Can't Access Apex Outside Home Network

[144HalfRound]

I've had my Apex up and running for a few weeks with apex controlling my temp, ph, ATO, Tunze's and 2 dosing pumps. All is going well, but I still can't figure out the out of network access. Here's what I've done so far;

Disabled DHCP within Apex
Set Dlink router to forward Apex IP address
Set up DynDns account with home computer IP address
Using port 80

I'm trying to access my apex by the following outside the network;

xxxxxxxx.dyndns_remote.com (xxxxxxx is my dyndns user name)
xxxxxxxx.dyndns_remote.com:80
xxxxxxxx.dyndns_remote.com:8000

Have I missed something, any suggestions.

 

[aquamanic]

Couple of possibilities:

1. DynDNS needs your router's IP address not your home PC.
2. Many ISP's block port 80. If your ISP does block it, then you need to define a different port number on the Apex and in your router's port forwarding section.

 

[144HalfRound]

Well, I went into Dyndns and changed the IP address to the router, then tried that why out success so I changed the port to 99 in the router forwarding and on the apex. Still not able to access. How do I check for available ports. Possibly 99 is not available?

 

[cm11599ps]

What are IP address are you using to access outside of your home network?

When you access your router while at home you probably type something like 192.168.1.1 That is the IP address of your router. If you are home and type in 192.168.1.1:80 then you might be able to get to where you want to. Another option is to type localhost:80

Once you are outisde your home netowrk that 192.168.1.1 address isn't going to work. You need a different ip address. Try visiting http://whatsmyipaddress.com/ and it will tell you what your IP address is. Once there, type in the string of numbers it gives you and then try whatever port you selected.

 

[aquamanic]

I should have been clearer on the router IP address. I'm talking about the IP address on the public side of your router, not your private/home side. Chapter 2 of the New User Guide will take you through the process and the theory behind port forwarding, domain name services, selecting a new port number, etc. See if that helps.

 

[144HalfRound]

Now I'm confused about what IP address to put in mydyndns host server. Do I put my internal router IP address or the address I get when I go to "whatsmyipadddress.com? Once I get that straight, for access externally, do I use the xxxxxxx.dyndns_remote.com:99 to access apex?

 

[cm11599ps]

You would use the whatsmyipaddress:80 to access outside your home network.

 

[aquamanic]

You can use either the 'whatismyipaddress'ortnumber or you can use your Dyndns hostnameortnumber.

The whole purpose of DynDNS is to keep track of the public IP address your ISP gives you and will change every week or so. The hostname that you assigned when setting up your DynDNS account will never change but the IP address will. Both/either will work but for how long are you going to keep track of that public IP address?

edit: those dang smilies - should be a colon "p" where the faces are.

 

[RussM]

Now I'm confused about what IP address to put in mydyndns host server. Do I put my internal router IP address or the address I get when I go to "whatsmyipadddress.com? Once I get that straight, for access externally, do I use the xxxxxxx.dyndns_remote.com:99 to access apex?

When you sign into DyDNS, go to the My Hosts page, then click on the hostname you chose. In the IP Address section, click on the blue link that says "Your current location's IP address is ..." It will automatically fill the IP address field with the proper public IP address value (note that you must be at home for this to work)... no need to use another web site and copy the numbers.

Then, use http://xxxxxxx.dyndns_remote.com:99

With most web browsers, you MUST put http:// in front of the full hostname in the address bar if using a non-standard port.

 

[aquamanic]

With most web browsers, you MUST put http:// in front of the full hostname in the address bar if using a non-standard port.

I didn't know that. So if you used the default port you don't need the http? I think I include it by habit!

 

[RussM]

I didn't know that. So if you used the default port you don't need the http? I think I include it by habit!

That first part of a full URL (the part up to and including the colon) is called the URI scheme; in many cases, it identifies the protocol to be used, i.e. http, https, ftp, etc. Each such protocol has a well-known port associated with it, so when you type a URL beginning with http, it knows to use destination port 80 for that connection by default. Likewise, if the URL begins with https, it will use destination port 443. So, when you just type in a normal website address by itself (like 'www.reefcentral.com), most browsers just assume that you meant to use http (and port 80). When we use custom ports, for example 1234, they do not have a well-known service associated with them, so we usually must tell the browser which protocol to use by including the proper URI scheme (sometimes erroneously called a URL prefix)

Browsers in general will assume http unless something else is specified. If I type 'apex.reeftronics.net:1234' into Firefox, it will look to see it port 1234 has a known protocol assigned; since it doesn't, it will then fallback and try to use http. So in newer FF, you can just type in apex.reeftronics.net:1234 and it will work. But in IE9, anything without a URI scheme may get treated as a search term instead of as a URL.

Try these three in IE9 and see the difference in behavior:
apex.reeftronics.net
apex.reeftronics.net:7333
http://apex.reeftronics.net:7333

Some browsers simply choke on a base URL with a non-standard port if no URI scheme is specified.

 

[144HalfRound]

Thanks everyone for your help. I finally got access outside the network. One of the problems was pretty simple. I was using an underscore between dysdns_remote instead of dysdns-remove. It's always the little things in life that get ya.