ISY Notifications

[jgcharlotte]

I'm using default settings, so I presume that is the UDI server.  I can't change the timeout unless I uncheck default and enter the correct UDI server into and then increase the timeout?  I don't know what those settings should be.

[KSchex]

1 hour ago, jgcharlotte said:

I'm using default settings, so I presume that is the UDI server.  I can't change the timeout unless I uncheck default and enter the correct UDI server into and then increase the timeout?  I don't know what those settings should be.

Hi jgcharlotte….I have been round and round using both gmail and bellsouth.  Bottom line, I found that from time to time I too get random errors as you do, more so for text messages.  So I use emails with Gmail.  Unfortunately Gmail it is not 100% and sometimes it takes as much as an hour to receive the email.  I have never been able to put a finger why.  Best of luck.

[jgcharlotte]

15 minutes ago, KSchex said:

Hi jgcharlotte….I have been round and round using both gmail and bellsouth.  Bottom line, I found that from time to time I too get random errors as you do, more so for text messages.  So I use emails with Gmail.  Unfortunately Gmail it is not 100% and sometimes it takes as much as an hour to receive the email.  I have never been able to put a finger why.  Best of luck.

I agree, Gmail can be delayed at times.  This test was Gmail.  For each email I did not receive, except for one, there was a timeout error.

[Geddy]

If you're using Gmail make sure you've set up and using an app specific password if you're using two-factor authentication. 

Also, check that your from actually includes an email. It might fail some server relay functions.   First-Name Last-Name:Email-address (don't forget the colon between last-name and email!!!) I actually added " - ISY" following my last name so I can create filters on the send and receive side.

I've always used Gmail with my ISY to send my notifications and get every single one I test within seconds of the trigger. I send from Gmail and receive at Outlook. 

Of course sending from free email services can always change, but I've found it to be reliable and easy once setup. I used to try to send notifications from another system from a hosted personal domain I managed. However, the host (i.e. godaddy or bluehost) was always changing something in the server filters to block automated and timed messages. It never failed if they found a pattern they would seem to block them from going out. That was a lot more frustrating then the ease of using Google's SMTP setup.

 

[jgcharlotte]

15 hours ago, Geddy said:

If you're using Gmail make sure you've set up and using an app specific password if you're using two-factor authentication. 

Also, check that your from actually includes an email. It might fail some server relay functions.   First-Name Last-Name:Email-address (don't forget the colon between last-name and email!!!) I actually added " - ISY" following my last name so I can create filters on the send and receive side.

I've always used Gmail with my ISY to send my notifications and get every single one I test within seconds of the trigger. I send from Gmail and receive at Outlook. 

Of course sending from free email services can always change, but I've found it to be reliable and easy once setup. I used to try to send notifications from another system from a hosted personal domain I managed. However, the host (i.e. godaddy or bluehost) was always changing something in the server filters to block automated and timed messages. It never failed if they found a pattern they would seem to block them from going out. That was a lot more frustrating then the ease of using Google's SMTP setup.

 

I guess I'll have to go the Gmail route.  Still seeing the same crap after updating everything.

But I wonder if I can just increase the timeout in the UDI server, if that would help.  I'd have to uncheck default and enter the settings, I don't know what they are.

This is part of what I had last night.

[paulbates]

There's a little bit of a learning curve, but another option is a notification service like pushover. The assoicated apps let you file notifications in folders you define ... security, hvac, irrigation, etc. Normally notifications are almost instant, the longest is <10 seconds that I can observe.  It saves clogging up your email and texts as well. Once you have the basic Network Resource setup, its a copy/paste + new text to make a new one, and replace a line in the ISY program. Others here got me started on pushover and I'm very happy with it.

Paul

[Michel Kohanim]

@jgcharlotte,

You have DNS issues. Please checkout:

https://wiki.universal-devices.com/index.php?title=Main_Page#DNS_Error

With kind regards,
Michel

[jgcharlotte]

On 8/6/2019 at 9:51 AM, Michel Kohanim said:

@jgcharlotte,

You have DNS issues. Please checkout:

https://wiki.universal-devices.com/index.php?title=Main_Page#DNS_Error

With kind regards,
Michel

I am already using DHCP.

[larryllix]

27 minutes ago, jgcharlotte said:

I am already using DHCP.

DHCP is your router issuing IP addresses for your LAN, from MAC addresses.
DNS is a server, somewhere, issuing Internet IP addresses from a text URL description. Check the addresses inside your router. It may be your ISP, but usually google at 8.8.8.8 or 4.4.4.4.
I have switched to 1.1.1.1 and 9.9.9.9 in an attempt to get away from some of the google spying on my life.

[jgcharlotte]

1 hour ago, larryllix said:

DHCP is your router issuing IP addresses for your LAN, from MAC addresses.
DNS is a server, somewhere, issuing Internet IP addresses from a text URL description. Check the addresses inside your router. It may be your ISP, but usually google at 8.8.8.8 or 4.4.4.4.
I have switched to 1.1.1.1 and 9.9.9.9 in an attempt to get away from some of the google spying on my life.

The article Michel pointed to says to use DHCP instead of static IP.  I'm already using DHCP, so obviously that isn't the issue.

I'm kind of weak in this area, but these are my router settings.  Could one of the DNS addresses cause this problem?  Are those my provider (Spectrum) addresses?

[Michel Kohanim]

@jgcharlotte,

Do you have any port forwarding rules in your router to ISY? Especially, UDP? If so, please remove them all.

With kind regards,
Michel

[jgcharlotte]

@Michel Kohanim No, I've never set any up and the 'auto' for games, etc. is off.  (sorry, there is one extra screenshot in there, i couldn't figure out how to get rid of it)

 

 

[larryllix]

9 hours ago, jgcharlotte said:

The article Michel pointed to says to use DHCP instead of static IP.  I'm already using DHCP, so obviously that isn't the issue.

I'm kind of weak in this area, but these are my router settings.  Could one of the DNS addresses cause this problem?  Are those my provider (Spectrum) addresses?

Yeah. That article seems to confuse DNS with DHCP. They are different things.
Your DHCP in your router is giving your ISY an IP address when you power it up. That seems OK or you would be able to access it or anything else.
The DHCP in your ISP gives your router it's IP address and that seems to be working OK because you can browse the Internet.

The problem codes you are seeing 15,0010 etc.. are defined as DNS errors for various protocols, especially email. This means your are asking those  IP addresses (@ Time Warner) to translate your email servers name ("mail.universal.devices.com") into an IP address and it doesn't like something (port or security style?) that or is sending something back that ISY doesn't understand.

As an experiment, here is what I would try. 
In your router turn off the "Obtain DNS Automatically" to manual. This asks your ISP for an address of their recommended DNS server = 209.18.47.62 / 63. Thee DNS servers may not even know who "mail.universal.devices.com" is. 
Now manually enter these addresses in these boxes. 8.8.8.8 and 9.9.9.9 or 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.4.4. 
You may have to save and /or reboot your router.
Try things again.

If this does not work, restore the "Obtain DNS Automatically" again and you may have to power cycle your router to get the router re-grab the IP addresses again.

[jgcharlotte]

Yes, I know I don't have DHCP issues either on the LAN or WAN.  I never have a problem pulling an IP on either one.

I will try those BUT I don't understand why it is intermittent.  Sometimes emails go through just fine, sometimes not at all.  Actually, most of the time they DO go through.  If it is a DNS lookup issue, it seems like it would not work at all, no?

[larryllix]

35 minutes ago, jgcharlotte said:

Yes, I know I don't have DHCP issues either on the LAN or WAN.  I never have a problem pulling an IP on either one.

I will try those BUT I don't understand why it is intermittent.  Sometimes emails go through just fine, sometimes not at all.  Actually, most of the time they DO go through.  If it is a DNS lookup issue, it seems like it would not work at all, no?

I agree with that logic but if you have DNS problems then you should try another DNS service to isolate where the problem is. Maybe your ISP is switching things around.

Another thought. It may have been a hot summer and I have had problems with two routers now, (AC1900, Netgear and ASUS units) always in the heat of the summer. A/C controls the temperature but they both gave me trouble in the hottest part of the summer. Now they are both mounted vertically. The cases are both terrible ventilation if I lay them horizontal with their 2 core, 1GHz CPUs, and gave me massive problems.

[Michel Kohanim]

@larryllix,

If there are port forwarding rules for UDP to ISY, there are cases where there will be UDP bombardments from the internet to ISY and thus cause DNS to fail (which is UDP itself).

With kind regards,
Michel

[larryllix]

8 hours ago, Michel Kohanim said:

@larryllix,

If there are port forwarding rules for UDP to ISY, there are cases where there will be UDP bombardments from the internet to ISY and thus cause DNS to fail (which is UDP itself).

With kind regards,
Michel

Sounds like a denial of service attack on the UDP protocol?

[Michel Kohanim]

@larryllix,

Yes, pretty much.

With kind regards,
Michel

[lekalif]

On 8/5/2019 at 4:25 PM, Geddy said:

If you're using Gmail make sure you've set up and using an app specific password if you're using two-factor authentication. 

Also, check that your from actually includes an email. It might fail some server relay functions.   First-Name Last-Name:Email-address (don't forget the colon between last-name and email!!!) I actually added " - ISY" following my last name so I can create filters on the send and receive side.

I've always used Gmail with my ISY to send my notifications and get every single one I test within seconds of the trigger. I send from Gmail and receive at Outlook. 

Of course sending from free email services can always change, but I've found it to be reliable and easy once setup. I used to try to send notifications from another system from a hosted personal domain I managed. However, the host (i.e. godaddy or bluehost) was always changing something in the server filters to block automated and timed messages. It never failed if they found a pattern they would seem to block them from going out. That was a lot more frustrating then the ease of using Google's SMTP setup.

 

This above solved my issue with emails/notifications from my ISY. Despite hours of trying different DNS, email accounts, timeouts etc. could not get it to work until i created 'App password' in my google account settings (Security\Signing in to Google\App passwords)

Summary;
-Had no idea Google '2-factor' authentication could affect this
-Had no idea Google account had 'App Password' feature
-Created 16 char 'App Password' & copy/pasted into ISY:  Configuration\Emails/Notifications\Settings/Groups\SMTP Settings:Password

Thanks Geddy!!

[jgcharlotte]

On 8/18/2019 at 8:59 PM, larryllix said:

In your router turn off the "Obtain DNS Automatically" to manual. This asks your ISP for an address of their recommended DNS server = 209.18.47.62 / 63. Thee DNS servers may not even know who "mail.universal.devices.com" is. 
Now manually enter these addresses in these boxes. 8.8.8.8 and 9.9.9.9 or 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.4.4. 
You may have to save and /or reboot your router.

Ok, I did this (8.8.8.8 and 9.9.9.9), saved the settings but did not reboot because it did not tell me i needed to.  Same thing, tons of errors.  Then I thought. . . just because the settings were saved does not necessarily mean they are used until it reboots.  So I rebooted and errors virtually disappeared.  I did get one '-7' which coincided with a test email that I did not receive (test program sending email every 30 seconds time-stamped).  I did get one other '-7', but it appears that email went through.  It's been running for well over an hour now, so I'm pretty confident it is much better.  

I don't know what -7 is, there is no explanation in the error list for dummies like me.

Wed 2019/10/09 09:33:03 AM    System    -50001    -7    

Did changing the DNS addresses actually solve the problem or did the rebooting solve it (temporarily).  Hmmm, I don't know.

I hope it's fixed, I'm having some Insteon comm issues I think and messaging is a great troubleshooting tool when it works!

Thanks for the help @larryllix

[jgcharlotte]

These are all of the errors I have received after re-booting the modem with the new DNS settings.  I haven't checked all of the errors, but the ones I checked correspond exactly to a message not received.  The test program is sending a time stamped message every 30 seconds.  So things are significantly better, but I don't know what is causing this error

Wed 2019/10/09 08:48:32 AM    System    -50001    -7    
Wed 2019/10/09 09:33:03 AM    System    -50001    -7    
Wed 2019/10/09 10:10:05 AM    System    -50001    -7    
Wed 2019/10/09 10:27:05 AM    System    -50001    -7    
Wed 2019/10/09 11:45:22 AM    System    -50001    -7    
Wed 2019/10/09 12:08:03 PM    System    -50001    -7    
Wed 2019/10/09 12:15:34 PM    System    -50001    -7    
Wed 2019/10/09 12:30:04 PM    System    -50001    -7    
Wed 2019/10/09 12:37:46 PM    System    -100    [DHCP] state=RENEW    
Wed 2019/10/09 12:43:13 PM    System    -50001    -7    
Wed 2019/10/09 12:45:44 PM    System    -50001    -7    
Wed 2019/10/09 12:48:43 PM    System    -50001    -7    
Wed 2019/10/09 01:09:55 PM    System    -50001    -6    
Wed 2019/10/09 01:31:24 PM    System    -50001    -7    
Wed 2019/10/09 01:47:32 PM    System    -50001    -7    
 

[Techman]

Quote

 

The error message is a SMTP Server failure.

What ISY mail configuration settings do you have programmed?

 

[jgcharlotte]

1 minute ago, Techman said:

The error message is a SMTP Server failure.

What ISY mail configuration settings do you have programmed?

 

Using the default SMTP settings.  I've seen a recommendation to increase the timeout, but I can't using the default checkbox.  I can manually enter the default values with a longer timeout, but I don't what all of those values are.

[Techman]

2 minutes ago, jgcharlotte said:

Using the default SMTP settings.  I've seen a recommendation to increase the timeout, but I can't using the default checkbox.  I can manually enter the default values with a longer timeout, but I don't what all of those values are.

I would suggest trying a different SMTP server, either Gmail or your current ISP. The default server can sometimes be unreliable.

 

[jgcharlotte]

1 minute ago, Techman said:

I would suggest trying a different SMTP server, either Gmail or your current ISP. The default server can sometimes be unreliable.

Hmm, yeah, I did set up the Gmail server.  It did not help my problem, but of course it was a DNS problem at the time.  So I went back to default.

I guess I'll do it again.  I don't like using gmail because when it hits my phone it doesn't get differentiated from other Gmail messages.  Using the default I can set a different alert tone, etc.  But if it is more reliable, it is worth it.