I am the brewer of a small Nano-brewery in CNY and I am using the BCS 460 to control 3 solenoids. The solenoids will open and shut to allow glycol in to cool my fermenters and shut off when cooled. I have no issues connecting to the BCS 460 while on a computer on our wireless network, but I can not access it remotely while away from home.
Here is the set up: Westell 6100G Modem (Verizon ISP) ----> Linksys WRT120n Router (They are not bridged) ----> BCS 460 into port 1 on router.
ISP has assigned a Static IP for the BCS 460 and the Wireless router has also assigned it a Static IP. I have been able to access it in the Brewery (on the network) via the wireless IP, but not through the modem IP. I have set up dyndns, and can access it via the dns (while on the network) but not remotely. I have forwarded the ports on the router to the Static IP of the BCS and changed the settings on the BCS communications settings page. Still nothing remotely. I also have the DNS Upgrader running on my iMAC and it updates the IP well. Any help on this issue would be greatly appreciated.
You state the ISP assigned a static IP, but you also say you're using DynDNS. Is the static IP only an internal IP then and not a static external IP? What are the IP ranges used on the Westell, Linksys and BCS? With that setup, it appears to me you are doing a double NAT. Where are your internal IP addresses (for PC's, printers, BCS, etc.) assigned? Is that from the Westell?
You really should pick between either using the routing/firewall functions of the Westell or the Linksys, but not both. Either put the 6100 into bridged mode and do all your internal forwarding, nat & firewall at the Linksys or continue to use the 6100 as the firewall/nat/router and only use the Linksys for wireless functions (no connection on the WAN, no DHCP and no firewall rules).
JonW wrote:You state the ISP assigned a static IP, but you also say you're using DynDNS. Is the static IP only an internal IP then and not a static external IP? What are the IP ranges used on the Westell, Linksys and BCS? With that setup, it appears to me you are doing a double NAT. Where are your internal IP addresses (for PC's, printers, BCS, etc.) assigned? Is that from the Westell?
You really should pick between either using the routing/firewall functions of the Westell or the Linksys, but not both. Either put the 6100 into bridged mode and do all your internal forwarding, nat & firewall at the Linksys or continue to use the 6100 as the firewall/nat/router and only use the Linksys for wireless functions (no connection on the WAN, no DHCP and no firewall rules).
Jon,
Thank you for your response. I meant that the Westell modem had assigned a Static IP to the BCS. My ISP has a dynamic IP and that is why I had DynDns.
Can I just bridge the modem to my router and then use that to control the BCS remotely? If I bridge the them will I need the DynDns or can I just port forward to my BCS? I am learning this I go, I apologize. The link you sent is great direction for me to bridge to the router, I just need to figure out how to forward the ports and set up a NAT. Thanks so much for your help.
Make sure you have DynDNS running on the router that gets the external IP address.. In your case, the ISP is giving an IP address to the 6100G. The 6100G is assigning an address to the Linksys. And then the Linksys is assigning an address to the BCS. Like Jon said, when you have more than one device handling routing/firewall control, it gets complicated fast. Sounds like you setup port forwarding on one device, the the 2nd is blocking access.
You definitely need to setup DynDNS on the 6100G, which will link the external IP address to the service. After that, there are a number of options on which way to go... But my advice is to forward ALL ports from the 6100G to the Linksys. Sometimes the routers have a DMZ setting or Bridge mode, where it basically becomes a passthru device. This way the Linksys will be your firewall, and handle all security. The linksys will, however need its own static IP address from the 6100G (if you're fowarding all traffic to something, that something needs a consistent address).
Sounds like the linksys is already setup to forward the BCS port, so hopefully that will get you access.
Also, something to look out for... For some reason, I can't use the dynDNS address while I'm inside my network. It only works (for me) when I'm on a computer on the outside. I'm not exactly sure why .. I only started having this issue when I switched to Qwest, so its probably something simple. But its not really an issue for me because I just type in the internal BCS ip address.
ECC wrote:Make sure you have DynDNS running on the router that gets the external IP address.. In your case, the ISP is giving an IP address to the 6100G. The 6100G is assigning an address to the Linksys. And then the Linksys is assigning an address to the BCS. Like Jon said, when you have more than one device handling routing/firewall control, it gets complicated fast. Sounds like you setup port forwarding on one device, the the 2nd is blocking access.
You definitely need to setup DynDNS on the 6100G, which will link the external IP address to the service. After that, there are a number of options on which way to go... But my advice is to forward ALL ports from the 6100G to the Linksys. Sometimes the routers have a DMZ setting or Bridge mode, where it basically becomes a passthru device. This way the Linksys will be your firewall, and handle all security. The linksys will, however need its own static IP address from the 6100G (if you're fowarding all traffic to something, that something needs a consistent address).
Sounds like the linksys is already setup to forward the BCS port, so hopefully that will get you access.
Also, something to look out for... For some reason, I can't use the dynDNS address while I'm inside my network. It only works (for me) when I'm on a computer on the outside. I'm not exactly sure why .. I only started having this issue when I switched to Qwest, so its probably something simple. But its not really an issue for me because I just type in the internal BCS ip address.
Hey Guys,
Thank you to both of you! Problem solved! It was the Router and Modem fighting over the BCS. Bridged the router and presto! Thanks again for all your help. Now I just need to program it to work with fermenters. I will let you know how it works out! Cheers!
ECC wrote:Also, something to look out for... For some reason, I can't use the dynDNS address while I'm inside my network. It only works (for me) when I'm on a computer on the outside. I'm not exactly sure why .. I only started having this issue when I switched to Qwest, so its probably something simple. But its not really an issue for me because I just type in the internal BCS ip address.
This is generally a problem of router loopback. See if you have an option in the setup to enable loopback mode.
Another option is to simply enter the internal address in your hosts file using the dynDNS name. However, if you travel with that computer, that will cause problems once you are outside your network. What are you using for DNS? You may be able to put in a DNS entry to resolve to the internal IP name as well.
ECC wrote:Also, something to look out for... For some reason, I can't use the dynDNS address while I'm inside my network. It only works (for me) when I'm on a computer on the outside. I'm not exactly sure why .. I only started having this issue when I switched to Qwest, so its probably something simple. But its not really an issue for me because I just type in the internal BCS ip address.
This is generally a problem of router loopback. See if you have an option in the setup to enable loopback mode.
Another option is to simply enter the internal address in your hosts file using the dynDNS name. However, if you travel with that computer, that will cause problems once you are outside your network. What are you using for DNS? You may be able to put in a DNS entry to resolve to the internal IP name as well.
I am using dyndns.com. I was not having a problem accessing the BCS from my computer or outside the network, but it seems as though I can't access it after a day goes by. I seems as though something that should be static is not remaining static. Any ideas? I could access it fine all day yesterday from my house and this morning I could not. I checked the IP on the BCS and it has remained the same.
