Wake On Lan over the Internet

I was forgetting the routers manual:

"Lucia" wrote in news:1140540704.285699.30430 @z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:

Does your PC have a fixed IP address or does it haved a dynamic (DHCP) address? DHCP addresses have a limited lifetime (lease time).

Generally, WOL is not considered to work on anything other than the same local subnet. That it can be done via a firewall UDP port is admirable but not expected. Not to mention a bit of a security risk.

If it's failing after some interval that might be due to the router clearing it's cache of known arp destinations. I don't know of too many routers that have the ability to retain arp mappings, let alone be programmed with them ahead of time.

There may not be a way to resolve this. But you'd have to check with the router maker to be sure.

In article , snipped-for-privacy@email.it (Lucia) writes: | I have a PC connected to the Internet via a Corega router |

| | I have been trying to wake up my PC from a remote location sending a | WOL magic packet over the Internet. | | In my router I have added the following firewall service: | | Name: WOL | Type: UDP | Start port: 5850 | Finish port: 5850 | | Then I have added the following incoming firewall rule: | | Service: I have selected the service I have previously created | Action: allow always | Comment: Wake On Lan | Send to LAN Server: I have selected my PC (it is the only one connected | to the router) | WAN users: Any | Log: Always | | When I send a Wake On Lan magic packet over the Internet with the | Depicus tool | I am able to wake up my PC :-) | | But this works only within a certain amount of time that my PC has been | switched off :-(

Probably until the router's ARP entry for the PC times out...

| After a while it does NOT work anymore. | | How is that and how can I fix it?

Add a static ARP entry to the router for the PC. You might also want to make the IP address of the PC static if it isn't already, though hopefully if the router allows the firewall entry to point to the PC it understands as much.

Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com

Or alternately till the capacitors that were providing just enough standby power for WOL to work discharge :-).

If you could connect another computer to the LAN and see if WOL always works from it, that would eliminate standby power as the culprit (I know if I actually unplug my computer then plug it back in later, WOL won't work till I have manually powered up at least once).

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email: snipped-for-privacy@worldnet.att.net icbm: Delray Beach, FL | Free Software and Politics

Thomas: following your suggestion, I have connected another computer to the LAN and waited 1 hour after switching off my computer (to discharge the capacitors), then I tried WOL (via LAN) and it worked fine, therefore capacitors shouldn't be the problem

Ian: my PC has a dynamic (DHCP) address, so this could be the problem

Dan: how can I add a static ARP entry to the router? I read the manual

I didn't find anything related to ARP, there is only one screen called "PC Database" that allows the user to add computers with Fixed IP addresses, would this help? how can I set a Fixed IP address on my PC (Windows 2000 Professional)?

thanks again for your valuable help

Lucia Italy

| Dan: how can I add a static ARP entry to the router? I read the manual |

| but I didn't find anything related to ARP, there is only one screen | called "PC Database" that allows the user to add computers with Fixed | IP addresses, would this help?

The advanced version of the database screen (where you can enter MAC addresses even of computers not currently connected) was the closest I could find. The documentation is not sufficient to tell whether it really does what you need.

If you cannot set a static ARP mapping another trick is to change the port forwarding rule to target the broadcast address (either 255.255.255.255 or a suitable directed subnet broadcast address).

If neither approach is possible you may be out of luck with your current router.

| how can I set a Fixed IP address on my | PC (Windows 2000 Professional)?

You can go to the properties of the binding/connection for the adapter and enter a static address rather than DHCP; however there is probably no real need to do this. As long as the router understands that the address is permanently assigned to the machine it will likely answer the DHCP request correctly. The IP address is not involved in the wakeup process on the PC itself; it is just a means to get the router to send the magic packet to the correct MAC address.

Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com

I'm not sure what the current practice and compatibility is with today's built in LAN cards. Perhaps someone can comment on this.

Just a few years ago, you needed a special LAN card that recognized Magic Packets for automatic wake-up of the PC. Just any old LAN card would not do this function. Also, there was a special jumper cable that needed to be installed in the PC as well, attaching the PC's power up circuitry to the LAN card.

Beachcomber

Dear Dan,

following your suggestion I setted up a fixed IP linked to the MAC address in the advanced version of the PC database screen but unfortunately, with this setting, WOL over Internet does not work at all.

It does work using DHCP and inputting 255.255.255.255 as Subnet Mask in the Depicus tool

Unfortunately it works only if magic packet is received by the router during a limited period of time after PC switch off.

Any other suggestion?

thanks again

Lucia Italy

not snipped-for-privacy@xxx.yyy (Beachcomber) wrote in news:43fd86b0.31001781 @newsgroups.comcast.net:

The original poster already wrote that the wake-up works. It fails if he waits some unspecified amount of time.

I don't think that the LAN card or the jumper cable are a problem if the wake-up works sometimes.

In article , snipped-for-privacy@email.it (Lucia) writes: | Dear Dan, | | following your suggestion I setted up a fixed IP linked to the MAC | address in the advanced version of the PC database screen but | unfortunately, with this setting, WOL over Internet does not work at | all.

You probably want to figure out why this happens. Unfortunately, with the limited documentation you may need a sniffer to see what's going on.

| It does work using DHCP and inputting 255.255.255.255 as Subnet Mask in | the Depicus tool |

I'm not sure what this is supposed to accomplish.

| Unfortunately it works only if magic packet is received by the router | during a limited period of time after PC switch off.

I would not expect a change in the subnet mask to affect WOL (unless it broke connectivity completely).

You could still try setting the target of the port forwarding rule to the broadcast address (either 255.255.255.255 or a suitable directed subnet broadcast address).

Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com