6: Update ISY-99i Configuration on the Network Diagram

Update the ISY-99i entries on network diagram with your values for the following parameters:

ISY-99i

Static IP Address: 192.168.2.200
Netmask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.2.1 (IP address of the Linksys router)
DNS Server: 192.168.2.1 (IP address of the Linksys router)
HTTPS Port: 5275

Local LAN Access URL:

http://192.168.2.200

Secure Internet Access URL:

https://myisyhostname.homedns.org:5275

Your network diagram should now be complete and look like this (the colors correspond to matching values for both devices):

ISY-99i Static IP Address Network Diagram

7: Change the ISY-99i IP Address and Port Number:

Login to the ISY-99i Admin Console and click Help → About. Write down the My URL IP address, e.g. 192.168.2.102.

ISY-99i - Help About with DHCP IP address

7a: Configure the ISY-99i Static IP Address

For Windows XP or Vista, click Start → Run and type telnet. The telnet DOS window is displayed. Open a session to the IP address given in the My URL, e.g. 192.168.2.102. The static IP is configured using the CT command. The following is the telnet session log. Your inputs are highlighted in red per the network diagram. Note that all ISY command are UPPER CASE.

Welcome to Microsoft Telnet Client

Escape Character is 'CTRL+]'

Microsoft Telnet> open 192.168.2.102
Connecting To 192.168.2.102...

Please Log in

Username:admin
Password:********
Hi!
Welcome to ISY Shell
CT - Configure TCP/IP
CWP - Configure Webserver Ports
CWT - Configure Webserver Timeouts
CL - Configure max log size
CR - Configure Max Retries
LS - List files/directories
SU - Show external url
SM - Show memory utilization
ST - Show system time
DT - Disable telnet
DI - Disable internet access
XS - Exit the shell
RS - Reboot the system
RL - Reset login to admin/admin
FR - Factory reset
MN - Menu
VE - Display Version
DBG - Debug [0|1|2]
CME - Configure Maximum Emails per minute
SMR - Max Retry Before Client Is Considered Offline

http://192.168.2.102>CT

IP Address [0.0.0.0]: 192.168.2.200
New IP Address : [192.168.2.200] OK? (Y/N)Y
NetMask    [0.0.0.0]: 255.255.255.0
New NetMask    : [255.255.255.0] OK? (Y/N)Y
Gateway    [0.0.0.0]: 192.168.2.1
New Gateway    : [192.168.2.1] OK? (Y/N)Y
DNS Server [0.0.0.0]: 192.168.2.1
New DNS Server : [192.168.2.1] OK? (Y/N)Y
Save Changes (Y/N)Y
                   Rebooting ... please wait!

Goodbye!

Connection to host lost.

Press any key to continue...

Keep the telnet session open for the next step.

7b: Configure the ISY-99i Web Server Port

Note that the ISY-99i LAN IP address is the static IP address you configured in the previous step, e.g. 192.168.2.200 in this example. Use the CWP command and your network diagram to configure the web server ports.

Telnet session log – your inputs are in red:

Microsoft Telnet> open 192.168.2.200
Connecting To 192.168.2.200

...

Please Log in

Username:admin
Password:********
Hi!
Welcome to ISY Shell
CT - Configure TCP/IP
CWP - Configure Webserver Ports
CWT - Configure Webserver Timeouts
CL - Configure max log size
CR - Configure Max Retries
LS - List files/directories
SU - Show external url
SM - Show memory utilization
ST - Show system time
DT - Disable telnet
DI - Disable internet access
XS - Exit the shell
RS - Reboot the system
RL - Reset login to admin/admin
FR - Factory reset
MN - Menu
VE - Display Version
DBG - Debug [0|1|2]
CME - Configure Maximum Emails per minute
SMR - Max Retry Before Client Is Considered Offline

http://192.168.2.200>CWP

Current HTTP Port [80] (range 1-65536): <press enter - no change>
Invalid port specified
Current HTTPS Port [443] (range 1-65536):5275
Trying to remove existing port forwarding rules from your
Internet Gateway/Router

Port forwarding rules were successfully removed

New HTTP Port [80]
New HTTPS Port [5275]
Trying to re-enable Internet Access for Port [5275] on your
Internet Gateway/Router
Looking For an Internet Gateway

Rebooting ... please wait!

Internet access re-enabled for Port [5275]
Goodbye!

Connection to host lost.

Press any key to continue...

Microsoft Telnet>quit

8: Confirm the ISY-99i Static IP and Port Number

Check Help → About dialog in the Admin Console:

ISY Static IP - Help About with Static IP

My URL now reflects the static IP address and the Internet Access URL shows your ISP dynamic IP address with the new port number.

9: Verify LAN and Internet Access

Test Internet HTTPS access using the DDNS service and port forwarding, e.g. https://myisyhostname.homedns.org:5275.

Click “Add Exception”, “Get Certificate” and “Confirm Security Exception” to view the My Lighting web page. The next time you’ll have SSL certificate saved and will go directly to the My Lighting login page.

ISY Add Security Exception

Next, open a web browser and enter the My URL (i.e. the local LAN IP address), e.g. http://192.168.2.200 to verify you can get the to My Lighting web page.

That’s it! You now have Internet access to the ISY-99i using a static IP address and port forwarding. This method has proven very reliable for me.

I recommend you save a copy of the network diagram with your configuration parameters in a safe place in case you make network changes.

Take care,

Bob Jackson

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Problem with UPnP and Internet Access

The Linksys WRT-54G WiFi router supports Universal Plug-n-Play (UPnP), a feature that automatically detects and configures Internet access for the ISY-99i. However, I kept losing Internet access to the ISY-99i whenever my Internet Service Provider changed my DSL dynamic IP address – which happened every couple of days – even though I was using a DDNS service. I suspected a problem with UPnP and the recommendation from Universal Devices is to use a static IP address with port forwarding to bypass UPnP. Assigning a static IP address to the ISY-99i with port forwarding solved my Internet access reliability problem.

ISY-99i Static IP Address Network Diagram

Network Diagram

The ISY-99i support forum at Universal Devices, Inc. and the Support Wiki are really excellent resources, however I found myself studying different references to figure out what I needed to do. There are many “moving parts” and I found it necessary to create a network diagram (see above) that listed various parameters to sort it all out. Here’s the PowerPoint source file so you can sing along and update it with your particular values: Static IP Address Configuration Network Diagram (PowerPoint).

1: Create a Dynamic DNS (DDNS) Account

DDNS is way to access your home network using an easy to remember hostname like “myhomenetwork.homedns.org” that always resolves to the correct dynamic IP address for your DSL or cable modem broadband service. A software agent in the Linksys WRT-54G router “pings” the DDNS service provider every few minutes, so the service provider can track your current dynamic IP address.

The Linksys WRT-54G supports DDNS by www.DynDNS.org and www.TZO.com. Surf over to the site of your choice and create a free DDNS account. Next, create a new DDNS hostname for your home network:

DynDNS.com - Create a New Host Name

Record the following parameters on the network diagram:

• Your DDNS account user name and password.
• Your DDNS hostname, e.g. “myisyhostname.homedns.org”

2: Pick a Static IP Address

The static IP address you choose for the ISY-99i is simply an IP address outside of the DHCP pool of IP addresses managed by the Linksys router.

Login to the Linksys administrator web page. The default URL is http://192.168.1.1, however I’ve change my router IP address to 192.168.2.1. Go to the Setup → Basic Setup web page.

Click on the image for a full size view.

Linksys WRT-54G Network Setup

Update the network diagram with your values for the following entries:

Router IP Address: 192.168.2.1
Netmask: 255.255.255.0
DHCP Starting IP: 192.168.2.100
# of DHCP Users: 50
DHCP Ending IP: 192.168.2.149

The DHCP Ending IP address is calculated by 149 = 100 + 50 – 1. The DHCP dynamic IP address pool here is the range 192.168.2.100 to 192.168.2.149. A good choice for a static IP address is anything above this range. I choose 192.168.2.200 as it’s well above the last .149 DHCP address. Note: You cannot use the first (x.x.x.0) and last (x.x.x.255) IP addresses in the range because these are the default host and broadcast addresses, respectively, for this subnet.

3: Optionally Configure Static DNS

I prefer to use the OpenDNS services instead of my Internet Service Providers (ISP) DNS servers because it’s more user friendly and gets me to the right place more often if I misspell a URL in the web browser.

Static DNS 1:	208.67.222.222 (OpenDNS)
Static DNS 2:	208.67.220.220 (OpenDNS)
Static DNS 3:	4.2.2.1 (Level 3)

Level 3 Networks is a backup DNS server in case OpenDNS were unavailable.

4: Configure DDNS on the Router

Go to the Setup → DDNS web page on the Linksys router:

Linksys DDNS Setup

Enter your values for the DDNS Service provider, User Name, Password and Host Name. Click Save Settings. The Linksys Router will login to your DDNS account and verify the service is working correctly.

You don’t really care about the Internet IP Address in the DDNS Setup display because this is your DSL or cable modem dynamic IP address that can change at any time.

5: Configure Port Forwarding on the Linksys Router

Port forwarding is a way to map incoming requests from the Internet to a specific IP address on the home network. In this example, the Linksys router will forward packets for port 5275 to the ISY-99i static IP address of 192.168.2.200. Using a different port than the default HTTPS port of 443 is a bit more secure, too.

If you’re wondering which port # to use, here’s the comprehensive list of IANA ports. Just search for “unassigned” and pick an unused port, preferably a higher port number in the four digit range.

Go to the Applications & Gaming → Port Range Forward web page:

Linksys Port Forwarding Setup

I’ve got a couple of ports forwarded for various devices in my network. Enter the following values and record these on your network diagram:

• Application – enter a meaningful name, like “ISY”.
• Start and End Port # – I chose 5275.
• Protocol – TCP
• IP Address – the static IP you picked for the ISY.
• Enable – checked.

Click Save Settings.

Record you Port Forwarding values on the network diagram.

This tutorial is continued in Part 2.

Hope this helps,

Bob Jackson

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