How To: Enable Internet Access

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello All,

 

If you have a UPnP router, on Admin Console please try File->Enable Internet Access the outcome of which should be the URL at which you can access ISY remotely.

 

If you do not have a UPnP router, or if File->Enable Internet Access returns "null" or fails, then:

1. On Admin Console go to Help->About

2. Write down IP Address and Port number for your ISY listed in front of My URL. So, for instance, if you have:

My URL: http://192.168.1.105:54321/0/p then

Your IP is 192.168.1.105 and

Your your Port is 54321

If you do not see any ports, then you would want to forward to port 443 (for HTTPS) unless it has been changed using CWP

3. Follow the information in http://portforward.com/ to configure your specific router for port forwarding

4. Your remote access URL will be in the form:

http://your.isps.address:your.isys.port/0/x

 

Please note:

1. Each ISY has its own unique Port number

2. If your ISY is on a DHCP (default behavior for most routers) then ISY's IP address may change. As such, if you plan to use remote access:

a. Use static IP for ISY, or

b. On your router, make ISY's IP lease permanent, or

c. Use dynamic DNS services such as dyndns.com or tzo.com

 

 

With kind regards,

[k6jav]

I have set up my router per portforward.com, but when I try to enable internet access it returns "null". I am running version 1.0 of the firmware for my ISY-99i. Any suggestions for remedying this situation?

[Michel Kohanim]

k6jav,

 

If you've setup your port manually, then there is no longer a need to issue File->Enable Internet Access. You would use File->Enable Internet Access if

a) you have UPnP Router

you would like ISY to create the port forwarding rules for you

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

I have set up my router per portforward.com, but when I try to enable internet access it returns "null". I am running version 1.0 of the firmware for my ISY-99i. Any suggestions for remedying this situation?

[k6jav]

Thank you for the clarification. When I click on Help:About, and it says "Internet Access: Disabled", does this mean that upnp was not used to set up port forwarding? When I attempt to log in remotely, I get the "Please keep this window Open!" window, but nothing further. Is there something further I need to do to get it to work?

[MikeB]

If you get the 'Please keep this window open' message from a remote location, the port forward is working.

 

Are you trying to open the Administrative Console? Do you have the latest Java loaded on your remote PC?

[MARosen]

I have a Netgear WGR614 series router. It seems to have UPnP, but I don't quite understand how it works, and it doesn't seem to be registering any devices. Regardless, if I try that route, I get the NULL message when I use the 'Enable Internet Access'

 

So I then tried port forwarding. At first I misunderstood that the port to be forwarded was a universal number (#443) and then understood that no it should be the port number as identified in the MyURL. So I have that port forwarded to the fixed IP address being assigned by my router to the ISY device. Per the note here, and because I manually forwarded the port, I did not use 'Enable Internet Access'

 

But still no luck...

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello MARosen,

 

Let's set up a time to go through it together on the phone (preferably toward s the end of the week).

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

I have a Netgear WGR614 series router. It seems to have UPnP, but I don't quite understand how it works, and it doesn't seem to be registering any devices. Regardless, if I try that route, I get the NULL message when I use the 'Enable Internet Access'

 

So I then tried port forwarding. At first I misunderstood that the port to be forwarded was a universal number (#443) and then understood that no it should be the port number as identified in the MyURL. So I have that port forwarded to the fixed IP address being assigned by my router to the ISY device. Per the note here, and because I manually forwarded the port, I did not use 'Enable Internet Access'

 

But still no luck...

[MARosen]

Michel,

 

Through no effort, I have found that the web access is in fact enabled. It seems to be regardless of whether or not I forward the ports in my NetGear WGR614 router or not. And it also seems to be regardless of whether or not I 'Enable Internet Access' from the Administrative Console or not. I am assuming that in some way the UPnP protocols of my router is making the address available on the internet. Although, if I look in the UPnP section of my routers console it shows no devices.

 

When I say it works, I mean that it works in the one remote location I have been able to test it (my office). I do have confirmation from one other source that the "Please leave this window open" page opens up, but that the person is never prompted to actually log in which is strange. This is someone who themselves has an Insteon system and logs in to their own ISY at that location and that works fine for them. I plan to try it from some other locations as time allows and depending on the result would consider the issue closed.

 

The last thing I understand that I would want to do, is to create a link that is an SSL link (an HTTPS link.) I have followed the online instructions for that, but I don't seem to be able to make the HTTPS version of the link work. And I do have port 443 forwarded on my router to the IP address of the device. And the device is fixed to that IP address so I am confident that it the correct address (and I also see it in my list of attached devices always with that IP address, another confirmation that it's the correct address on my internal network.)

 

Any of the top of your head thoughts on why the regular link would work, but not the SSL link??

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello MARosen,

 

I'd really like to get this resolved as soon as possible so please do be kind enough to call our tech support line and let us walk you through it. Based on your explanation, I am really at a loss:

1. The admin console does not appear from a location which (we have established) can access and present ISY's admin console locally

2. You can access your ISY from your work

 

So there must be a missing piece of information which we are all overlooking to solve this puzzle and the best way to go forward is to do it on the phone.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Michel,

 

Through no effort, I have found that the web access is in fact enabled. It seems to be regardless of whether or not I forward the ports in my NetGear WGR614 router or not. And it also seems to be regardless of whether or not I 'Enable Internet Access' from the Administrative Console or not. I am assuming that in some way the UPnP protocols of my router is making the address available on the internet. Although, if I look in the UPnP section of my routers console it shows no devices.

 

When I say it works, I mean that it works in the one remote location I have been able to test it (my office). I do have confirmation from one other source that the "Please leave this window open" page opens up, but that the person is never prompted to actually log in which is strange. This is someone who themselves has an Insteon system and logs in to their own ISY at that location and that works fine for them. I plan to try it from some other locations as time allows and depending on the result would consider the issue closed.

 

The last thing I understand that I would want to do, is to create a link that is an SSL link (an HTTPS link.) I have followed the online instructions for that, but I don't seem to be able to make the HTTPS version of the link work. And I do have port 443 forwarded on my router to the IP address of the device. And the device is fixed to that IP address so I am confident that it the correct address (and I also see it in my list of attached devices always with that IP address, another confirmation that it's the correct address on my internal network.)

 

Any of the top of your head thoughts on why the regular link would work, but not the SSL link??

[MARosen]

Michel,

 

I got some tech. support from your #1 fan (Dave Rosen, aka my dad!) He came to the realization that I did not have the most recent software on my ISY99i. From the Universal Devices website, I understood that v1 was the latest version for the ISY99 ... and that the v2.6.x was only for the ISY26 devices. After realizing this was not the case, I downloaded the latest 2.6 version and installed that and everything HTTPS/SSL related fell into place auto-magically. I have no ports forwarded, and everything works. I have to figure out how certificates and warnings and all that works, but thats for me to noodle with. The important thing is that I can connect, and can do so over an SSL secure link.

 

And now on to my Blackberry to see if I can get that going!

 

Cheers and thanks.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi MARosen,

 

I am so very glad to hear that everything is working fine. Please send my warmest regards to your dad.

 

Please do let us know if there's anything else we can do to help.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Michel,

 

I got some tech. support from your #1 fan (Dave Rosen, aka my dad!) He came to the realization that I did not have the most recent software on my ISY99i. From the Universal Devices website, I understood that v1 was the latest version for the ISY99 ... and that the v2.6.x was only for the ISY26 devices. After realizing this was not the case, I downloaded the latest 2.6 version and installed that and everything HTTPS/SSL related fell into place auto-magically. I have no ports forwarded, and everything works. I have to figure out how certificates and warnings and all that works, but thats for me to noodle with. The important thing is that I can connect, and can do so over an SSL secure link.

 

And now on to my Blackberry to see if I can get that going!

 

Cheers and thanks.

[MARosen]

Michel,

 

Do you have people notifying you that their ISY crashes as a result of accessing or using the device from a BlackBerry?

 

I have an 8703e device, using Verizon service. I know that the ISY crashed on me 2-3 nights ago while in the middle of accessing it. In order to re-start it I had to restart it and my router. Just restarting it did not do the trick, and when I logged into my router's control panel it did not show that the device was attached. So I restarted the router itself and that resolved the problem. I did then also have to re-enable Internet access from the ISY as the restart seemed to have set that back to being not enabled.

 

Today I tried to access via the BBerry and I am find that it is again down. However, I can at least see this time that my router still shows it as attached. Although perhaps once I restart the ISY it will do the same. Can't say for sure, as I am remote and will need to re-start it when I am back at home.

 

I also can't say for sure if it was the BBerry logon attempt that did it or not... as I don't know if it was up just prior to attempting the BBerry logon or if it had crashed prior to that.

 

Curious if you have other folks having this type of issue or not (perhaps this belong in another forum topic?)

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi MARosen,

 

Please telnet to your ISY and issue CWT and increase the timeouts for both HTTP and HTTPS.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Michel,

 

Do you have people notifying you that their ISY crashes as a result of accessing or using the device from a BlackBerry?

 

I have an 8703e device, using Verizon service. I know that the ISY crashed on me 2-3 nights ago while in the middle of accessing it. In order to re-start it I had to restart it and my router. Just restarting it did not do the trick, and when I logged into my router's control panel it did not show that the device was attached. So I restarted the router itself and that resolved the problem. I did then also have to re-enable Internet access from the ISY as the restart seemed to have set that back to being not enabled.

 

Today I tried to access via the BBerry and I am find that it is again down. However, I can at least see this time that my router still shows it as attached. Although perhaps once I restart the ISY it will do the same. Can't say for sure, as I am remote and will need to re-start it when I am back at home.

 

I also can't say for sure if it was the BBerry logon attempt that did it or not... as I don't know if it was up just prior to attempting the BBerry logon or if it had crashed prior to that.

 

Curious if you have other folks having this type of issue or not (perhaps this belong in another forum topic?)

[MARosen]

Ok, I did ... did you have specific settings to recommend? Looks like HTTPS was at 10000 and HTTP at 1000 ... I set them both to 25000. Should I have done that?

[Michel Kohanim]

MARosen,

 

15000 for each should be fine ... you can increase later if you do not get the right results.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Ok, I did ... did you have specific settings to recommend? Looks like HTTPS was at 10000 and HTTP at 1000 ... I set them both to 25000. Should I have done that?

[MARosen]

Michel,

 

I have both set up to 20K now... during the day today I found access to be very stable (both from a computer and my bberry.) Through no effort on my part, and not paying much attention to whether or not I exited from the Blackberry browser my ISY stayed up and accessible all day long. Tonight though it's "crashed" on me 2x in an hour. The solution is simple, I just telnet to the device and issue the RS command. If I wait 30-40 seconds, I can then get back in over HTTPS. Can't quite figure what keeps knocking the access out though. And I'm noticing that when I issue the RS command, my programs all re-run.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello MARosen,

 

I think we have to clarify a few things:

When you say crash, does it mean that you can no longer access ISY from any other computer on the network except for telnet? Or, you can access it from other computers on the network but you cannot access it using your BB?

 

As far as programs being rerun at startup, YES, if and only if you have that flag set; please check the Program Summary tab to disable.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Michel,

 

I have both set up to 20K now... during the day today I found access to be very stable (both from a computer and my bberry.) Through no effort on my part, and not paying much attention to whether or not I exited from the Blackberry browser my ISY stayed up and accessible all day long. Tonight though it's "crashed" on me 2x in an hour. The solution is simple, I just telnet to the device and issue the RS command. If I wait 30-40 seconds, I can then get back in over HTTPS. Can't quite figure what keeps knocking the access out though. And I'm noticing that when I issue the RS command, my programs all re-run.

[MARosen]

Michel,

 

Crash in this case means that I can no longer access it via the Internet (either from a computer or the Blackberry.) And I have confirmed that it's not just happening as the result of trying to access it via the bberry. For example last night it went out on me a few times, and I only went to check it from my own laptop computer sitting on my home network. When this happens, I am able to access it using the local HTTP (the 192.168.1.2/admin local address I have it assigned to) but that's it as far as an HTTP or HTTPS connection. To resolve it, I telnet to it (which I can do locally or remotely) using the outside world IP address (I have port 23 forwarded to the ISY for incoming telnet) and I issue the RS command. Once I do that, the external HTTPS is back up and running. The other method of getting it back up and running is using the local address, and then disabling and re-enabling Internet access. However, that only works (of course) when I am at home to access it locally. When I am remote, the telnet and RS command is the only option.

 

I also started to notice last night that there may be a correspondence with when this happens with the connections on my home network going out for a few seconds and coming back on. I'll see the computers message that their local connections are out and then connected for just a second. I am unable to tell though which is the cause and which is the effect. Is something happening on my ISY that causes the network to have this momentary outage, or is something happening with my Cable modem service and/or my router that then causes the ISY to loose the internet enable capability.

 

With regard to the programs and re-starting when the ISY is restarted it does seem to be behaving oddly. I have just two programs at this point (since I am just building the system) and neither one is set to rerun on a re-start and yet I am positive that the program that turns on lights at 7pm kept turning those lights back on each time I restarted the ISY. And this was at 11:00 or so at night. I'm sure of it ... but I will continue to monitor this as well.

 

Thanks as always for the thoughtful questions and for continuing to work with me through this. I'm actually enjoying it very much (although of course I'd love for it all to work flawlessly with no effort on my part either!)

[Michel Kohanim]

MARosen,

 

Ah, it makes much more sense now ... it seems that either

a) Your router is NO longer forwarding the port to ISY (for one reason or another)

You momentarily lose connection with your ISP and your router (incorrectly) wipes out all your UPnP forwarding rules

 

The remedy to this is:

1) Create static forwarding rules in your router (instead of depending on UPnP) ... go to the top of this page for configuration

2) Get a dynamic DNS (if you don't already have one)

 

As far as the programs running at start up, please check the configuration page for the configured grace period.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

 

Michel,

 

Crash in this case means that I can no longer access it via the Internet (either from a computer or the Blackberry.) And I have confirmed that it's not just happening as the result of trying to access it via the bberry. For example last night it went out on me a few times, and I only went to check it from my own laptop computer sitting on my home network. When this happens, I am able to access it using the local HTTP (the 192.168.1.2/admin local address I have it assigned to) but that's it as far as an HTTP or HTTPS connection. To resolve it, I telnet to it (which I can do locally or remotely) using the outside world IP address (I have port 23 forwarded to the ISY for incoming telnet) and I issue the RS command. Once I do that, the external HTTPS is back up and running. The other method of getting it back up and running is using the local address, and then disabling and re-enabling Internet access. However, that only works (of course) when I am at home to access it locally. When I am remote, the telnet and RS command is the only option.

 

I also started to notice last night that there may be a correspondence with when this happens with the connections on my home network going out for a few seconds and coming back on. I'll see the computers message that their local connections are out and then connected for just a second. I am unable to tell though which is the cause and which is the effect. Is something happening on my ISY that causes the network to have this momentary outage, or is something happening with my Cable modem service and/or my router that then causes the ISY to loose the internet enable capability.

 

With regard to the programs and re-starting when the ISY is restarted it does seem to be behaving oddly. I have just two programs at this point (since I am just building the system) and neither one is set to rerun on a re-start and yet I am positive that the program that turns on lights at 7pm kept turning those lights back on each time I restarted the ISY. And this was at 11:00 or so at night. I'm sure of it ... but I will continue to monitor this as well.

 

Thanks as always for the thoughtful questions and for continuing to work with me through this. I'm actually enjoying it very much (although of course I'd love for it all to work flawlessly with no effort on my part either!)

[MARosen]

Michel,

 

I suspect you have it figured out. Once I resolved my original issue (being on the old version of the ISY software) and having seen the ISY auto-magically connect on my router I stopped all the port forwarding. So now I have disabled UPnP and forwarded port 443 for HTTPS to the device's assigned static IP. I suspect that this will resolve any temporary burps or glitches that take place on my network and will keep the ISY device available for connection over the internet. If it doesn't for any reason I'll let you know. Cheers!

[Michel Kohanim]

MARosen,

 

I sure hope so. Please do keep me posted.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Michel,

 

I suspect you have it figured out. Once I resolved my original issue (being on the old version of the ISY software) and having seen the ISY auto-magically connect on my router I stopped all the port forwarding. So now I have disabled UPnP and forwarded port 443 for HTTPS to the device's assigned static IP. I suspect that this will resolve any temporary burps or glitches that take place on my network and will keep the ISY device available for connection over the internet. If it doesn't for any reason I'll let you know. Cheers!

[MARosen]

Michel,

 

Can you remind of whether my Console should say "Enable Internet Access" or not? In other words, does it need to be enabled to allow the appropriate access? The reason I ask is that it crashed again this morning, and I was unable to revive it through the normal method of Telnet ... I had to physically unplug and re-plug in the ISY device. On doing that, it seems that the "Enable Internet Access" was set back to not being enabled. That said, I was able to access the page remotely - - but I am not sure it worked as well as it should. The programs area was difficult to work with, and I could not save any changes while I was remote. I've tried a few times now to "Enable" but I get an error message of "Failed Enabling Internet Access"

 

As a reminder I have UPnP disabled, and have port 443 forwarded to the fixed IP address as assigned in my router. And I can see that the device is in fact attached to my router.

[Michel Kohanim]

MARosen,

 

I am so sorry to hear this. NO ... we have already set everything up using static IP address and Dynamic DNS (I hope) and, thus, no longer do you need to do File->Enable Internet Access (ever). If you are having issues with saving files, make sure your computer's firewall is not the culprit.

 

Are you using Dynamic DNS?

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Michel,

 

Can you remind of whether my Console should say "Enable Internet Access" or not? In other words, does it need to be enabled to allow the appropriate access? The reason I ask is that it crashed again this morning, and I was unable to revive it through the normal method of Telnet ... I had to physically unplug and re-plug in the ISY device. On doing that, it seems that the "Enable Internet Access" was set back to not being enabled. That said, I was able to access the page remotely - - but I am not sure it worked as well as it should. The programs area was difficult to work with, and I could not save any changes while I was remote. I've tried a few times now to "Enable" but I get an error message of "Failed Enabling Internet Access"

 

As a reminder I have UPnP disabled, and have port 443 forwarded to the fixed IP address as assigned in my router. And I can see that the device is in fact attached to my router.

[MARosen]

Michel,

 

Not sure I ever answered your questions of "am I using Dynamic DNS". I think I am, if by Dynamic DNS you mean how I refer to my network from the outside world.

 

I do NOT get to it by using an IP address in the form of nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn. Instead I use an URL address that I have gotten through a service called no.ip. That address is kept in synch with the actual numeric IP address via a client that runs on my home network and checks for the current assigned IP from the cable modem and associates it with the URL. So in this way I don't have to remember a hard to remember 4 sequence #, and I don't have to keep track of when it changes (and it does on occassion change.)

 

But if you mean something else by Dynamic DNS then I am not sure. I noticed that in my Netgear router admin console there is an entire section devoted to Dynamic DNS but that I don't have this set up. I wonder if this is just an alternate way to do what I am already doing using the no.ip client that runs on my network perhaps?

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello MARosen,

 

Yes, that's what I meant. The main issue is that you are running a client on you computer to track ip changes; what happens if your computer is off?

 

You should surely look at/configure that section in you router since your router is always on and thus you will not depend on your computer.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Michel,

 

Not sure I ever answered your questions of "am I using Dynamic DNS". I think I am, if by Dynamic DNS you mean how I refer to my network from the outside world.

 

I do NOT get to it by using an IP address in the form of nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn. Instead I use an URL address that I have gotten through a service called no.ip. That address is kept in synch with the actual numeric IP address via a client that runs on my home network and checks for the current assigned IP from the cable modem and associates it with the URL. So in this way I don't have to remember a hard to remember 4 sequence #, and I don't have to keep track of when it changes (and it does on occassion change.)

 

But if you mean something else by Dynamic DNS then I am not sure. I noticed that in my Netgear router admin console there is an entire section devoted to Dynamic DNS but that I don't have this set up. I wonder if this is just an alternate way to do what I am already doing using the no.ip client that runs on my network perhaps?