We are starting to see an alarming number of recommendations from Roon users to use a router’s DMZ setting in order to make ARC configuration easy.
Activating the “DMZ” setting on your router/firewall has the effect of placing the target machine on the internet with absolutely zero security. Rather than open up one port for ARC you end up exposing all of the ports on that machine, which is a huge surface area for a hacker to exploit. If you activate this setting and use your Roon core as the target then your Roon core will be completely exposed.
Obviously, this makes ARC setup easier, but the security implications are massive and you risk having your entire network compromised via whatever computer you use for your Roon core.
If you are having trouble getting port forwarding to work then contact Roon support via community and please be patient while we work through a high volume of incoming requests.
Whatever you do, don’t take the “easy” way out and activate the DMZ setting on your router!!