Wake on LAN... not WAN

This is a bit of a hybrid laptop/router/desktop question. It involves Wake-On-LAN (WOL)

So my network setup is like this:
-The RT-N56U router
-Several wireless devices
-Two wired machines. One is a low power, 24/7 on server kind of deal, the other is a higher powered, higher wattage encoding/number-cruncher box that I'd rather not leave on all the time. (The CPU in the encoding box at idle consumes more energy than my server CPU at load, heh).

So, I've configured things like this:
-Router has a DDNS URL (which is determined to work through LAN and WAN).
-Both wired machines are assigned static IPs, based on their MACs.
-The machine I want to WOL has a mobo and NIC that support WOL (and are enabled to do so)
-Ports 7-9 are opened and pointing towards the machine I want to WOL.

Code:

WOL - Encoder Box 7:9 192.168.1.3   BOTH 

-Using several programs/services to test: Wakeonlan.me, WOL Magic Packet Sender, and WakeOnLanGUI.

What happens:
Using the WakeonLan internet service does nothing. Using either of the programs using 255.255.255.255 or 255.255.255.0 for the subnet mask (internet) does nothing. I had a friend (outside of my network) use WOL Magic Packet from her home computer on mine; no go either.

However, switching both the GUIs to subnet 0.0.0.0 (local broadcast), DOES turn on the desktop. So, in short, I can WOL my desktop from inside my own network, but not outside.

So far, I can work around by VNCing into my server and sending the wakeup command that way, but I'd much prefer a direct route in, you know? Any ideas as to why it's epik-phailing me?

 

I'm not familiar with the 56u but I assume first and foremost, the static IP's are setup through the router, correct? Next thing I would like to know is, does the 56u support the sending of the magic packet from its interface? Last, but not least, are you using a GUI to send the magic packet on a different port number than 7 or 9? I recommend installing wireshark on the destination IP and check if the magic packet is reaching its destination through the Internet, while the PC is already powered on obviously.

Good Luck.

 

Yep, static IPs are assigned as mentioned in original post. From what I can see, I don't see any specific magic packet utility, or similar, in the RT-N56U Interface.

I've tried several different ports, and same story: I can reach it from local network, but not from internet. I'll install a packet sniffer and see if they even get there.


EDIT: Hmm, Wireshark detects that the packets coming in. They're labeled as originating from my network IP though, not the expected 255.255.255.255. I'm of course sending while I'm in my own network, but I'm directing to my DDNS URL, so I would assume they would be directed around.

I'll hit up an out-of-state friend tomorrow and see if she can send me a packet to analyze.

EDIT2: Well duh. I tried the Wakeonlan.me website I have on the first post, and this time I noticed that there were no detected WOL packets. I don't know how to interpret Wireshark raw data, but I know for sure there's no magic packet coming in.

 

So we know that over the internet the destination PC is not receiving the magic packet. Does the 56u support logging of traffic by chance, just so you can confirm the magic packet is reaching your public IP properly? Also, does the 56u support port forwarding to MAC Address instead of IP's? Its been a long time since I've used any other interface on a wireless router than DD-WRT or OpenWRT.

I would also like to point out that I am not familiar with the rule you have posted in the original post. It looks vaguely like a IPTable rule without the proper IPTable syntax. Something like this "iptables -A PREROUTING -t nat -p udp --dport 7 -d <original destination> -j DNAT --to-destination 192.168.1.255"

Have you tried sending the magic packet to 192.168.1.255 so it will be sent to your entire subnet, just to see if that works? Not exactly the best option but an option none the less.

There is also the very slight possibility your ISP is blocking port 7 and 9 and that would explain the inability to use Wake on WAN.

 

Now that I mentioned it, I think I had already changed ports and blocked off 7:9 when I did the WakeonLAN.me test. Lemme check.

...

Hmm. Well, duh, stupid me. I re-opened 7:9 and did the WakeOnLAN.me test again, and this time Wireshark detected the packets just fine. Packets originate from an IP outside my network, so I assume they're getting there fine. I'll retest with WakeOnLAN.me after my encoding job finishes. It's been going at it for about twelve hours now and there's no way in hell I'll shut it off just to test WOL, haha.

As for the static IP rule, I'm not sure how to describe it. Basically, it's a subset of the DHCP server, allowing me to manually assign a given IP based on the networked device's MAC.

 

instead of monkey around these packet/port thing, my solution(i use to needed that but not anymore) is to just setup a simple web server(on my openwrt router) then invoke wol using cgi-bin.

in your case, just have the web-server on your low power 24/7 server.