DYNDNS in Vera

Community Playground General Discussions
1

It is very difficult to access findvera.com from Malaysia. It took long time to access and it is really slow. So, I configure my router to have Vera remotely access via dyndns. And, the access is fast. I can control the zwave switches, but cannot view the IP cameras. All videos of my cameras cannot display.
Any one tried on this dyndns already? Can anyone helps in this?

2

I am using a Panasonic BC-C1A camera. That is an IP camera, i.e. it can be accessed from my intranet. I configured vera with dyndns, and opened a port in my router (not vera) to router traffic on that port to my camera. That way I can access the camera from outside as well.

3

nanckekr,
Thanks for your reply.
I did forward the port in my router instead of Vera.
My setting is as below:
I disabled Vera DHCP functions and with fix local IP 192.168.81.2
Belkin router with IP 192.168.81.1
Port forwarding in Belkin Router:
-for Vera : port 80 / IP 192.168.81.2
-for IP camera D-Link DCS910 : port 801 / IP 192.168.81.150
-for IP Camera IU405 : port 1024 / IP 192.168.81.151

(note:the IP camera ports are secondary http ports which already enabled in the IP camera firmware network setting)

Is this the correct way? Or can you share your settings?

Thank you very much…

4

Adam,

I can’t see anything wrong with your settings, although it appear a bit more complicated than what I find necessary.

What I have is the following

DSL modem → WLAN router → VERA (port 80, Dynamic IP assigned by IP router )
→ IP Camera (port 80, Dynamic IP assigned by IP router)

I have programmed the router, to always assign the same IP address to the MAC address of Vera, and similarly for the IP camera).
With this setup, I am using default VERA settings and default IP camera settings. I generally find that setup easier to maintain and extend with more devices. The router is still running the DHCP server so when I plug in a laptop or new computer it just works. Vera will automatically disable her DHCP when she detects another DHCP on the WAN port, so no need to use anything else than default VERA settings.

Now when I know what internal IP my devices (Vera, IP camera etc.) has, I can configure the router to take a public facing port and route that to my internal specific IP address. Notice that since I am running default settings on all my devices, they typically speak port 80, but externally they are accessed through e.g. mydomain.dyndns.org:1234, which the router will route to 192.168.1.3:80, where mydomain.dyndns.org:1235, will be routed to 192.168.1.4:80

Notice in this setup it is important that you connect your router’s LAN plug to Vera’s WAN port. If not, Vera will start up her DHCP server and you will get in trouble.

I hope this helps

5

nanckekr,
Thanks for your advice.
I have problem setting the dyndns in Vera.
When I tried to set my dyndns setting, it prompt to have the dyndns package install first. So, I click the Install dyndns package button. And strat downloading the package form openwrt.org server. An error occurred during the process with the below message:

An error occurred, return value:1.
COllected errors:
ipkg_download: ERROR: Command failed with return value 1: ‘wget --passive-ftp -q -p /tmp/ipkg-0xCqZB http://downloads.x-wrt.org/xwrt/kamikaze/snapshots/brcm-2.4-2.4/packages/Packages’

What do you think is my problem?
For setting the dyndns i go to the openwrt admin page. Is it correct?
Please help me…

6

As was previously discussed on this forum (should be easy to search for the actual thread), the URL for packages is not correct anymore - “bcrm-2.4-2.4” part has been changed to “bcrm-2.4”…

7

I configured dyndns this way:

Save settings and reboot Vera or restart network.

8

nanckekr,
Just Curious, when you download the package to /tmp, are you also installing there?

If so, doesn’t it disappear on reboot?

if you are installing to /, how do you have free space as my / file system says its full?

Also I’m not familiar with the vim command, VI improved? What does your last command do to the ddns file?

Thanks,

9

I guess you can tell, that I am a little rusty in my linux, as I wrote my commands to you wrongly.

You will need to install the package so that the data.tar.gz file ends up in your tmp directory. If you follow the lines I wrote in the post, they will actually end in the root, so move the file manually wiht winscp or what ever you like.

Then back in the command prompt, run the tar xzvf /tmp/data.tar.gz that will install the files in the folders where they need to go. The files are small, so there should be space left on most devices.

After running the second tar, you will see the ddns file in the /etc/config you can then edit that.

Do a google on “vim linux” to get help on how to use the vim editor. It is an upgraded version from vi (thank god! vi is IMHO very difficult to master). You enter your domain and username/password.

Lastly restart the router and you are done

10

nanckekr,
Thanks a lot… But I am new in Linux. When you said login Vera thru telnet or ssh. Do u mean using a Linux PC’s teminal command? I got a Linux kubuntu Machine, just need to know how to login to Vera via teminal?

11

If you are new to unix, then you should go easy on yourself and start simple - i.e. start from windows. VERY soon, you will be drawn to linux and stay there, but you can start simple.

On windows there is an application called putty.exe. You can use that to make a SSH connection to vera, by entering Vera’s local IP address. You will be prompted with username and password. Username is “root” password is blank.

Typically you will want to change your password away from blank. Once logged in through putty, type “passwd root” and enter.

If you have not set any passwords ever, you can also login to Vera through telnet. That iis achieved through a DOS prompt. Telnet 192.168.1.4 (if that is Vera’s ip). This will not work once you have a password set (as far as I have learned).

There is another little windows tool you may want to play with: winscp. You login to vera with same account as through putty, but here you can actually browse the files in vera. You can go and read the log files in /tmp/log/cmh. Don’t worry the warnings winscp through at you when logging in. To download and install winscp do a google.

BR,
Anders

12

Anders,
I managed to get the dyndns downloaded and installed. Thanks for your advice. But, if I set the dyndns in Vera instead of my router. I can’t access Vera from outside. From your previous post. You mentioned you programmed your router to assign same IP to Vera base on Vera’s mac address. How to do it in Belkin router? My Belkin router model is : F5D7231-4 2000.
Thanks for your help…

13

Your manual is here http://www.belkin.com/support/article/?lid=en&pid=F5D7231-4&aid=5388&scid=0

But the file can not download :frowning:

Not a big issue. The section of the router where this is configured is the DHCP server setup. This is the section that starts with you configuring what IP range you want the router to assign addresses in. A bit deeper into this section, you will have a section with “static DHCP client list”. This is where you are configuring what MAC address as given what IP address.

In your router it may be that they are hiding this somewhere under advanced settings or somewhere else deep. Anyway, look for “static DHCP client list”

14

Anders,
There is no Static DHCP Client List setting in my Belkin Router. And, I googling and found that Belkin router is not having this functions. And, lot’s of advance users complaining about this. Anyway, thanks for your help. I am now having the DSL Modem directly link to Vera and let Vera turn on DHCP in Vera. And, follow your instructions to install dyndns package and set-up. I can now access Vera with Cameras videos from outside.
Thanks a lot for your helps… I appreciated it…

And, is it a way to mount an external hard drive to Vera to store the cameras video capture files?

15

Glad you made it work.

If I were you, I would pay the $199 for a lifetime findvera.com membership. With that, you will get online storage of webcam images. That subscription also covers access from remote + iPhone UI. I find it very well worth the investment. After all, Vera is extremely inexpensive compared with any other HA system, so the extra $199 IMHO is worth it.

What you could also do, is to purchase the Schlage door lock, then you get a lock for free, as MiCasaVerde will grant you lifetime access to FindVera.com for free.

I am not working for them, but simply sharing what I am doing personally, and what I will recommend for others.

Having said that, I have heard of someone attaching a USB storage drive, but then we are moving into complicated unix programming, and properly something you would not want to spend time on. But hey if you do, go ahead and let me know what you find out :slight_smile:

I am focusing on getting a good stable Vera installation, and once that is achieved, integrate it with other RS232 controlled applications (I read somewhere that that feature is coming soon). After that I will move onto UI that integrates better with my home installation and overall passion for innovative UI

16

I actually wanted to use findvera.com. But, I got problem to access the server. The speed is very slow. I am from Malaysia. But, when I tried on dyndns.org, the speed is much faster. This is the reason I wanted to have my own video storage.
Anyway, thanks again for your help.

17

Future update will be placed in the wiki page: [url=http://wiki.micasaverde.com/index.php/Networking_Setup:Advanced_Network_Setup]http://wiki.micasaverde.com/index.php/Networking_Setup:Advanced_Network_Setup[/url]

Adam in order to access your Vera box directly you should do the followings:

=== INSTALL DYNDNS PACKAGE ====

[center]A. Vera behind another router[/center]

=== FORWARD PORTS TO VERA ===

If you’re using Vera behind your router you’ll need to forward some ports to it to make it work

PORT 80 : it’s used for the web page viewing, you can secure access by using username and password: go to SETUP->USERS: add an user and check “Require a username and password to access Vera from within my home network.” then press SAVE
PORT 23 : telnet access, not recommended because it can’t be secured, anyone can login remotely
PORT 22 : ssh access, it’s enabled after you set a root password and then telnet access it’s disabled.
PORT 3450 : used in your case for viewing the ip cameras image and some other stuff. This port can’t be secured with user/pass but you can change the dashboard script to not use this port.
Login to Vera’s cli using telnet, then run this command
sed -ir ‘/:3451/data_request?id=camera_control/ s/:3451//port_3451/’ /www/cmh/js/scripts.js
sed -ir ‘/:3451/data_request?id=camera_control/ s/:3451//port_3451/’ /www/cmh/camera.html

So after running the above command you should need only to forward PORT 80 to your Vera.
If you don’t know how to forward ports from your router have a look here:

=== VERA NETWORK SETTINGS ===

You’ve mentioned that your router can’t assign the same ip every time. You can overcome this by setting a static IP to vera.
Go to SETUP->ADVANCED->Net&Wi-Fi
= IP Address =
How can I connect to the Internet? = STATIC
Set an IP from your class ie: 192.168.81.2
Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.81.1 ( your router ip )
DNS: 192.168.81.1 (and your provider dns server)

= Firewall =
Since you’ve already have other router in front set firewall to “No Firewall - bridge”

= Lan =
Since you have other dhcp server set DHCP to disable.
Note: I’ve noticed that your belkin router has the same IP address as Vera’s internal lan: 192.168.81.1. If you’re using vera in Bridge Mode you should change it’s lan ip in something else than your Belkin router ip. ( ie: set it to 192.168.8.1 )

[center]B.Vera connected directly to the internet[/center]

=== OPEN PORTS ON VERA ===

If Vera’s connected directly to the internet and you have your firewall activated you’ll need to open port 80 to access Veras UI.
Go to ADVANCED->Net&Wi-Fi->Advanced configuration
Openwrt Web Ui Will open. Here you need to go to: NETWORK->FIREWALL
New Rule:
Accept → press ADD
select from the upper drop-down
Protocol: TCP → press ADD
Destination Ports: 80
Press SAVE
Press bottom Apply Changes

And now you should be able to access your Vera.

Protect Vera UI with User and Password
Right now everyone can access your Vera UI.
Go to Users tab, check “Require a username and password to access Vera from within my home network.” and add an Username. This will prevent unauthorized persons to access your Vera web site.

=== FORWARD PORTS FROM VERA TO Another device ===

In order to setup port forwarding go to:
Setup->Advanced->Net&Wifi->Advanced configuration->Network->Firewall

New Rule: FORWARD → press ADD
Forward to: internal IP of your camera ( ie 192.168.81.150)
Port: port of your camera (80 it’s for http)
select also from the upper drop down:
Protocol: TCP
Destination Ports: Vera external port (ie 81)
Press SAVE and then Apply Changes from the bottom of the page.

In this scenario I’ve created a port forwarding from Vera’s external ip, on port 81, to 192.168.81.150 internal ip to port 80. So http://vera_external_ip:81 requests will go to http://192.168.81.150

Note: If you don’t know your camera ip and this is dynamically allocated by Vera’s dhcp follow following steps: after you note down your camera MAC Address which should be on the bottom of the device.

-= Identify Camera dhcp IP =-
Go to Setup->Advanced->Net&Wifi->Advanced configuration->Status->Dhcp Clients
According to the MAC address you should be able to identify the ip address here.

In order for the camera to not change its ip you should also set the dhcp server to allocate the same ip every time:

-= Configure DHCP Server leases =-
Go to Setup->Advanced->Net&Wifi->Advanced configuration->Network->Hosts
Complete the “MAC Address” and the “IP Address” field from “Static IP addresses (for DHCP)” tab with the current mac and ip of your camera then press Add, Save Changes and Apply.

18

nanckekr,

I have the ddns scripts package installed and configured, but I can’t seem to get it to work. Is there a log file somewhere?

btw, I had to install it to ram as my root partition was full. so all of my config files are in /tmp/etc/config

Once I get it working, I’ll have to script vera to install the package from a local USB Flash Drive to install and configure ddns everytime it reboots.

19

I don’t know how to handle an installation like you are doing. I just followed the instructions like given, and it worked for me. Only thing I added myself was to ensure that the ddns file was actually installed into the folder where it was expected to be found.

You may very well be able to do what you are trying, I just do not know how…

20

[quote=“tt55du, post:18, topic:164373”]nanckekr,

I have the ddns scripts package installed and configured, but I can’t seem to get it to work. Is there a log file somewhere?

btw, I had to install it to ram as my root partition was full. so all of my config files are in /tmp/etc/config

Once I get it working, I’ll have to script vera to install the package from a local USB Flash Drive to install and configure ddns everytime it reboots.[/quote]

tt55u install it as I’ve mentioned, not from webif page or from cmd line using ipkg install. It will work this way. Another way of installing big packages it’s using an usb stick and using optware package style.