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Cant telnet to Netopia router

I have taken over part time IT at a business that has a network that is run by netopia routers....the former IT person was fired and will not help at all
Knowing absolutely nothing about them, I read up on them and then attempted to telnet into one at the main branch....I have the ip address and login info.
This business is moving from one ISP to another and has DSL running into the netopia and is getting a cable modem, so I need to log in and "fix" the WAN ip's gateways etc.
When I telnet it fails, every time it says "Could not open connection to the host, on port 23: Connection failed".
Have tried ssh thinking that maybe he killed telnet (alot of old school and strange things on this network). But nothing works

I need some suggestions, as they need to get the new ISP hooked up ASAP so they dont have to pay for both! And most of this work is done by me remotely and 8-4 EST as they shut down.

Thanks in advance

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Hypercat (Deb)

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Hypercat (Deb)

Of course, this can't be done remotely. If you're trying to telnet into the router remotely and that is failing, my guess is that the packet filtering on the router is set to prohibit incoming packets on port 23. If that's the case, then going onsite and trying your telnet session from there would be the answer. Or, if you can set up a remote desktop connection to a workstation at the site, you might be able to telnet from there to the router.

final4fever

ASKER

I will check this when I get back in and can get to a remote workstation in the morning and let you know!
Thank you

final4fever

ASKER

Remoted in to a PC and also their server at that site and tried to telnet from both....
Get the same response...

Is physically going there my only other option??? What do you think is the issue here???
Just asking for an educated guess
Thanks

Hypercat (Deb)

Best guess is that he completely blocked port 23 both internally and externally - probably by mistake. If he was knowledgeable about Netopia routers, he would be aware of the fact that this is the only way to configure them and he wouldn't have blocked that port internally, but it seems that he did. Unless...are you sure that this router belongs to the company and not to the ISP? That's why I asked for the model number - if it's the ISP's router, they may have blocked access to it.

final4fever

ASKER

Sorry about that it is a Netopia R910... and from what I understand they bought 12 of these.... (used 4).. but arent sure where the others are or I would have them send me one to configure and learn from.
I have never used them.... my background is mainly Cisco... so I am assuming I can just set the WAN side up with TIme Warners info and go after I reset it.
Is that model correct???

Hypercat (Deb)

Yes - that's one of Netopia's standard broadband routers used for small businesses. It's the one we use all the time. They are MUCH simpler to configure, IMO, than a Cisco router (unless you're talking about the Cisco/Netgear line of routers). The telnet interface is pretty self-explanatory if you understand routers in general, but they do have their peculiarities. They use a packet filtering setup to open/block ports. They do not use the term "port forwarding" but they have a method called "Easy Servers" that does the same thing. The best thing to do would be to download a copy of the router reference guide - it's pretty good and they do have help documents on their support site for various specific types of setups:
http://www.netopia.com/support/hardware/r_series.html
On this page, there are two different sets of support documents for R910 routers, depending on the serial number series. While you're at it, I would recommend you update the firmware version as well...

Hypercat (Deb)

Feel free to post back if you have any specific questions about the configuration. Like I said, I've worked with these routers for years, so I pretty much know them inside out.
The setup after resetting the router will depend on what is running behind the router. If it's used for basic Internet access without any email or web servers running behind it, then you're good to go after setting up the basic connection to the ISP. However, if they are running an email server, or anything that requires access into the network from outside, you'll have to do some specific setup of packet filters and forwarding ports to internal server resources.

Hypercat (Deb)

PS - in order to firewall the connection, you will have to enable the Basic Firewall setting when you create the external connection.

final4fever

ASKER

Thank you for your assistance! i am sure that you will be hearing from me again!!!