Forgot how to connect remotely via smartphone...

[Andrew]

Hi again everyone,

 

Been a busy few weeks and I've been away from experimenting with my ISY...

 

Anyway, I had remote access working fine from my iPhone after some great help from the team in setting up port forwarding. It was very easy and he explained that the Cisco home routers are pretty straightforward. Literally took 3 minutes, if that.

 

So... nothing has changed as far as I know, except I can't get in via the IP I was using before, and though I've been reading a bit, I'm stuck!

 

Not sure what info to post here - any help appreciated.

 

thanks

Andrew

[oberkc]

Do you have a static IP address?  Is it possible your WAN IP address has changed?  Sometimes, internet service providers can assign new IP addresses to your location.

[Andrew]

Hi oberkc - 

 

thanks for the quick reply!

 

1) I don't have a static IP

 

2) Yes, it's possible my WAN IP has changed (not totally sure what that is!), but I don't think so  - I have a camera set up separately from my ISY stuff and it continues to work remotely... but if you can tell me how to check, I'll do so.

 

I don't mind setting up a static IP and I know that's been recommended, but I've never done that.

 

cheers

Andrew

[oberkc]

Well, the fact that your camera continues to be accessible from remote locations suggests something other than the IP, it is still worth checking.

 

There are several ways to check, including from your router and from a command prompt, but it is simple enough to go to:

 

https://www.whatismyip.com/

 

and select the appropriate options.  Once you have your current IP address, confirm that is still the same.  If not, I am sure there are other possibilities that can go wrong.

[Andrew]

Hi again-

 

Ok, I grabbed my IP from that site and logged into my router without any issues. 

 

When you say "confirm that it is still the same", what exactly do you mean? The IP that comes up in the ISY interface is not similar, but it's local.

 

thanks!

Andrew

[oberkc]

When you stated that you lost remote access, I assume that "remote" means when away from home network/wifi (also known as Local Area Network LAN).  When away from the LAN, you are on the wide-area-network WAN.  The IP addresses are different for the LAN and WAN.  The address you got from whatismyip is the WAN address.  It is this WAN address you should be using when accessing your ISY when you are away from the house.

 

When I suggested you "confirm it is the same", I was hoping to confirm that the IP address from whatismyip is the address you are using when trying to access your ISY when you are away from your house.  This will be different than your IP address when you ARE at your house.  This same local address should show up in the ISY admin panel under help>>>about as the URL.  The local address probably looks something like 192.168.x.xx, correct? 

 

Ports, I understand, are similar.  There are local ports and there are external ports.  Port fowarding, I understand, connects an external port to a local port.  In addition to you local IP address, there is a local port as well.  It probably shows up as a two or three numeral extension to your local IP address, after a colon.  It probably looks something like 192.168.x.xx:pp. 

 

To access remotely, one must have the external port forwarded to the local port through a port-forwarding rule.  Then, use the external (or WAN) IP address, with colon and external port number.  My external address looks something like 1xx.1xx.2xx.7x:pppp where I have a four-digit port number pppp.  My port pppp forwards the connection to the local port (mine is 33) through a port forwarding rule.

 

How are you trying to access the ISY remotely?  Through a web browser, or an app, or something else?

[Andrew]

Thanks again for all your help!

 

...The address you got from whatismyip is the WAN address.  It is this WAN address you should be using when accessing your ISY when you are away from the house..

 

How are you trying to access the ISY remotely?  Through a web browser, or an app, or something else?

 

 

Indeed - I'm trying to access with the same WAN address as what's reported; I am trying to access through Safari on an iPhone, which worked before, with the :xx appended to the IP address.

When I try to connect, it simply times out. 

 

Everything I do on the LAN works without a hitch!

 

cheers

Andrew

[stusviews]

Here's a port check tool: http://www.canyouseeme.org/

[oberkc]

If this were me, and I were confident that I have the correct IP address.  I would next start to double-check port forwarding and port addresses.  It is possible that there is a conflict within the router, either with a port or LAN address.  Sometimes, as devices come and go from the network (usually via wifi), addresses can change and it is pretty easy to have another device taking the one you originally used  for the ISY.  There are reservations, ranges of addresses reserved for UPNP purposes.  In my mind, this whole router stuff is just has too many details that can get messed up. 

 

So, I would open up the router admin page and navigate to wherever it identifies the devices currently on the network, and check to see if something else has taken your ISY address temporarily (have you done a static IP or address reservation on your router).  Also, some external and internal ports are commonly used by other devices.  What internal and external ports are you using to get to the ISY?  I recall things like port 80, 8080, 443, and several others that are good to avoid.

[stusviews]

List of Ports to avoid

[BCreekDave]

Another possibility is that IF it was working correctly and IF the WAN IP address has not changed, it is possible that your ISP is now blocking the ports used to access the ISY. This is increasingly common on residential services. The ports they usually block are the common ones used for HTTP (port 80) and HTTPS (port 443) and some others. The ISY can be configured to use other ports or you can configure the router with a rule to translate an unblocked port to the ISY standard port.

 

They do this to prevent residential customers from setting up web page servers and other things like ftp servers.

 

 

Sent from using Tapatalk

[Andrew]

Hi guys,

I was using 443; I tried changing it but the open port check tool recommended here still doesn't see anything (Error: I could not see your service on 73.xxx.xx.90 on port (xxx) ).

I can, however, get in on the 4-digit port set up for my cameras.

So the question then is how to best choose/test a different port? I checked out that list, and it seems to be the blue rows, but I'm not sure.

Also, when I choose a new port, to generally test it, do I have to set it up on both the router -and- the ISY?

cheers
Andrew

[larryllix]

Hi guys,

 

I was using 443; I tried changing it but the open port check tool recommended here still doesn't see anything (Error: I could not see your service on 73.195.58.90 on port (xxx) )

 

I can, however, get in on the 4-digit port set up for my cameras.

 

So the question then is how to best choose/test a different port? I checked out that list, and it seems to be the blue rows, but I'm not sure.

 

Also, when I choose a new port, to generally test it, do I have to set it up on both the router -and- the ISY?

 

cheers

Andrew

Don't forget the "s" for secure

 

https://73.xxx.yy.zz:443

 

My camera doesn't use a secure port like 443. There is nothing to protect against.

[Andrew]

Don't forget the "s" for secure

 

https://73.1xx.yy.zz:443

 

My camera doesn't use a secure port like 443. There is nothing to protect against.

Thanks Larry-

 

I have the "s" in there but still no dice.

 

Regarding camera - are you saying to use something other than 443 (or I assume 80 or 8080 and whatever other "not recommended" ports there are) for this stuff?

 

If so - goes back to my question about how to select the "best" ports to use.

[larryllix]

Thanks Larry-

 

I have the "s" in there but still no dice.

 

Regarding camera - are you saying to use something other than 443 (or I assume 80 or 8080 and whatever other "not recommended" ports there are) for this stuff?

 

If so - goes back to my question about how to select the "best" ports to use.

https is for secure communications and assumes port 443. Other numbers can be used. There are no "not recommended" ports in the Wikipedia article, only common and popular ones. Hackers run port scanners to see what turns up anyway.

 

Ports 80 and 8080 are associated with http protocol and there is no security.

 

I use a whole series of ports with my ISY, cam, weather station and more. My router then transforms the ports and IP address into my LAN ports and IP addresses. You may note this in your router that there is a conversion capability in the set up of the "port forwarding" table. This way multiple devices can be accessed with the same external IP address since I only have one but multiple IP address I want to access on my LAN.

[stusviews]

Yes, you need to change to port to the port you choose in both your router and the ISY. IMO, it's best to use any port not in the list so as to easily avoid a possible conflict with a commonly used port.

[Andrew]

Ok, duh... finally solved by calling in.

 

IP in port forwarding was off by 1 digit and I wasn't looking carefully.

 

(slinks away)

[Teken]

Ok, duh... finally solved by calling in.

 

IP in port forwarding was off by 1 digit and I wasn't looking carefully.

 

(slinks away)

 

Andrew,

 

This happens to people all day long all across the world so don't sweat it. When I mean it happens all the time it happens to people in the IT Industry ALL THE TIME