We will now discuss a configuration tutorial for your DSL box, it will allow you to control your home automation system when you are traveling. So you can control your system from your mobile phone or tablet from your home (in your local network) but also from outside using a phone connection data.

Theoretical explanation of port forwarding

You must know a few things to understand how it works. For starters, there are certain elements that will never change.

• To access a website from your web browser you need an IP address (eg http://192.168.1.2) or a domain name (ex: http://myombox.local).
• By default if no port is specified after the IP address, the 80 port will be used by default. Port 80 is used by web servers to send the website to your web browser. You enter eg http://192.168.1.2 or http://192.168.1.2:80 2 addresses are correct, identical and functional. However, it is possible for special need of having to specify a different port in the address (eg for redirected to the port 24508 must be entered http://192.168.1.2:24508).
•  The port to connect to your MyOmBox on your local network will always be 80 (with exceptions to connect SSL)

There are also elements that change and must define to avoid connection problems. The first thing to do is to create a fixed IP address to your and your MyOmBox and BUS/SCS gateway. For more simplicity of use, it is recommended to use your DSL box with the DHCP mode, this system can automatically assign IP addresses to devices on your network, you can access the internet with ease.

To assign a fixed IP to one of the devices on your network, you must copy their “MAC Address” and specify the IP that you want them. Here is an example with a Livebox at Orange France. We assign the IP address 192.168.1.2 to our MyOmBox. It is possible to specify a different address than the one assigned to your DSL box DHCP, but in this case it will restart your MyOmBox so that the new IP to take effect. It is highly recommended to perform the same operation with your home automation gateway …

Port forwarding

Let’s go back now in the thick of it. The goal here is to be able to connect from anywhere to our home automation box to control our home. As stated above we assigned a fixed IP address to MyOmBox and we know that the port must be 80 on the local network. This side of the configuration will never move. The only variable here who may have to change is the IP address of your ADSL .

•  You have a fixed IP address on your local network for your MyOmBox, eg 192.168.1.2
• You have a fixed connection port on your local network for your MyOmBox which is 80. You can not change it.

It remains in this case to define the connection port you will use from the Internet to connect to your DSL box. It will then take to redirect the connection to MyOmBox. We will take for example the port number 12654. You can take any number between 0 and 65000, as long as the port is not used elsewhere on your network.
As you can see below we indicate that we must redirect all connections made from the Internet on 12654 to MyOmBox port 80.

Once this is saved, you can test the connection from your smartphone with your 3G connection. Be careful when trying to access your public IP address (DSL box) and that you are in wifi there is a good chance that it does not work. As explained above addresses to connect to MyOmBox are different if you are home in wifi and if you‘re outside (or even at home on mobile data …).

To test, you need to verify that you are in 3G and enter the address http://YOUR–IP-ADDRESS:12654 in the browser of your smartphone. It is of course necessary to replace “YOUR–IP-ADDRESS” with your current IP address, you can find here for example.

If your IP address change, you have no changes required to your settings. Just get your new IP address and enter your new address as: http://YOUR–NEW–IP-ADDRESS:12654. To be alerted to IP address change of your DSL box you can activate in the administration of the MyOmBox your email notification when IP change. MyOmBox then automatically send you an email with your new login addresses.

The configuration of MyOmBox to switch between the local network and internet

We designed our system to simplify connection to our web Home automation system application, whether you’re at home, or you are on the go.

If you enable the sending of a notification (since the administration of your MyOmBox) at each change of IP address of your ADSL box an email will automatically be sent with your new connection address. For MyOmBox can send you a complete address, you must enter in the administration of MyOmBox the external connection port you have configured earlier. See Screen printing below.

If you want to use a more simple way, it is necessary to have a fixed IP address, or subscribe to a free service like no-ip.org or dtdns.com. Most DSL box allow you to set your services to these login credentials, then when IP change your ADSL box will update your IP on these services automatically… See below an example of a Livebox to orange in France.

If you use this type of service or if you have a fixed IP address, it will be necessary in this case to update your “external connection Url” in the administration of your MyOmBox, remembering to specify the external port. For example http://my-home.dtdns.com:12654, this address will be still valid because she always redirect to your box adsl whatever your IP address, even if it changes…

Once these settings made you will be able to set up a specific launch page on the desktop of your smartphones and tablets. For this you need to go to your web browser and enter the address of your MyOmBox then “/log.php” (eg http://192.168.1.2/log.php or http://myombox.local/log .php). Once the page is loaded you can add it on the Home screen of your mobile device. It will allow you in 1 click access to your interface wherever you are …

This may seem a bit long to set up the first time for people unfamiliar with computers, but once it realized it works very simply setting a daily basis. If you are unable to make this setting, do not hesitate to call your home automation installer …