CGNAT and SmartLink

Mike-VA3MW

SmartLink is not designed to work with an ISP that is using CGNAT.

There are VPN solutions to work around it, but they are not so simple.

How do I know if my ISP, like StartLink is CGNAT?

https://www.cgnatcheck.com/

If you get this, then SmartLink may not work

This is what you want to see for SmartLink to work:

If you are using an ISP that is CGNAT and need it to not be for SmartLink, you will likely need to talk to their sales team and see what they charge for a non-CGNAT address (IPv4).

For SmartLink, it does NOT have to be a fixed IPv4, just a non-CGNAT IPv4 address.

Mike

rodgowdy

Thanks Mike. Since I use Starlink, I have a ZeroTier VPN and use Windows Remote Desktop Connection. There may be an easier way, but this is pretty straightforward. -Rod KU0W

Russ Ravella

So if you're posting this now we can assume that IPv6 compatibility is STILL not coming in v4.3 ?

Why ?

Mike-VA3MW

No, there will be no IPv6 in 4.3.

Interestingly, IPv6 is not a simple solution to the problem. I'm not educated enough to try to explain why.

Russ Ravella

It is clear that making SSDR IPv6 compliant is long, long overdue and essential. Hayley herself as much as said so in her first SSDR+ video chat when it was brought up.

Flex is now charging for feature updates. It will be nearly six months since the last dot release, significantly longer than the "about every three months" that was promised when the new pay-for-software paradigm was announced. And that pay-for-software policy has been in place for a year. If those things aren't enough, what needs to happen for Flex to finally do this ?

Trucker

Russ, if you are talking about 4.1.x to 4.2.x it has been 9 months. But, 4.2.20 came out three months ago in June. So, maybe it won't be long before 4.3.x finally appears. So far though,new, features haven't been that impressive or exciting. It's unfortunate that IPv6 won't be in the next release. I too heard Haley's comments during the Zoom meeting. I had hoped that paying extra for Early Access would make things like the Zoom meeting become a regular part of having Early Access. Unfortunately, it appears to have been a one time thing.

James

WD5GWY

W4AFK Bruno

Note that like many others, I have adopted AetherSDR for two 6400 radios and quite honestly, it has WAY more features and capabilities than SmartSDR. However, it still uses SmartLink to connect, which means that the CGNAT issue is not resolved. There are "simpler" VPNs or you can use paid services like "RemotePC" to connect to a NUC (small PC) next to a remote radio. That's what I use to update my remote 6400 radio and if that computer is powerful enough (mine is), you can run SmartSDR on it . Just avoid super low cost "Atom" based computers LOL.

Because of AetherSDR, the only reason I can see for many new features in SmartSDR is if you are using an "M" model radio or a "Maestro" control panel, and like to use it without any computer. That's when you would benefit from embedded features. AetherSDR has so many new capabilities that it can be overwhjelmiong at times … but features that you need to pay for with Flex are implemented in AetherSDR as those functions are run in your computer and not in the radio.

As for IPv6, it's not that easy to implement and quite honestly, is it needed for the Flex radios?

Ha Gei

Unfortunately some ISP´s seem to go for IPV6 only .

Remote Desktop or RemotePC etc. are not the brilliant solution.

The best is AetherSDR due to it´s far better networking and possibilties over a real layer2 VPN . I think Zerotier and, what we use here SoftEtherNet. Still both have their issues with CGNAT , when the Server is behind the NAT as one needs a "broker" so both sides may start the connection from the inside , but all traffic goes over that hop with added latency and dropout possibilties

Same as Bruno, i would say Flex should concentrate on hardware and firmware and better support the AetherSDR guys who added so much value to the radios and especially opened the Flex world for Linux

Doug - W3UB

You don't need a layer 2 VPN when using AetherSDR. Just use the connect to IP option and use a L3 VPN such as Tailscale with subnet routing. It can run on an old Apple TV. Nothing wrong with a L2 VPN, but my experience is they are fragile, whereas the L3 option is very robust and simple.

As far as IPv6, it should have been implemented years ago by Flex. And it should be able to solve some of our problems, where we have CGNAT over IPv4 but not over IPv6. And has been mentioned, ISPs are moving toward IPv6 only in many areas … there are simply not enough IPv4 addresses and IPv6 is the future.

Russ Ravella

Hi Trucker,

Thanks for the input on timing. That's another longer-than-promised wait. I was thinking by the time v4.3 comes out it will have been about six months since v4.2.

And I agree, according to Flex the whole idea behind early access was to provide (a paid) early feedback path for customers which certainly hasn't happed as promised. And as far as the feedback Flex did receive, I'd say the biggest, most common initial complaint was the removal of the noise mitigation sliders in v4 and Flex didn't bother to respond to that at all in any of the post v4 updates. It's been promised for v4.3, finally, we'll see.

Point being, Flex doesn't seem to be taking the "Early Access" paid feedback path option seriously. Personally, I've been trying hard to be optimistic but hearing now that even the clearly very important, very long standing and fundamental IPv6 modernization is still not going to happen is extremely disappointing.

As for the third party clients like Aether and RimuSDR, I agree they're great. But they can't address server side functionality. Only Flex can do that. Things like FINALLY producing a properly functioning, releasable version of APD, now coming up on two and a half years since announced (as a major reason to buy the then new 8600 radios no less), and two years since initial release. Fixing ESC which simply doesn't work - coming up on a year since release. And of course, the IPv6 we're talking about here and everything else that must be done on the server side (the promised continuing improvements to the v4 noise mitigation algorithms themselves, …). We need Flex to take their promise, for which they are taking our money, seriously. And I must admit, despite trying hard to be optimistic it seems they aren't. Again. Just like the really bad old days.

73 Russ KR6W