Can't access HeaterMeter from outside my network

Hi,

I just put together my HeaterMeter (using Pi A+) and started to set it up. Everything seems to be working fine so far except the fact that I cannot access it from outside my network.

Here is what I did to set it up after connecting a Keyboard to the USB and my TV to the HDMI port:

1. modified the /etc/config/network file in the WWAN section to change from DHCP to static as well as setting the IP address to 10.66.77.10 which is an available IP address on my network.

2. using "wifi-client SSID PASSWORD" to configure my WiFi

3. using "uci add_list lucid.http.address=8095" and "uci commit lucid" to add listening port number 8095

4. using "uci del_list lucid.http.address=80" and "uci commit lucid" to remove listening port number 80

I also added a static routing in my router to forward UDP and TCP requests from the outside on port 8095 to 10.66.77.10 (which is the HeaterMeter's IP address) and also have a dynamic IP service like xxxxxxx.noip.me so that I can access my external IP address using that address. I have an IP camera also on that network that I check and which works fine so I know that this service works and has my up to data external IP address correct.

I use my phone to check if I can access the HeaterMeter. And here are the different scenarios I tested and their outcome:

A) When my phone is on WiFi on the same network I can access the HeaterMeter at 10.66.77.10:8095

B) When my phone is on WiFi on the same network I can access the HeaterMeter at xxxxxxx.noip.me:8095

C) When I remove the port forwarding from my router and my phone is on WiFi on the same network I can NO LONGER access the HeaterMeter at xxxxxxx.noip.me:8095 but can still access it at 10.66.77.10:8095 (this I think shows me that when enabled the port forwarding works correctly)

D) When my phone is NOT on WiFi so I am trying to access from outside my network I can NOT access the HeaterMeter at all which makes sense when trying to access it at 10.66.77.10:8095 but doesn't make sense when trying to access it at xxxxxxx.noip.me:8095 because this should still work.

Does anyone know what I am doing wrong or missing? Do I need to set anything else up on the HeaterMeter side of things? I saw there is some routing tables or something in the HeaterMeter config gui. Maybe I need to do something there?

I appreciate any hints or other things to try as I am not sure where to go from here and although it is a great device when just being able to access it from within the network I would really like to be able to use the access from outside the network option.

Thanks!

Tom

It's quite possible that your internet provider is blocking incoming ports, or only allows certain ports. You should be able to find this info from them online somewhere.

What make/model of router are you using?

With regards to assigning a static IP - On almost every wireless router, you can configure "static" DHCP assignments, which means your device will still use DHCP to receive an address, but the router will use the MAC address of the wireless adapter to ensure that the same address is always assigned to that adapter.

look for a setting called 'NAT loopback' & make sure it's enabled (in your router).
I had almost the opposite problem. I could access from no-ip.com address from OUTSIDE the network, but not from within the LAN (had to use local IP). My ISP provided modem/router didn't have NAT loopback. killed the router part of it & set up my home router as PPoE & it all worked.
I also had a few issues with using the same no-ip host with different ports, I'm not sure what was up, but having separate hosts solved it. I now have xxx.no-ip.org:8090 for HM & xxxIPcam.no-ip.org:5000 for my IPcam (I have other hosts, but you get the idea). you can update multiple hosts from the DDNS client in Tomato OR you can set up a 'group' on the no-ip website (I do both...)

Steve_M said:

It's quite possible that your internet provider is blocking incoming ports, or only allows certain ports. You should be able to find this info from them online somewhere.

What make/model of router are you using?

With regards to assigning a static IP - On almost every wireless router, you can configure "static" DHCP assignments, which means your device will still use DHCP to receive an address, but the router will use the MAC address of the wireless adapter to ensure that the same address is always assigned to that adapter.

Click to expand...

I took down my IP cam which was on port 8081 and changed the HM to use this one, I also adjusted the port forwarding. It still behaves the same way as described above. As my webcam was working fine on 8081 I think I can rule out that my internet provider is blocking the incoming port but it was worth checking.

I am using a Linksys WRT54G router.

As far as the IP address goes. I have read about this option of sticking with DHCP and make the router use the MAC address to always give out the same IP to that device but I don't really see the advantage over just having a static IP address. The static IP address seems to be working fine for my IP cam. Do you think using the static IP could cause the problem of not being able to access the HM from the outside?

Any other thoughts about what I can try?

Andy Snider said:

look for a setting called 'NAT loopback' & make sure it's enabled (in your router).
I had almost the opposite problem. I could access from no-ip.com address from OUTSIDE the network, but not from within the LAN (had to use local IP). My ISP provided modem/router didn't have NAT loopback. killed the router part of it & set up my home router as PPoE & it all worked.
I also had a few issues with using the same no-ip host with different ports, I'm not sure what was up, but having separate hosts solved it. I now have xxx.no-ip.org:8090 for HM & xxxIPcam.no-ip.org:5000 for my IPcam (I have other hosts, but you get the idea). you can update multiple hosts from the DDNS client in Tomato OR you can set up a 'group' on the no-ip website (I do both...)

Click to expand...

I am using a Linksys WRT54G and found a setting "Filter Internet NAT Redirection" under Security. It was unchecked. When checking this box I no longer can access the HM from inside my network and still also not from outside the network. I am not sure if this is the setting you mean but it sounds like it has the effect you described. But it does not solve my problem of not being able to access the HM from outside my network.

I also don't think the usage of the same no-ip host with different ports is the problem because as described in my reply above I tried to only use one port (the one I know works for my IP cam) for the HM instead of the IP cam and I still get the same results.

Anything else I can do to get this to work?

When you modified /etc/config/network and changed from dhcp to static, did you add a "gateway" line? If not, your heatermeter won't know how to get packets to the outside world.

You can also check with the route command.


Another reason I like static DHCP entries, less fussing around with things like this, and I have a single screen to show me all of my configured entries instead of trying to remember the IP of that device I configured years ago, but now need to actually manage

Steve_M said:

When you modified /etc/config/network and changed from dhcp to static, did you add a "gateway" line? If not, your heatermeter won't know how to get packets to the outside world.

You can also check with the route command.

Code:

# route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
default         192.168.1.101   0.0.0.0         UG    0      0        0 wlan0

Another reason I like static DHCP entries, less fussing around with things like this, and I have a single screen to show me all of my configured entries instead of trying to remember the IP of that device I configured years ago, but now need to actually manage

Click to expand...

I did not! But I added it now and it is working

I can see now why you would prefer the static DHCP. I probably just change it to that.

Thank you so much for your help and solving my problem, I appreciate it. Now I can go to the store and buy more beer while keeping an eye on the temperatures