Hello all. I recently upgraded from a Vera 2 to a Vera 3. I was able to get the system up and running correctly using various posts in the forums here but I’ve run into a couple of issues I can’t seem to find any reference to.
The first is port forwarding on Vera 3. On Vera 2 it was under the advanced network settings. Can it be done in Vera 3? If so, how do I do it? I’ve gone through the entire menu (I believe) and cannot find it as an option. I had my cameras viewable outside the network prior to upgrading but need to forward the ports on the Vera 3 device as they are not available now.
The second issue is connections speed. I just upgraded to Roadrunner Lightning (40mbps) but I get nowhere near that speed when I connect through the Vera 3. I am connecting at ~41 mbps using the wireless router/modem they installed but I only see speeds around 10 mbps when I connect to the Vera 3. Ideally, the Roadrunner router would be modem only then a connection to Vera so it acts as my wireless connection. I would turn the wireless off on the Roadrunner equipment. This would be basically back to my original setup which was working the way I wanted. According to the system specs, Vera 3 is b/g/n so it should be capable of speeds up to 150 mbps.
My setup is the Internet connection comes in through a wireless router/modem. Vera is connected to that via Cat5. Firmware is 1.5.408 so up to date as far as I know. The distance between Vera 3 and the laptop I use is maybe 5 feet unobstructed.
Any help is appreciated and let me know if I missed any needed info.
The OpenWrt interface has been disabled by MCV on Vera3 and VeraLite. Apparently people were messing things up too often and it was putting a strain on their support department.
But the functionality is still present if you are willing to ssh into the machine and edit some config files. It’s complicated. (For an idea of how complicated, go look up the “iptables” command.)
As for your bad wireless speeds, these things are notoriously hard to diagnose. Look to the usual suspects: interference from another device on the same/nearby channel; dropping back to g wireless because one device on the WLAN doesn’t speak n wireless. It may be the quality of the radio in the Vera3, but what you describe seems pretty extreme.
That sucks that they disabled OpenWrt. If I had known that I wouldn’t have upgraded since I had the Vera 2 working like I wanted. I’m going to call support tomorrow and see what they will do.
Something I just thought of, I will reconnect my Vera 2 and see what the Internet speeds are with that in place of the Vera 3. As you say, I may have a bad radio or something.
I looked into the iptables but didn’t see anything with instructions. I’ll look further.
I recommend NOT using the Vera as your router. Even though it is a router (and is advertised as such), I am of the opinion is should not be used as a router.
But I’m pretty picky on my router and have dozens of crazy things connected. Why not get a dedicated router for your network stuff and let vera do home automation?
I agree with the above statement. I use a Limksys E1000 with DD-WRT as my main AP (N only) and an older Belkin as an AP (G only for the few G only devices I have) This way my wired and wireless networks are all on the same subnet and my Unix DC handles all DNS,DHCP, IDS, gateway and firewall functions.
Vera’s WAN port is hooked up to a dedicated LAN card on said Unix box and it runs it’s own subnet and is setup on the Unix box with very tightly controlled access to the ‘normal’ network. My plan is to get some wireless IP cams and let those communicate with Vera’s WiFi so I can compartmentalize my home automation network and my normal data/voice network. I wish the Ui5 interface would let me access MAC filtering though.
I just hooked up two Foscams to Vera 3 and for the life of me can’t remember the link to the port forwarding so I can use port forwards to access the cams from outside.
[quote=“garrettwp, post:9, topic:172602”]If you are on UI5, their is no port forwarding. MCV did not add this back. It only works in UI4.
Garrett[/quote]
censored I am on UI5. I’m hoping MCV adds this back, as now I’m limited to viewing the cams via Vera instead of having a secondary way of accessing them directly. I really hate to put the cameras on my normal wireless LAN as I prefer the HA stuff being on it’s own separate LAN.
Update: MCV may have removed it, but you can still do it under OpenWRT. I decided to SSH into Vera and sure enough, if you are not afraid to do some command line and VI, you can still do port forward. I’m now able to access both my foscams.
Assuming your IP camera’s are connected to your Vera, either via wired or wireless.
Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any damage to your Vera as a result of the below. Do not attempt this unless you are familiar with the VI editor and the Unix command line.
SSH into your Vera
Go to /etc/config
use vi to open the firewall file in that folder
Go to the end of the file.
For every port to forward, enter the below lines:
config ‘redirect’
option ‘name’ ‘IPCam’
option ‘src’ ‘wan’
option ‘proto’ ‘tcpudp’
option ‘src_dport’ ‘8082’
option ‘dest_ip’ ‘192.168.1.100’
option ‘dest_port’ ‘80’
option ‘target’ ‘DNAT’
option ‘dest’ ‘lan’
Edit the above lines to reflect the ‘name’ eg (Ipcam1), ‘src_dport’ (port on Vera for the camera), ‘dest_ip’ (IP of your camera) and ‘dest_port’ (standard port on your camera)
Repeat step 6 for every camera you want to access, making sure to change the ‘src_dport’ accordingly. Eg 8081 for ipcam1, 8082 for ipcam2 etc. As well as the IP address and name.
Save the file and log off.
Use your browser to access your Vera and in the Setup menu under Net &Wifi click the Reboot button.
Once Vera is rebooted, in a browser enter veraip:8081 (where veraIP is the IP of your Vera and 8081 is the port you set above for your camare. You should now see the webpage for your camera. If not, double check the values you entered above. (the ’ are important as is the case.
If Vera is inside your network, you’ll also have to do a port forward for each camera (to the port you set up on Vera) on your main router. Due to the variety of these and the different ways they do port forward, please consult your manual.
As this is a non-standard modification and will most likely be wiped out by the next OS upgrade, keep a copy of your entries somewhere so you can redo them if needed.
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I’m now able to access both my foscams.