Remote Access - first time user

[glase]

Sorry to bother you, but I have been trying for hours to get access to my newly installed ISY-99i through the internet without luck. I am able to access the 99i locally and I have successfully set up several light swithes in my house and I can access and control them through the Administrative Console. When I go to "help-about" it shows:

 

My Lighting: uuid:00:21:b9:00:e2:0f - Insteon_UD99 v.2.8.16

Product: ISY 99i (1020) - Open Auto-DR- (21010)

My URL: http://192.168.1.71/

Internet Access: https://75.xx.xxx.xxx/

 

I have a Actiontec V1000H router through Telus and I have set up the router for portforwarding of ports 80 and 443 as follows:

 

START/ END PORT: 80/80

 

PROTOCOL: TCP

 

LAN IP ADDRESS: 198.162.1.254

 

START/ END PORT REMOTE: 80/80

 

REMOTE IP ADDRESS: 0.0.0.0

 

... and same for port 443.

 

Per your youtube video I have set up the 99i for a fixed IP through the Admin Console (IP 192.168.1.71) and I have used the same Subnet Mask, Gateway and DNS shown in your youtube video. That's as far as I got. Then I tried to access the 99i through the internet by going to https://75.xx.xxx.xxx. Didn't work. What am I doing wrong? Thanks.

[TJF1960]

Hello glase,

 

Just to be clear, are you adding the port and the word admin at the end of your https url? Like https://75.xxx.xx.xxx:443

[glase]

Hi and thanks for the reply. Tried entering https://75.xx.xxx.xxx:443/admin since you mentioned it. It booted me back to https://75.xx.xxx.xxx/admin with the error message: this webpage cannot be found.

[TJF1960]

Maybe try changing the routers outside access port to 4443 and have it forwarded to 443 to match the ISY port.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello glase,

 

I am so very sorry to hear about all these problems that you have been having.

 

The fact that Internet Access shows an IP address tells me that you used File | Enable Internet Access IN ADDITION to creating port forwarding rules in your router. Basically, File | Enable Internet Access tries to automatically create port forwarding rules in your router; the problem with this approach is that if your router reboots, or if you get a new IP address then the rules are invalidated.

 

As such, the best method is to create port forwarding rules manually in your router AND, before doing so, please go to File | Disable Internet Access (either automatic or manual and NOT both).

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[glase]

OK - so I set "Enable Internet Access" to off in the admin console and it shows:

Automatic (DHCP) - off

IP Address: 192.168.1.71

Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0

Gateway: 192.168.0.1

DNS: 192.168.0.1

Http Port: 80

Https Port: 443

 

... and under Help - About it shows:

 

My Lighting: uuid:00:21:b9:00:e2:0f - Insteon_UD99 v.2.8.16

Product: ISY 99i (1020) - Open Auto-DR- (21010)

My URL: http://192.168.1.71/

Internet Access: disabled

 

Then I followed the instrutions on Portforward.com and gave my computer a static IP address 192.168.1.253. My router IP is 192.168.1.254.

 

Then I removed the port forwarding in my router and re-did it as:

 

START/ END PORT: 80/80

PROTOCOL: TCP

LAN IP ADDRESS: 198.162.1.253

START/ END PORT REMOTE: 80/80

REMOTE IP ADDRESS: 0.0.0.0

 

...and...

START/ END PORT: 443/443

PROTOCOL: TCP

LAN IP ADDRESS: 198.162.1.253

START/ END PORT REMOTE: 443/443

REMOTE IP ADDRESS: 0.0.0.0

... and same for port 443.

 

That's as far as I got. Now how to I access the ISY remotely through the internet? Thanks for the help.

[LeeG]

The Internet modem has an external WAN IP address that is used to access the modem from the outside world. That external WAN IP address is not 192.168.xxx.xxxx anything. All the addresses posted (do not post your WAN IP address) are internal LAN IP addresses which are on your local LAN. No IP address on the local LAN can be seen by the outside world. There are literally hundreds of thousands of folks using some combination of 192.168.xxx xxxx as local LAN IP addresses.

 

Logon to the modem/router. There will an option to display the WAN IP address. Use that WAN IP address plus the port number you forwarded to the ISY to access the ISY from the outside world. For example, https://111.222.3.444:443 Obviously a made up IP address which is expecting port 443 to be forwarded to the ISY. Substitute your WAN IP address and whatever port number you forwarded to the ISY.

[glase]

OK - tried that - still doesn't work. Could it be that my port forwarding in the router is not correct? Below I mentioned that port 443 on my router was forwarded as:

 

START/ END PORT: 443/443

PROTOCOL: TCP

LAN IP ADDRESS: 192.168.1.253

START/ END PORT REMOTE: 443/443

REMOTE IP ADDRESS: 0.0.0.0

 

Should the LAN IP Address be the same as my ISY (192.168.1.71) ?

The IP address 192.168.1.253 is the IP address of my computer that I just set today as a fixed IP.

[LeeG]

It is forwarded to the ISY IP address rather than the PC address.

[glase]

OK - still trying to get this. When logged into my Telus router it shows the following (below numbers are fake):

 

WAN Connection Status

WAN Type: DSL

Dynamic/Static: Dynamic

Modem IP Address: 11.222.33.444

Subnet Mask: 255.255.192.0

Default Gateway: 55.666.77.888

Lease Time Remaining: 1H 11M 42S

DNS Address #1: 99.000.111.2

DNS Address #2: 33.444.555.6

 

... and in the router I have set the following port forward:

 

START/ END PORT: 443/443

PROTOCOL: TCP

LAN IP ADDRESS: 11.222.33.444 (same IP as above Modem IP Address)

START/ END PORT REMOTE: 443/443

REMOTE IP ADDRESS: 0.0.0.0

 

The port forwarding page on the Actiontec router also give the following optional page which I have not set.

 

2. Set the remote port and IP information. (Optional)

Starting Port:___________

Ending Port:____________

Set Remote IP Address:_________ (0.0.0.0 will use any IP Address)

 

 

So to access the ISY remotely through the internet I go to: https:\\11.222.33.444:443

 

Am I doing this correctly?

[LeeG]

The port forward LAN IP address should be that of the ISY

 

LAN IP ADDRESS: 11.222.33.444 (same IP as above Modem IP Address) - should be the ISY IP

 

When the Modem receives a message from the outside world using the WAN address:port it looks at the port number on the inbound message. If the port has been forwarded the modem will route the inbound message from the outside world using the WAN address:port to the LAN IP:port address defined in the port forward which would be the ISY LAN address.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi LeeG, thanks so very much for all the help.

 

Hi glase, I really do think that you should setup a remote session with our tech support so that we can figure out what's going on.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[glase]

Ooo - that would be great. How and when?

[LeeG]

Click on the "Submit a ticket" at the bottom of Michels post

[glase]

Thanks for your help Lee. Will submit a ticket.

[Xathros]

Glase-

 

Looks to me like you forwarded to the wrong internal address 192.168.1.254 rather than the ISY's IP of 192.168.1.71. I wouldn't forward port 80 only forward 443. You probably don't want unencrypted traffic outside your network.

 

-Xathros

[glase]

Well, a fail in the end. UD support had a long session with me - and that was great. We were able to connect to my ISY through the internet and my ISY https address and the 443 port forwarding. That enabled us to login to the ISY, however when we click on the admin console it would not take us there. It just did nothing. The tech support figured it was an issue with the router. So - I contacted my ISP (who gave me the router) and they said they don't support anything to do with port forwarding. So I contacted Actiontec router tech support and they said they don't support their product if it is given to my by my ISP. In other words, I'm stuck.

 

I have the ISY installed in a new vacation home that I built. The only purpose I installed it was so that I could integrate it with my new Elk system, and remote view and control my Venstar thermostats and lighting when I'm away. So now it is not much use to me.

[Xathros]

Solution:

 

Buy a cheap linksys or netgear router place it between the actiontec crap and your network, Call your ISP and ask them to "Bridge the Router" which makes their router just a modem (no NAT translation and only the external IP address issued via DHCP to your new router's wan port) and use your new router to do the rest.

 

-Xathros

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi glase,

 

Two recommendations:

1. Go to http://www.universal-devices.com/99i/admin.jnlp ... this will install an icon for the Admin Console. When Admin Console comes up, minimize it, then go to ISY Finder, click on the Add button and then enter the remote IP address (i.e. https://your.isp.ip.address). Click OK and then close the Admin Console. Restart the Admin Console again by using the icon on your desktop and then double click on the https entry

2. You can use MobiLinc Connect module which bypasses your router altogether

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[glase]

OK, I already had an Admin Console icon on my desktop but anyway went to http://www.universal-devices.com/99i/admin.jnlp and I believe it reinstalled it. Launched the Admin Console icon, logged into the admin console then minimized it. In "Insteon Finder" screen I clicked the Add button then entered "https://75.xxx.xx.xxx" where (75.xx.xxx.xxx is my modem IP address). It gave me "Error - Not Found". Tried it again and entered "https://75.xxx.xx.xxx:443" and it gave same "Error - Not Found" and additional error "XML Parse Error https://75.xxx.xx.xxx:443/desc". Tried it again and entered "https://75.xxx.xx.xxx:44443" (since the UD tech person and I set my router Start/End Port Remote to 44443) and it gave "Error - Not Found" and additional error "Socket Open Failed java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: no further information".

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello glase,

 

Can you get to https://75.xx.xx.xx on your browser?

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[glase]

Yes, after accepting a warning about a security certificate, it takes me to my router login page.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi glase,

 

Can you tell me what port forwarding rules you have? It seems that 443 is used by your router for remote management. So, we will have to port forward to a different port. Is it 44433? If so, what do you get when you to to https://75.xx.xx.xx:44433 on your browser?

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[glase]

I only have one port forward rule:

 

START/ END PORT: 443/443

PROTOCOL: TCP

LAN IP ADDRESS: 192.168.1.63

START/ END PORT REMOTE: 44443/44443

REMOTE IP ADDRESS: 0.0.0.0

 

The present IP of the ISY is 192.168.1.63.

When I go directly to https:\\75.xxx.xx.xxx:44443 I get the general internet error "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage".

[TJF1960]

glase, just sent you a pm.