Linksys BEFSR41 Router questions

[pm]

I've had this router for 6 months and a couple of questions have always bothered me (particularly #2). If anyone knows:

1. Can you log onto the router from the WAN side of the world?

2. Is there a way to set up a user name on the router? When I log in, I have the ability to change the password, but the user name is always blank. Can I change the user name?

3. How exactly does the "log" function work? I specify a place to keep the log - is it writing to a file on that machine? Can I view the file without bringing up the config screen of the router?

Thanks for any insights.

 

[Russ]

1. Yes, if you have a static WAN (not DHCP) address assigned, and you are NOT using port-forwarding. I can log in to mine using either my WAN or my LAN address.

2. There is no user name as far as I know. This is one of the things I wondered about, and I've never been able to find any info that indicates the router even uses a user name.

3. Don't know, I've never used it.

Russ, NCNE

 

[Mattster]

If you want to use the logging feature of the router, without having to go into the Config pages for the router, there is a logviewer program at the Linksys FTP site. It's in the same directory as the firmware upgrades.

Currently, I have v1.37 running, along with the logviewer program that I downloaded from the FTP site. It works as designed, showing all incoming and outgoing requests.

Seems this router gets better and better with each release of the firmware!

Matt

 

[pm]

Thanks Russ and Mattster. I still don't understand why there isn't a user name, though.

Mattster: I agree. It is getting better with time.

My big concern - and the one that underlies these three questions - is that a hacker-type could access the router from the WAN side, set up "password pounder" and break in eventually without me realizing it. By moving any one of my computers to the DMZ, you could have complete access my filesystems (since I have file and printer sharing enabled behind the NAT firewall).

I wasn't sure if you could log in from the WAN side. I have a couple of ports forwarded but they are wierd ones - like 6699 for Napster, etc. Are you just referring to port 80, Russ, or does forwarding any port stop anyone from logging in on the WAN side?

I figured that adding a username would make this scenario very unlikely (since you'd now need to guess twice as many characters).

I also figured that if there's a way to watch the log, then it would be hard to sneak the effort past me.

 

[ozds]

You mean specifically you can't be forwarding port80 when coming in over the WAN right?

 

[Russ]

PM,

I would assume that only port-forwarding 80 would stop the login screen for the router from popping up. It's the only port I have forwarded on mine right now; I haven't tried any others.

Russ, NCNE