Ability to disable NAT on PepWave MAX BR1 (LTE) Cellular Connection

Product Discussion Feature Requests
1

Hi

We have recently purchased a PepWave MAX BR1 (LTE) router, and everything seems great on it.

We have 2 specific requirements that the device doesn’t seem to support, and wanted to request if they could be considered.

DHCP Relay

We need to be able to disable the onboard DHCP server, and instead configure the device to act as a DHCP relay, and configure a DHCP server address for it to relay too.

I understand others have requested this too, so i’d like to put my vote behind it :slight_smile:

Disabl****e NAT on Cellular Connection

We current have remote site offices that have a number of computers. They use a 3G router which connects them into a private IP VPN by Telstra, which allows all of our sites to talk back to our datacentre, as well as each other. They do not access the internet via the 3G connection, so we need to be able to disable NAT on the cellular interface.

We want to use the PepWave MAX BR1 (LTE) router as a replacement for our 3G devices where a 4G service is available. I understand we are able todo this on the WAN port, by changing the “Routing Mode” to “IP Forwarding” from “NAT”.

Currently we are using a Billion router, which allows to plug in an external USB 4G dongle. But this still has the ability to disable NAT on the USB/4G interface.

Here is a screenshot of the option to disable it on the Billion router

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There is also the option on a NetGear 4G device. (http://media.netcomm.com.au/public/assets/pdf_file/0009/96084/3G41WT-User-Guide.pdf) See page 19/45. With the “NAT Masquerading” option.

Are we able to get this option too? As we REALLY would prefer to use the PepWave device, as it’s a much sturdier device, but this specific option is stopping us.

Thanks

2

You can enable the “IP Passthrough” option in the cellular settings of the BR1 to disable NAT.

3

I understand you are asking for the IP Forwarding feature, and not IP Passthrough. Could you please confirm that IP Forwarding will work with your carrier Telstra by simply forwarding the LAN IP addresses to the mobile network?

4

Hi Ron

I “THINK” your right. That i need to allow the IP Forwarding feature thats available on the WAN port, on the cellular connection.

Not sure what the proper term is (usually we just “DISABLE NAT”) but it could be IP Forwarding that we need.

Here’s an example.

Server on another site = 10.100.14.60
PepWave Router LAN IP = 10.100.12.254
PepWave Router 3G IP = 10.100.202.70
Computer behind router = 10.100.12.100

In the current setup, if i RDP to the server on another site, and then do a netstat on the server it shows i’m connected on the IP of the 3G connection (10.100.202.70). What we need is for the IP connect to be the computer behind the router (10.100.12.100)

Make sense?

5

Yes – this makes sense. The IP passthrough option will allow the 3G IP address to be passed to a single computer behind the router (bridge mode). If there are multiple computers on the LAN you would need IP forwarding (router mode without NAT).

6

Hi Ron

Yeah, that sounds exactly what we need. Any chance of it making it into a firmware update? Also what kind of timeframe would that take if it was approved?

We’d love to use these devices, but NEED this feature before it will work in our environment.

Cheers

7

IP pass-through is already supported on the newest firmware, please create a ticket here and we will send it to you:
http://www.peplink.com/contact/support/

8

Ah fantastic, logging a request now :slight_smile:

9

Hi again

Sorry Tim, i require IP Forwarding, not passthrough. As mentioned my Ron. Is this in the latest firmware, or only passthrough. As i have that in firmware 6.0.0 build 1197.

10

Hi Richard,

IP Forwarding is not available yet for the current firmware. Engineering is looking into this feature request and wanted to confirm that it is OK to forward LAN IP addresses to your mobile network. Stay tuned for updates…

11

Thanks Ron

There shouldn’t be an issue with forwarding LAN IP’s onto the mobile network, as detailed above, other manufacturers do it, and we also do the same with some 3G routers. But totally understand the need to confirm.

Will look forward for an update :slight_smile:

12

IP forwarding on a cellular connection??? Are the IP’s assigned to these SIM cards static? Is this a custom APN?

13

Hi Tim

We use a Telstra (Australian mobile/ISP) Private IP VPN. This allows various thing,. including creating radius accounts (on their servers) which are mapped to private IP addresses. (e.g 10.100.203.10)

Then on a 3G/4G device, we specify telstra.corp (corporate) as the APN, which isn’t custom to us, many companies in Australia probably use the same, then we enter the radius account username/password (e.g [email protected]) which then registers on the Telstra network and gives us that private IP we assigned earlier.

We can also specify framed routes on radius accounts, so for example 10.100.222.0/24 is assigned to the radius account too, so i can configure the LAN IP of our router as 10.100.222.254, and clients 10.100.222.x. The router would also have the WWAN(cellular) IP of 10.100.203.10.

Sorry for the random explanation, not sure the best way to describe it :slight_smile:

So NOT a custom APN, but one provided by our provider.
And the IP’s are assigned to radius accounts, which are used on the router to give us that IP.

14

Ah, makes sense now :slight_smile: Thanks for the explanation…

You would definitely need IP forwarding mode then.

15

Phew! :slight_smile:

Look forward to some possible firmware news then. OH, and if you need a beta tester for it. Let me know. :slight_smile:

16

Tim/Kurt.

Any update on this?

17

No update yet Richard…

18

Hi,
We also need disable NAT on max-br1 ASAP ,
We have a plan to deploy max-br1 on private APN…
Thanks

19

Any update on this request? It’s been at least 6 months now.

20

Yes there is! This feature is available in our latest beta firmware.

To join our beta program, and gain access to the latest beta firmware please signup at http://www.peplink.com/beta/