Remote Access

Questions and Answers that relate to the [CS] Version of POS Pizza 6 and 7
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Fat Tonys
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Remote Access

Post by Fat Tonys »

The whole reason I bought this software was so that I can remotely access my data. I can't seem to get this to work and am not sure if really works or my router a Belkin N series just isn't compatible. I don't know much about routers but have a driver who is fairly computer savvy set it up. He said the router is properly configured and wrote down my IP. I followed the directions from my laptop and couldn't make it work. Can someone give me some help on this?
H-Man
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Re: Remote Access

Post by H-Man »

I followed Scott's advice and hired someone to do it. I initially tried reading some stuff online and attempted to get it setup myself, but figured my time was better spent hiring someone who actually knows what they're doing. There was also the fear that I would mess something else up, and end up with no internet at all, so hiring someone else made me feel a lot better too. It was worth every penny and I can remote into my store at anytime and see how things are going when I am not there.
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durbancic
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Re: Remote Access

Post by durbancic »

I had it working, but then got a new modem & it has not worked since. I need to pursue it again.

Did you follow the steps in the remote access thread? If you can let us know what you have done maybe we can help figure out where its going wrong.
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Scott
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Re: Remote Access

Post by Scott »

Tony, there are so many factors that play into this, so this is the reason that we just decided NOT to to support router configurations or remote access setup. Your router may actually be configured perfectly fine, and the ISP could be blocking the inbound traffic. Many ISPs block most all inbound traffic. Some ISPs charge extra to allow inbound traffic. Basically a TCP/IP packet is a TCP/IP packet, and if it gets correctly routed from point A to point B then the two hosts can communicate with each other. The return packets must also get back without problems either. Remote access is possible for this very reason. If your client and server can communicate then you get a connection. Outside access is really no different than inside access other than the fact that the packets have to travel across multiple networks and be properly routed.

First you want to make sure that your router is forwarding TCP port: 54181 requests from the WAN (internet port) to the LAN (inside network). You will also need to know where they get forwarded to (the computer's local IP address that is running the POS Pizza server). This being the case, you need to make sure that the local PC has a STATIC IP address, otherwise it will work one day, and then fail once that PC is rebooted and your router assigns it a different address.

Next you need to see if your router is even receiving the Port 54181 requests. They could be getting blocked by the ISP, or even by your router's built-in firewall. If you have a firewall on your router, you will also need to ensure that this traffic is allowed to pass through.

If your ISP is blocking ports, you can do a couple of things. First call them and tell them what you want to do and ask them if they're blocking that port, if so ask if they can open it or recommend an alternate port. The other would be to pick some alternate port that would usually be open like 5060 (used by VoIP). If you have VoIP then DON'T DO THIS!

If you go to an alternate port, you can do this at the router level where port A from the internet translates to port B on the LAN (This is called Port Address Translation (PAT)), or you can actually change the server's default port to some other port and then allow access to that port through the router. If you change the server's port, you will also need to change the clients to use this port by specifying the new port number after the IP address and separated by a colon. eg. 192.168.1.10:1234 <-- Would access a server at address 192.168.1.10 on port 1234. If your clients auto-detect, they will still work provided any PC firewalls are adjusted to the new port numbers as well.

Another option is to set your server on a DMZ port. This is dangerous unless you are very familiar with what services are running on that PC. Shutdown any sharing, or other un-needed options and make sure that you use a software firewall on this PC if you do this!

As you can see there are loads of options and possibilities that all can effect how easy or how hard setting up remote access can be. This is just scratching the surface since I haven't even gone into keeping track of your router's WAN address since that is the one that you will need to use to remotely access the server. This is why it is well worth your while to hire someone to do this for you. Your ISP also more than likely would be able to help you get this done, and would be your best first choice.

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Fat Tonys
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Re: Remote Access

Post by Fat Tonys »

Thanks for your responses. Scott I really got lost on your message but let me tell you what we did so far. I brought my laptop into my store and my driver used the docs and set up the router. He then showed me on my laptop from right there that a list opened with my store in it. I picked that, then picked the database and it connected just fine. I tried this from home and it did not work. I have no idea why, it works fine from the store but not from outside.
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Scott
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Re: Remote Access

Post by Scott »

Fat Tonys wrote:He then showed me on my laptop from right there that a list opened with my store in it. I picked that, then picked the database and it connected just fine. I tried this from home and it did not work.
It sounds to me like you are connecting to the Computer's IP address and not the router's WAN address. If the address is one of the private ones (starting with 192.168. or 10.10 as the most common ones), then that explains why you can't connect. You need to use the routers address and not the computers.

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Fat Tonys
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Re: Remote Access

Post by Fat Tonys »

The address starts with 192.168. How does this prevent it from working? If I changed it to something else would it work? I am going to have to have my driver get on and read this stuff to make sure that he did it right. If he can't fix it Monday, then I guess I will have to call my isp.
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Scott
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Re: Remote Access

Post by Scott »

Fat Tonys wrote:The address starts with 192.168. How does this prevent it from working? If I changed it to something else would it work? I am going to have to have my driver get on and read this stuff to make sure that he did it right. If he can't fix it Monday, then I guess I will have to call my isp.
Those addresses are set aside as "private" address blocks, and as such, they are not routed over the internet. Basically if you are trying to connect to a server on a 192.168.x.x block from home (or elsewhere), that packet won't get routed to your store (or even past the source ISP for that matter), because no one knows that you are using that address block there for one, and it is also private and in use by hundreds of thousands of users. These addresses aren't unique which is what an address has to be in order to be "public".

You definitely want someone who fully understands TCP/IP networks and the Internet to set up remote access for you. You definitely have it setup incorrectly based on what you have said so far.

I am not going to get in-depth on this, but if you're interested, this may help explain it better: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_network

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Fat Tonys
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Re: Remote Access

Post by Fat Tonys »

I got it working. I called my provider like you said, and they were able to get it working. Thanks for your help.
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