gets **** up, or (God forbid) Flex Radio goes out of business, the secondary means of accessing the radio via specific IP gives you the redundancy necessary to continue on.   FRS, as they always have, should continue to make their radio easy to access and highly usable, even by the casual, technically unsophisticated radio operator.  To not do so would limit the radio's marketability....and that's bad for all of us.

SteveM

I agree with everything you said, Jay.

Dan -- KC4GO

My first post, New 6500 owner --- came today --- still in the box Will be busy in the morning.

I use port forwarding from No-IP have been for several years.
Small cost but has not let me down. Have several services through it and as long as the port numbers are unique I can direct the traffic to the local system where it's used.
If No-IP goes away there are several others that I can go to. I don't think FRS should get
in the port forwarding business. As a different solution most internet service provider offer a fixed IP for a small fee.

DrTeeth

Hi Dan and welcome.

What you are talking about is not port forwarding but a dynamic DNS service. Port forwarding allows remote computers to connect to a particular computer/service within a private network. No-IP just lets you connect to your network (not a particular PC) remotely if the IP changes.

Merry Christmas and enjoy your new toy, hi hi.

Steve Walker

A couple of comments from a net-worker.

I see some people looking at "dynamic port forwarding" which sounds great in principle but is not something the average user would be looking to set up to remote access a device internal to a network. To older people they'll remember using SOCKS or SSH to get around restrictive firewall policies - not something for the faint-hearted to begin to debug...

However UPnP support should be the the way forward it has been around a while and has been proven to be stable and of course seamless for most people to use - the FLEX announces its presence on the network and broadcasts to a UPnP aware router its requirements and capabilities - no difference to an XBOX or PS4 or even a FLEX.

One of the advantages of v2 on UPnP is that "MediaServer" is a standard support for a remote controlled network media device ... now what could that sound like? Hmmm!

One small downside is that not many if any UPnP devices have authentication - however from what FRS have said they handle authentication in SSDR. Which of course gets around the lack of "user authentication" that UPnP has.

You'd want the router to act as a true IGD that allows the FLEX to advertise to the IGD that would allow remote connections inbound, you'd only need to know your IP or (DDNS) and you'd be able to point the local SSDR to the remote FLEX.

As a bonus once the FLEX was switched off the UPnP port would be closed off and no longer a "risk" to remote access probing unlike DPF or a manual static rule which would always be present and as risk to exploitation.

Of course there are many emerging technologies like NAT-PMP and the such, and come v2.0 there might be even more options for FRS to explore..

Just my 2p.

Steve

Jay -- N0FB

Excellent post Steve.

AA0KM

Jay N0FB you have a great idea and others as well. FRS man in the middle and also a way of choice using DNS/IP locating direct. But in thinking the cost of the man in the middle/Servers around the world? Who pay's for those servers? Also could the Flex radio have built in communications firmware to auto make/send to DNS's payed by the user or not to tell what dns/ip the connected Radio/ Router is needing for remote connection?

Maybe Flex could negotiate cheap DNS for us? Built into the firmware of the radio?

In my earlier days i had a piece of software running in the background on my running PC for server before routers had this capability. But still had to do port forwarding and such so not sure how there going to get around that and be secure. But what do I know. Not a lot. Streaming can be secure. So anyways to make it simple for us it is going to be interesting so see the outcome. He said talk amongst ourselves there is my nickels worth. Inflation its not 2cents anymore.

73 jeff

W4YXU

I wish!  Here in my USA/Alabama location I find that ATT seems to change my IP address about once a day but always when I do a reset on the router.  It really doesn't cause me any problem but if I give them $20/month (Last time I noticed it!) I can have a static IP.

Jim
W4YXU

Jim Gilliam

Look into DDNS service that monitors your I/P provider and continually updates your I/P address. Using a DDNS service you use a name instead of a actual I/P address. Anytime you want to "talk" to your radio, the name goes to the DNS server and reconciles it to an actual I/P address. You can find free DNS services or one much cheaper than paying for a static I/P address.

Jim, K6QE

KY6LA_Howard

I suggest you read Tim's Official Response before you go and invest in fixed IP or Dynamic DNS

Jim Gilliam

Good point! However, I live in skepticism until I "have it in my hand."

DrTeeth

Many ISPs in the UK offer static ISPs for free.