After fighting this for a couple of days, I finally have it working. I thought I'd share in the hope that others might have to fight less. I hope I have all this right. I may be leaving things out. Feel free to ask questions or fill in if I've left out any important info. But I hope this is helpful to people!
Get a wireless ethernet bridge. (I bought a Linksys WET54G Ethernet bridge...works great.) Plug that directly into the Macintosh via Ethernet cable. Instructions on how to configure that device are available at http://plantphys.info/advice/WET54G.html. Follow those instructions to get the bridge set up. I also went into the advanced menu and chose “Enable: Cloning Mode.†No idea if that was necessary, but it is working with it enabled. Assuming you have your Airport set up to "Share a single IP address (using DHCP and NAT)" (which is the standard setting), set the Ethernet bridge to "Automatic Configuration: using DHCP". You should be able to unplug it from the ethernet and access it on your wireless network using your web browser with the internet address at 10.0.1.x (where x is the number that got assigned to the Ethernet bridge by your Airport...10.0.1.4 in my case).
Once the bridge is configured and running on your Airport network, you are ready to get the Aquacontroller rolling.
Go into the Aquacontroller’s menu using the buttons on the front. Find Setup: Net Setup. Give it an IP address that is unique on your Airport network. I chose 10.0.1.5. (Note that Airports typically assign in 10.0.1.x, where x is 2-200…choose one of those...make sure it doesn't conflict with something else on your network by choosing a number high enough to be sure.) Use 255.255.255.0 as the Subnet Mask. Use the DNS servers that your ISP provides. Use 10.0.1.1 as the Router (that’s the Airport’s self-assigned IP address.)
Now set up your Aquacontroller’s email and http settings. In my case, my internet provider (Comcast.net) does not block the standard email and http ports, so I could use those. 25 for smtp server and 80 for http server. (I think those are the defaults on the Aquacontroller.) My email smtp server is smtp.Comcast.net; you can figure out what your SMTP server is by looking in your email account settings on your email software.
Now set up email addresses. I set up my personal email address as the outgoing address, my same personal email address as the “to†email address, and my work email address as the alternate address. That way I’ll get the email anywhere I might be, including (twice) on my blackberry. Comcast doesn’t require authentication to send emails, so I left that off. Check your provider and enter your email username and password if needed, and enable authentication. Don’t forget to assign a new administrative login and password to the Aquacontroller so no one can break into your tank.
I think that’s everything on the Aquacontroller, but don’t hold me to that. Restart the aquacontroller using the “restart†option under the “Net Setup†menu. Don’t restart by unplugging it as you may lose all those settings.
Now plug the Aquacontroller into the Ethernet bridge. You may have to restart both the bridge and the Aquacontroller once or twice. You should then be able to find the Aquacontroller on you local Airport network. Open a browser window (Safari or whatever you use.) Enter the IP address you assigned to the Aquacontroller (10.0.1.5, in my case) as the web address. Your computer should open up the Aquacontroller’s website window. Play. Make sure everything's working.
Now set it up so you can access it from the outside world. To do this you need to reconfigure your Airport base station slightly. Open Airport Admin Utility (in your Utilities folder). Select your base station and choose “Configure.’ Select “Port Mapping.†Click “Add†or “+†(depending on your version). Fill in “80†for the Public Port, the Aquacontroller’s assigned IP address for the Private IP Address (10.0.1.5, in my case), and “80†for Private Port. Now restart the base station. (If you have a newer base station, such as an Airport Extreme, the steps might be slightly different, but just play around with it. The settings should be basically the same, even if the software has changed some.)
To access the Aquacontroller from outside your network, you’ll need to know your computer's IP address. Go to http://www.whatismyipaddress.com. That will tell you your IP. You log into the Aquacontroller from the outside world by typing your IP address into the web browser as the web domain. It will look something like this: 78.21.132.121.
I have read some who say that to access it you need your IP address plus some extra digits on the end, such as 78.21.132.121:8080. That wasn’t true in my case, and I don’t think it’s generally true if you use “80†as the http port, because that’s the standard http port. Just use your IP address as provided by http://www.whatismyipaddress.com..
One thing to note: At least in my case (and I think this is true across the board), you can’t test this internet connection from your own IP address. It will not be able to resolve the domain. Test it from a friend’s network or otherwise get outside your IP address (perhaps by using a VPN network to which you have access.) You should be able to log right in.
One last thing. Sign up for a free account at www.dyndns.com. If you have a dynamic IP address (i.e. if your web provider is constantly assigning you a new IP address), then this is a must. It will provide a stable web domain name of your choice (for free!) from which you can always log into your Aquacontroller. Even if you have a static IP address like I do, you still want one. It’s a lot easier to remember a proper text domain name than your multi-digit IP address.
I think that’s it! I hope I didn’t leave anything out…
The coolest thing? I can now access my tank--and change settings--using my Blackberry Pearl. So if I get an alarm email, I can actually go online ANYWHERE and see what's happening in real time!
Love it.
Get a wireless ethernet bridge. (I bought a Linksys WET54G Ethernet bridge...works great.) Plug that directly into the Macintosh via Ethernet cable. Instructions on how to configure that device are available at http://plantphys.info/advice/WET54G.html. Follow those instructions to get the bridge set up. I also went into the advanced menu and chose “Enable: Cloning Mode.†No idea if that was necessary, but it is working with it enabled. Assuming you have your Airport set up to "Share a single IP address (using DHCP and NAT)" (which is the standard setting), set the Ethernet bridge to "Automatic Configuration: using DHCP". You should be able to unplug it from the ethernet and access it on your wireless network using your web browser with the internet address at 10.0.1.x (where x is the number that got assigned to the Ethernet bridge by your Airport...10.0.1.4 in my case).
Once the bridge is configured and running on your Airport network, you are ready to get the Aquacontroller rolling.
Go into the Aquacontroller’s menu using the buttons on the front. Find Setup: Net Setup. Give it an IP address that is unique on your Airport network. I chose 10.0.1.5. (Note that Airports typically assign in 10.0.1.x, where x is 2-200…choose one of those...make sure it doesn't conflict with something else on your network by choosing a number high enough to be sure.) Use 255.255.255.0 as the Subnet Mask. Use the DNS servers that your ISP provides. Use 10.0.1.1 as the Router (that’s the Airport’s self-assigned IP address.)
Now set up your Aquacontroller’s email and http settings. In my case, my internet provider (Comcast.net) does not block the standard email and http ports, so I could use those. 25 for smtp server and 80 for http server. (I think those are the defaults on the Aquacontroller.) My email smtp server is smtp.Comcast.net; you can figure out what your SMTP server is by looking in your email account settings on your email software.
Now set up email addresses. I set up my personal email address as the outgoing address, my same personal email address as the “to†email address, and my work email address as the alternate address. That way I’ll get the email anywhere I might be, including (twice) on my blackberry. Comcast doesn’t require authentication to send emails, so I left that off. Check your provider and enter your email username and password if needed, and enable authentication. Don’t forget to assign a new administrative login and password to the Aquacontroller so no one can break into your tank.
I think that’s everything on the Aquacontroller, but don’t hold me to that. Restart the aquacontroller using the “restart†option under the “Net Setup†menu. Don’t restart by unplugging it as you may lose all those settings.
Now plug the Aquacontroller into the Ethernet bridge. You may have to restart both the bridge and the Aquacontroller once or twice. You should then be able to find the Aquacontroller on you local Airport network. Open a browser window (Safari or whatever you use.) Enter the IP address you assigned to the Aquacontroller (10.0.1.5, in my case) as the web address. Your computer should open up the Aquacontroller’s website window. Play. Make sure everything's working.
Now set it up so you can access it from the outside world. To do this you need to reconfigure your Airport base station slightly. Open Airport Admin Utility (in your Utilities folder). Select your base station and choose “Configure.’ Select “Port Mapping.†Click “Add†or “+†(depending on your version). Fill in “80†for the Public Port, the Aquacontroller’s assigned IP address for the Private IP Address (10.0.1.5, in my case), and “80†for Private Port. Now restart the base station. (If you have a newer base station, such as an Airport Extreme, the steps might be slightly different, but just play around with it. The settings should be basically the same, even if the software has changed some.)
To access the Aquacontroller from outside your network, you’ll need to know your computer's IP address. Go to http://www.whatismyipaddress.com. That will tell you your IP. You log into the Aquacontroller from the outside world by typing your IP address into the web browser as the web domain. It will look something like this: 78.21.132.121.
I have read some who say that to access it you need your IP address plus some extra digits on the end, such as 78.21.132.121:8080. That wasn’t true in my case, and I don’t think it’s generally true if you use “80†as the http port, because that’s the standard http port. Just use your IP address as provided by http://www.whatismyipaddress.com..
One thing to note: At least in my case (and I think this is true across the board), you can’t test this internet connection from your own IP address. It will not be able to resolve the domain. Test it from a friend’s network or otherwise get outside your IP address (perhaps by using a VPN network to which you have access.) You should be able to log right in.
One last thing. Sign up for a free account at www.dyndns.com. If you have a dynamic IP address (i.e. if your web provider is constantly assigning you a new IP address), then this is a must. It will provide a stable web domain name of your choice (for free!) from which you can always log into your Aquacontroller. Even if you have a static IP address like I do, you still want one. It’s a lot easier to remember a proper text domain name than your multi-digit IP address.
I think that’s it! I hope I didn’t leave anything out…
The coolest thing? I can now access my tank--and change settings--using my Blackberry Pearl. So if I get an alarm email, I can actually go online ANYWHERE and see what's happening in real time!
Love it.
