Couple Apex questions....

[lastlight]

1) I'm on Telus but have the dyndns stuff all setup and functioning properly. My issue right now is port forwarding with my Apple Airport Extreme. I am not very network savvy. I've got my connection from my Telus router going into it. Do I need to setup port forwarding on the Telus or Apple devices? I tried on the Apple but I'm not convinced I'm doing the right things or if it's better to do on the other router.

2) I'd like my Apex to text me not email me. This is news to me but apparently the cell carriers support email -> txt. I found the one for me (rogers): yournumber@pcs.rogers.com and tried sending a test email. Sure enough I get a text msg but can't see it until I "subscribe" which in Rogers talk means pay out the rear end. Does anyone know of a service that is not carrier dependant and is free? I know gmail supports filters so you can have certain messages auto-texted to you but I'd rather not go setup a gmail account if I can avoid it.

Thanks!

[Delphinus]

(Disclaimer: I'm not on Telus but I'll try answering anyhow.) Essentially at some point you have a single connection to the "internet" (I guess the kids these days are calling it the "cloud"). This is where you need to configure your port forwarding, in this case all you need is port 80 or the HTTP service forwarded so that anyone out in TheKloud(tm) who connects to the IP address you appear to the world as, gets forwarded to your Apex's IP. I assume this is done on the Apple Airport... Basically, if you can get to your Apex from the outside, then it's setup correctly..

[Delphinus]

In defense of Rogers, is it possible that without "subscribing" to the service they just want your confirmation it's OK to send you an SMS (since some plans might not be unlimited texts or whatever so it would count against the tally)? Ie., maybe "subscribing" just means "yeah go ahead and let people email me texts" and apart from whatever it says in the monthly plan it's maybe not an added cost?

[ddarkz]

I'm not an Apple user, but the configuration shouldn't be much different than others, you should be able to configure the port forwarding from your Airport extreme, once you allow certain port, make sure its linked to the same IP address you found on your APEX unit.

[lastlight]

Here are screenshots of the apex info:

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/net4.png

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/net5.png

And here is all that seems to be available to me on the apple router:

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/net1.png

I think I use the mac address and 10.0.1.6 from the first screen capture in this one but maybe I'm wrong.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/net2.png

This one I really have no idea what to do. Doesn't seem to be a spot where I can say something like "forward port 5900 to 80" or something. This is really not my forte so any help would be appreciated thanks.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/net3.png

[ddarkz]

looks like you are on the right track, this is what I found on the google link.

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3415

[ddarkz]

the private IP should be your APEX IP address from the last picture though.

Fill in the public ports to whatever the number you want, the private port should be the same as your APEX which is 80, or you can change it from the APEX.

[lastlight]

thanks i'll give that a shot.

[ddarkz]

make sure both public ports are the same #, so is the private ports, but the public and private port# doesn't have to be the same though.

[lastlight]

i need to sort out where my dyndns domain comes into play too but i'm pretty sure the manual explains that well enough. thanks again for the pointers hopefully tonight i can get somewhere with it.

[ddarkz]

np, let us know if you run into other troubles.

[lastlight]

that link you posted (which I had been on before but failed with) does say the private IP field should match the IP address from step 1.

I had tried 10.0.1.6 already but must have done something else wrong. that is the address i'm currently using in my browser to access the controller from inside my network.

[ddarkz]

the goal is to be able to login from your public IP address (with the correct port#).

which means your public IP need to be linked with your APEX private IP somehow, thats the general map you are looking at, the configuration is confusing sometimes, but once you put in the right value you are all set.

Check your APEX display unit, it will tell you what the private IP address is, I'm not sure if the one Apple displayed was a correct one?

[lastlight]

the values in the apple screens are just the defaults that appear when you go to add a new rule.

http://10.0.1.6/ is what I'm using in my browser to access the controller.

[ddarkz]

Ok, then 10.0.1.6 will be your private IP

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

[makana]

If your telus device is a router then you need port forwarding on your telus router. If that is the case then you are double routing with the apple router wich makes things more complicated and in some instances you may not be able to get everything working as not all services will allow double NATing and PATing.

Easiest way might be to plug the apex into the telus router, get it working there. It should still work internally as your apple router will have a route to the subnet of the telus LAN. Or you could look at changing the apple router settings so it isn't routing if you are comfortable with that.

[lastlight]

i have been messing around with port forwarding directly on the Telus Actiontec V1000H for hours and after digging around the web it sounds like Telus blocks all inbound ports. Not sure if that is the right lingo but I give up for now :twised:

[makana]

Telus does not block all inbound ports. For starters that would prevent all internet services from working. They do block common ports such as 80. I have a VPN running through my v1000h using port forwarding so I can say for sure that port forwarding does work.

But your situation is a lot more complicated with the apple router as well. With the apex behind the apple router the v1000h forwarding needs to point to the WAN address on the apple and the apple forwarding needs to point to the apex. You need to use a port other than 80. I really don't know if it will ever work in that configuration though as it will be routing, NATing, and PATing twice and a lot of services won't work like that.

[lastlight]

I think you're right. Although I don't understand networking very well I'm sure that the use of two routers is making this much more difficult. I'm going to remove the Apple device tonight and give that a shot. I've heard port 8080 is good... any others? thanks again everyone for the help.

[ddarkz]

I use port 85 on my Shaw, but anything should be good.

[ddarkz]

it is little more complex if you are mapping it through Apple to your Telus router, but if you can connect your APEX direct to your telus router, that will be easier.

[makana]

I think 8080 is common. I'm using something in the 5000 range for my vpn.

[lastlight]

So I successfully connect to my apex using the service here:

http://www.reeftronics.net/network-diagnostic

everything checks out and according to the neptune documentation I should now be able to access my controller with my iPhone. I still cannot do this when on wifi or when on 3G.

Most of the time the app says "invalid response" and a few times it says "timed out".

So I'm getting closer but still not quite there. I entered my dyndns address which I used to perform the reeftronics test and also the port which is 8080. The reeftronics test says the port is open and it successfully downloaded the xml file off my controller.

I can access the controller still directly from my browser when inside the network.

Any ideas? Thanks!

Btw I disconnected the Apple router.

[lastlight]

I should add that I have successfully loaded the controller's browser page on my phone with wifi turned off (so from outside my network) using mydyndnsdomain.com:8080 but only a handful of times. usually it seems to just hang but every now and then it works. And a few times with the iPhone app I got the login prompt to appear but usually I see the errors I mentioned. Seems I'm really close but something isn't right.

[lastlight]

ok not sure what was going on before. I can now access the controller on my phone on 3G without fail. Still no luck with the app using wifi or 3G. The app does find the controller but I cannot get the app to load anything after that.

[makana]

well it sounds like you have the networking part figured out. Hopfully someone who has the app working can help you out.

[ddarkz]

Did you fill in the settings inside your app?

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

[lastlight]

When on wifi the app discovers the apex on it's own. outside the network yes i entered the information myself.

I will prob open a thread on the neptune site...

[ddarkz]

Fill in both internal and external IP settings, then try it

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

[lastlight]

when you manually add a controller you can only enter one IP address.

There are only three fields

- controller name (can be anything)
- ip
- port

[ddarkz]

Did you fill in your external IP/port on your app?

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

[lastlight]

yeah i did. the fact that i've gotten a login prompt a couple times must mean it can connect to some degree. seems like the response back from the controller has an issue maybe.

[ddarkz]

Hmm, make sure the username/pass matches what's on your apex unit.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

[lastlight]

it does. the status light in the app even lit green for just a split second once as well not sure if it was a bug or the thing was briefly working.

hopefully someone from neptune replies to my thread over there. thanks for all the help guys.

[lastlight]

GREAT SUCCESS!

http://forum.neptunesystems.com/showthread.php?3640-cannot-connect-using-iPhone-app-(browser-works)

Essentially my unit came with the outlets either not named or named with strange characters. I hadn't done any configuration of them yet obviously so I never even considered this. A clue that should have tipped me off is one of the xml feeds outputted by the controller was broken but I never really thought much of it. Makes sense as that is how the app communicates with the device I think.

Thanks again for the help you guys gave me here.

[ddarkz]

yup, if your names on the devices are not configured correctly, that will throw off the sync.

[lastlight]

next issue seems to be the power monitor. Mine shows 0 even with my mitras plugged into one of the outlets.

[PoonTang]

Does the power bar show up when you are connected in? Make shire you have the correct name for it. You may be trying to read the power on say eb8-3 when it is infact labeled as eb8-4

[lastlight]

well there seems to be a few diff names maybe something is wrong.

Here are my display settings:

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/power1.png

You can see I don't have any other choices:

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/power4.png

Here's where I named the probe:

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/power2.png

Here's the EB8 info on the modules page:

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/power3.png

Any ideas? I do have power monitoring enabled btw.

[lastlight]

I suspect the unit cannot detect the consumption of low power use devices when there is no other significant draw? I only had my pair of mp10s plugged into the unit while i was troubleshooting this issue. I just moved my return pump over to the EB8 as well and now I've got a reading. the funny part is the value is fluctuating and this must be due to the vortcechs ramping up and down. so when there is enough load... maybe the unit can measure them.