Port Forwarding

I've been trying to port forward a device on my network and open port 44158.

Logging into the Virgin Hub 4 was pretty straightforward:

1. Located the device on my network that I want to open ports for
2. Created a Reserved address for that address (static IP)
3. Created a port forwarding rule for 44158 (TCP/UDP)
4. Restarted router and all works fine.

EXCEPT: the port appears to be opening and closing randomly. When I use any port checker tool (like portchecker.io), the status of that port for my IP address will show open for several refreshes and then closed for several and so on.

Things I've tried:
-I've tried this setup with uPNP enabled and disabled - no luck.
-I've tried putting the Hub 4 into modem mode and using my Netgear Nighthawk R7000 as the router, opening ports etc - no luck (this rules out a problem with the Hub 4)
-I've pinged the device and now and again I see some packet loss, but only about 2 lost for every 100 pings
-I've tries to create port triggers for that port - no luck.
-I've created DMZ entry for that device IP - no luck.

This is a bit higher grade for me, so any ideas what could be happening here?

This may be illusory. Rather than using a port scanning tool, check by using the port forward in actual real mode of operation.

Thanks
At the moment, its saying port is Open which is the same result as the portchecker tool.
I will have to check again when I get the port closed message later on...timing is super random

It's back to being 'Closed'

Any ideas?

@bickers76,

What are you trying to forward? Is it a CCTV system? The system itself might be doing this itself....Just an idea....I think we need more info...

HTH,

Its a Helium hotspot (essentially a rasberry pi) used for LoraWan applications (https://www.sensecapmx.com/)

I have several of these setup at different locations, and don't have any issue with any of the others.

It's powered using PoE *(injector and splitter) - wired directly to the Hub 4 router using Cat 6 cable (25m).
The splitter then plugs into the power socket and ethernet port on the device.

There are no other moving pieces/variables than I can think of which might be causing the issue.

In reply to a post by bickers76:

Its a Helium hotspot (essentially a rasberry pi) used for LoraWan applications (https://www.sensecapmx.com/)

I have several of these setup at different locations, and don't have any issue with any of the others.

It's powered using PoE *(injector and splitter) - wired directly to the Hub 4 router using Cat 6 cable (25m).
The splitter then plugs into the power socket and ethernet port on the device.

There are no other moving pieces/variables than I can think of which might be causing the issue.

Are the other locations also using a VM cable connection or another form of connection? Presumably the hardware and setup on each Pi is exactly identical?

The others are not on Virgin Media, different ISPs, and different countries. But yes, exactly same setup, equipment (hotspot, PoE, cable etc)

Do you need both TCP and UDP forwarded? Could you check with one or the other only enabled.

Also have you tried a different port number, possibly lower in the range ?

I only need TCP, but chose both TCP and UDP.
That port is specific to Helium gateways, so its the only port it needs open for comms.

Its driving me nuts, can't understand how it can fluctuate between open and closed all the time, I've never seen that happen before.

As the hotspot is mounted on my roof, I am going to take it down, swap out the cable for a brand new Cat6A cable and see if I can rule that out. I am also going to replace the PoE splitter in case that is the break point. If none of those are successful then I'm at a loss....

If you suspect it’s a physical layer issue (cable or port flap) try putting a managed switch in between so that you can see if the port is flapping or there is any sort of physical drop, reset or flap in the connection.

Wouldn’t be the first time a new but dodge cable from China has foiled an otherwise perfect setup.

Yeah good idea.

I'll give that a go and see how I get on.

Hi bickers76,

Did you ever get to the bottom of this? Have exactly the same problem !

Tried with a complete replacement solution even the ISP is different and again the port - which is successfully open simply at a random point in time just Closes.

Driving me nuts too !!!

I have the same issue also, so annoying. Because the Virgin Hub 3 Firmware is probably the worst Router Firmware ever made, it makes it impossible to know what the hell is going on in the network.

I have a Bobcat 300 Miner just installed, I am trying to make sure port 44158 is open. But even after doing Port Forwarding its not open. I've never seen this in all the years I've worked on network switches & routers.

There is no diagnostics so we can see that traffic is being forwarded.