VDV21-VD Firmware Question

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 20, 2005 Posts: 9

Been using a VDV21-VD for about 1 1/2 years or so. I have it setup behind a WRT54GL router running DD-WRT VoIP. Call quality seems "choppy" at times, but I think I have that ironed out from the DD-WRT QoS settings.

My question, way back in the day I remember needed to forward a TFTP port the the Vonage appliance when behind a router so it gets firmware updates. Do I still need to do this?

And are there any other ports I should forward to it while I am at it?

My firmware on the VDV21-VD is:
Device Description:
1 port residential gateway
Hardware Version:
135
Software Version:
3.1.2-0.3.5

Is that the latest?

Thanks in advance!

Posts: 879 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Nov 05, 2005 Posts: 879

My setup is like yours with the only difference being that I'm running Tomato firmware on the WRT54GL. Firmware version 3.1.2_0.3.5 is what I'm currently showing on my V-Portal. I would also mention that no ports are forwarded on the GL for the V-Portal to receive firmware updates.

Posts: 655 · Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 5:32 pm Post subject:

You have the latest firmware. Ask yourself this. Do you need to port forward port 80 http for a computer on your LAN to get to the web server? The answer is no. If you know about port forwarding, you will understand that it is only used when you host a service that is listening for a connection to initiate from the Internet outside of your NAT.

There is really no reason to ever have to port forward any ports with Vonage nor has there ever. The Vonage telephone adapter initiates all requests to the Vonage servers. This is for SIP registrations, Invites on outbound phone calls, and tftp profile and firmware updates. This is no different the you opening up your web browser and going to google.com

The only time a request is initiated from the outside is when you get an Inbound calls which comes from Vonage. However, since your adapter will Register with the Proxy server ever 20 seconds, it keeps the NAT pinhole open and because of this, the Invite from the proxy will be allowed through the NAT to your adapter. Only if your router is not adhering to standard NAT conventions where pinhole collapses almost instantly, would you have to port forward.

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 20, 2005 Posts: 9

VonTechMgr wrote:

You have the latest firmware. Ask yourself this. Do you need to port forward port 80 http for a computer on your LAN to get to the web server? The answer is no. If you know about port forwarding, you will understand that it is only used when you host a service that is listening for a connection to initiate from the Internet outside of your NAT.

There is really no reason to ever have to port forward any ports with Vonage nor has there ever. The Vonage telephone adapter initiates all requests to the Vonage servers. This is for SIP registrations, Invites on outbound phone calls, and tftp profile and firmware updates. This is no different the you opening up your web browser and going to google.com

The only time a request is initiated from the outside is when you get an Inbound calls which comes from Vonage. However, since your adapter will Register with the Proxy server ever 20 seconds, it keeps the NAT pinhole open and because of this, the Invite from the proxy will be allowed through the NAT to your adapter. Only if your router is not adhering to standard NAT conventions where pinhole collapses almost instantly, would you have to port forward.

Yes, it seems that is the way it is working since I have the latest firmware. In the Cisco world and such TFTP has a lot of trouble with NAT. I got vonage when it first started (hence the join date here in 2005), and those old motorola adapters HAD to have a port forwarded for TFTP to get updates. I see things have changed, thanks for the explaination.
-JS

Posts: 655 · Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 6:34 pm Post subject:

In the Cisco world only port 69 is used and if it is blocked in anyway, yes there could be issues. Vonage has 2 secondary service ports for TFTP that are tried if port 69 cannot communicate and they are 21 and 2400. In addition, newer Vonage devices can also request profiles and firmware via HTTP when TFTP is not available. This has been like this for a few years.