Remote Access

[starwarsmike]

Hi needing bit of help

I have a Asus N55u Router & want to setup remote access in Demopad when I'm away from home.

Does anyone know how to set this up ?

My Router supports VPN server, also DDNS.

Any help would be appreciated

Michael

[trevorst]

Hi Mike,
To get remote access working you will need to setup port forwarding for each of the devices you want to control remotely.
You do this in your routers advanced settings usually. The local port will be the device port as shown in your Demopad settings for that device. The public port will be what you enter in the remote setting for the device, any number you choose i.e. something like 3756 etc.

Also most IP addresses from Internet providers are dynamic and change a lot, so you will need to get a dns forwarding setup like dynds.com (http://dyn.com/dns/) to get a fixed IP address.
Then you would enter that address (less the http://) and the public port number you assigned to the device in the devices remote settings.
Now on your phone/iPad that you want to use remotely, turn on remote in the settings for Demopad.

Hope that helps.

[starwarsmike]

Hi Trevorst

Thanks for the information. I understand all port forwarding etc..I do have Dynamic IP. One question my router supports DDNS (free), you get to choose a host name. Will this simple work same as http://dyn.com/dns/?

Thanks again

Michael

[trevorst]

Sounds like it will work from what the Asus site says about it, they are providing the DNS service.. Give it a shot.

What do think of the router ?? Are you using the ADSL modem that is built in.

[starwarsmike]

Hi

Yes i use it for ADSL, I use a Gigabit switch for all my devices. The wireless signal range is very good. My son was always complaining about signal for his PS3, and now says nothing.

I sat writing a post for 10 minutes and submitted it, but hasn't appeared, so here i go again.

I have setup a DDNS Server name with Asus. So for Example If name was michaeldemopad.asuscomm.com, So then do the following;

1), Port Forward 192.168.1.170 (Lights). Port Range 80, Local port 80. TCP
2), In Demopad Device Remote settings enter IP address michaeldemopad.asuscomm.com, and set port to 80
3), Allows remote access from App via iPad settings.

& repeat for each device.

Questions

1), How secure is this? what's stopping someone guessing my DDNS server name and accessing all devices via the ports that are open?, or does the DDNS server only allow devices with MAC addresses that have been inside your home network?
2), The router also comes with a VPN server, this would make it secure, but it would then require username and password authentication, how would this be done then in demopad?

Comments appreciated

Michael

[trevorst]

Hi Mike,
You just hit the nail on the head with security...
We had a thread on https support that I got an answer from Demopad last week.
Demopad only supports http remote connections, so by nature is not secure, there is always a risk.

How big a risk is hard to judge, someone would have to guess your IP address and port numbers (don't use 80 as in your example) and also send the right commands for the associated Device.
I would not use it for security alarms etc, but does come in handy for lights and TV etc for me.

Not sure if VPN could be used, You may look into that.

[starwarsmike]

Trevorst

I have got it working on a VPN network, without the need of insecure port forwarding. I'v got feedback everything working. Also you don't need to enter Remote local information in the Demopad software for each device. With a VPN you are on your home network, like you were at home.

Here's what I done......

My router has a VPN server, so i started the server, created a username & password, applied setting. Then on my iPad went into VPN setting;

iPad Enter
Description - Just a name for reference
Server - Your IP or your DDNS name issued by e.g. DNS.org etc
Account - Username I setup on my router when creating VPN server
RSA Securid- leave off
Password - Your password setup on the router when creating VPN server
Encryption - Put to highest
Send all Traffic- On

Save and turn on VPN. It worked first time.

So i deleted all my ports that were port forwarding. VPN is secure, same as a private network. You can tick the option on the VPN server to encrypt data being sent back and forward. I used MPPE-128 & MPPE-40 (iPad accepts both).

Hope this is helpful to anyone who wants to control your devices when away from home.

Note I am using an Asus N55U router, but any Router that has DDNS (Changes Dynamic to Static IP) & a VPN server will do.

Michael

[starwarsmike]

One thing I missed from my previous post, is when you setup iPad/iPhone with VPN, Choose PPTP at the top.