How To: Enable Internet Access

[guedesluz]

Guys I have a doubt. Is there a way to access my user interface from the internet? Could be done enabling internet access?

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi guedesluz,

 

Of course. You can either do File | Enable Internet Access OR you can create port forwarding rules manually:

http://wiki.universal-devices.com/index ... PnP_Router

 

Manual port forwarding is much more reliable.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[guedesluz]

It worked! Thanks!

 

I'm just worried about my ISP changing my IP, is there a way to check that?

 

I read about creating a DNS but I'll need it to run on a computer that should be online all the time, right?

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi guedesluz,

 

Use a free dynamic dns solution. This way, you will access ISY using a name instead of IP.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[guedesluz]

Thanks. Any software suggestion? I'll need a PC always online to run it, right?

[Xathros]

Thanks. Any software suggestion? I'll need a PC always online to run it, right?

 

Hi guedesluz-

 

Not necessarily. Many routers support Dynamic DNS. What do you have for a router? Check in it's web interface to see what it supports for DDNS services. Some are free (no-ip.com for instance) some others are paid services. If your router does not support DDNS or does not support a free one, you would have to have a computer manage this and in that case, you would want it always on.

 

You could also consider running a low power computer like a RaspberryPi to do that among other things.

 

-Xathros

[guedesluz]

My router is a Thomson model DWG874. I just use it because is a modem/router given by the provider.

 

I just check into it's configuration and it has a DDNS support but I just can select the dyndns.org service and as I saw, it's paid. Right?

[Xathros]

Yes DynDNS is a paid service. Looks like $25/year for up to 30 hostnames. DynDNS is the most widely supported DDNS service from what I have seen.

 

For $35ish you could pick up a RaspberryPi and install inadyn on that and use a freedns account. See: http://www.techjawab.com/2013/06/setup-dynamic-dns-dyndns-for-free-on.html

 

This would likely be cheaper than using an always on PC after a year or two.

 

-Xathros

[guedesluz]

Thanks for the info I'll see that. I've never used a RaspberryPI and I feel like a dumb when I saw everyone here talking about it...

 

About the Router, I saw some people setting its DNS using TelNET access as long as at that level, they could set the Thomson to work with other DNS servers.. I'll try that and hope it don't crash the router.

 

Gonna buy a RaspberryPI and learn how to work with if while there's time.

[Balok]

I'm clearly not understanding something.

 

I'm using an ISY-994.

 

I 'Enabled Internet Access' from the File menu. I checked my router's UPnP page and sure enough, the local IP address assigned to the ISY had an entry for the port, 443. Should sending my browser to http://octet1.octet2.octet3.octet4/ have produced some kind of display? All I get is that my browser can't establish a connection. The octets are those of my external IP address, assigned automatically by my ISP. Not the internal address assigned to the ISY by my router, which begins with 192.168

 

My ISP does not permit residential users to host webservers. Therefore it occurred to me that they might block inbound traffic on port 443. So, using the ISY's administrative console, I changed the port number to one that was greater than 2000. I checked the UPnP again and the new port was listed. Then I tried browsing to the same external address, this time with :port_number on the end (substituting the correct port number, of course).

 

I do understand that my ISP could reassign my IP address and that this is what dynamic DNS services help fix. But before I get into that, I figured I'd at least see if it was possible to see the device over the Internet. I did find a security manual, and since I'm not an internet security expert it was useless to me. As written, it presupposes a thorough understanding of Internet security rules. If I need to understand that to make your product work, shouldn't you help by writing a more detailed manual?

 

I must say that the lack of step by step instructions (or, at least, the lack of easily discoverable instructions) in the Wiki and manuals disappointed me. There seems to be no clear set of instructions along the lines of "do this... see this... do this... see this" in the Wiki or the manuals. Quite frustrating for a novice. I like the ISY. It's easy to program and it makes using my INSTEON devices a snap compared to manual linking. But one feature I also wanted was control when I was away from home. What I have read tells me this can be done. But the documentation isn't helpful.

[LeeG]

Some routers will accept the external IP address from the LAN side, some will not. Can you try accessing the ISY from the external side, not the LAN side.

 

Also try https://xx.xx.xx.xx:port#

 

Using http sends the request over port 80

[guedesluz]

I have to say that Balok take the words from my mouth. I'm with the same problems.

 

It seems that Isy was able to enable the internet access, everything seems fine but I just can't connect and don't know where to look. I just have a message on the browser saying that can't establish a connection and I stopped there. I read that could be done using a DDNS or a RaspberryPI but, if ISY had that option, why didn't work?

 

I'm clearly not understanding something.

 

I'm using an ISY-994.

 

I 'Enabled Internet Access' from the File menu. I checked my router's UPnP page and sure enough, the local IP address assigned to the ISY had an entry for the port, 443. Should sending my browser to http://octet1.octet2.octet3.octet4/ have produced some kind of display? All I get is that my browser can't establish a connection. The octets are those of my external IP address, assigned automatically by my ISP. Not the internal address assigned to the ISY by my router, which begins with 192.168

 

My ISP does not permit residential users to host webservers. Therefore it occurred to me that they might block inbound traffic on port 443. So, using the ISY's administrative console, I changed the port number to one that was greater than 2000. I checked the UPnP again and the new port was listed. Then I tried browsing to the same external address, this time with :port_number on the end (substituting the correct port number, of course).

 

I do understand that my ISP could reassign my IP address and that this is what dynamic DNS services help fix. But before I get into that, I figured I'd at least see if it was possible to see the device over the Internet. I did find a security manual, and since I'm not an internet security expert it was useless to me. As written, it presupposes a thorough understanding of Internet security rules. If I need to understand that to make your product work, shouldn't you help by writing a more detailed manual?

 

I must say that the lack of step by step instructions (or, at least, the lack of easily discoverable instructions) in the Wiki and manuals disappointed me. There seems to be no clear set of instructions along the lines of "do this... see this... do this... see this" in the Wiki or the manuals. Quite frustrating for a novice. I like the ISY. It's easy to program and it makes using my INSTEON devices a snap compared to manual linking. But one feature I also wanted was control when I was away from home. What I have read tells me this can be done. But the documentation isn't helpful.

[MWareman]

Some routers will accept the external IP address from the LAN side, some will not.

That's known as NAT 'hairpinning' (at least in the Cisco world). Most routers disable it, and many don't give the user any option to enable (or disable) it.

[Balok]

Some routers will accept the external IP address from the LAN side, some will not. Can you try accessing the ISY from the external side, not the LAN side.

 

Also try https://xx.xx.xx.xx:port#

 

Using http sends the request over port 80

I can try that tomorrow; I'd have to leave the house with a laptop to do it.

 

That was a typo. I was using https://xx.xx.xx.xx:port. My understanding is that specifying a port number in the address overrides the default for the protocol regardless of the protocol (http: or https:).

[MWareman]

My understanding is that specifying a port number in the address overrides the default for the protocol regardless of the protocol (http: or https:).

 

That is true and correct.

[KMan]

I can try that tomorrow; I'd have to leave the house with a laptop to do it.

 

If you have a smartphone, you can turn off wifi and attempt to access the external IP. May not be the best user interface, but it is a simple way to check for external connectivity.

 

If you have mobilinc, it will automatically detect internal/external access and use the appropriate one. So just by turning on/off wifi and using mobilinc, you can quickly/easily verify external access.

[Balok]

Some routers will accept the external IP address from the LAN side, some will not. Can you try accessing the ISY from the external side, not the LAN side.

This was apparently the issue; thanks for the tip. If there is a way to disable this disagreeable behavior in my router, I can't find it.

 

UD might consider warning people about this in their documentation. Not everyone is a network guru.

[guedesluz]

Some routers will accept the external IP address from the LAN side, some will not. Can you try accessing the ISY from the external side, not the LAN side.

This was apparently the issue; thanks for the tip. If there is a way to disable this disagreeable behavior in my router, I can't find it.

 

UD might consider warning people about this in their documentation. Not everyone is a network guru.

 

YEP! that's my problem.. I'm not a network expert and just can't find where is the problem...

[guedesluz]

Is there anyway to check if the connection was really enabled on the router?

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi guedesluz,

 

If you use UPnP, it depends on the router. Most do not show UPnP rules.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[guedesluz]

Hi guedesluz,

 

If you use UPnP, it depends on the router. Most do not show UPnP rules.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Michel

 

My router has an option to enable UPnP. I keep this options checked...

 

On Isy Administrative Console, it seems to work. It appears to be enabled, I saw the IP, but tried to connect from out of my network and just can't...

[Balok]

On Isy Administrative Console, it seems to work. It appears to be enabled, I saw the IP, but tried to connect from out of my network and just can't...

Something to try: some ISPs do not allow residential users to serve webpages. They enforce this by blocking inbound traffic on ports 80 (http:) and 443 (https:). Have you tried changing to another port? To avoid colliding with other applications, choose a number greater than 2000; the maximum allowed port number is 65536 (it's an unsigned two byte quantity).

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi guedesluz,

 

First, please ensure you are using https and NOT http.

 

Other than that, I must echo Balok's statements. If you can get it enabled in the Admin Console and if you have the remote URL for your ISY displayed in Help | About, then it must be that your ISP is not allowing you to host a webserver on 443.

 

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[guedesluz]

Cool.. it worked. sorry about the delay...

 

I tried ports 2500 and 2501 and ir worked easily... Now I'm going to try a free DDNS set up on my pc..

[Balok]

Cool.. it worked. sorry about the delay...

 

I tried ports 2500 and 2501 and ir worked easily... Now I'm going to try a free DDNS set up on my pc..

As an added (although admittedly weak) security measure, I recommend keeping the server name you choose when you subscribe to the dynamic DNS service and the port numbers you assign to yourself. In short, there's nothing about your access that needs to be public.

 

The ISY uses secure sockets and if you select your username and password wisely, you're unlikely to be hacked. But I still prefer to keep things to myself.