We have a customer with a new Groov box that he does not want to connect through his plant’s IT network. I suggested connecting to 4G (AT&T or Verizon) via a mobile hot spot and a Cradle Point router. Is this the best method, or is there a better way?
Thanks and Cheers!
Larry
Hi Larry,
Welcome to the forums!
If I could make a suggestion that does not straight up answer your question, but will still help, it would be this;
https://www.opto22.com/support/resources-tools/documents/2161-guide-to-networking-groov
That’s the link to the ‘Guide to Networking Opto 22 Products’, this includes groov.
Well worth a read to give a good feel for some of the options.
Have any of our groov users done what Larry is proposing?
What are some of the things you have learned doing it?
(Larry, how quick do you need an answer?)
Cheers,
Ben.
Thank you Ben. I’ll review the doc and see where that gets us. We’re going to roll this out early next week. James is coming to help with the start up, but I just wanted to try to get as much info ahead of time as I can. I learn much better by having info and digesting it a bit before implementing.
LM
We finally got this customer going. I fought for days trying to get to be able to connect through the customer’s satellite modem and was about to tell the customer he must cancel his 2-year contract before I tried one more thing - I switched the internet connection from the groov port ETH1 to ETH0. VOILA! He is up and running and I have regained most of my sanity. The hair I pulled out may be gone forever, but Ben sets such a great example for bald men I may become one of them.
Should it have mattered that the internet was connected on ETH1? I could not find any documentation to tell me I must be on ETH0.
LM
Hi Larry,
Glad you got it going! To answer your question: no, it should not have mattered. I wonder what else was different between your ETH0 and ETH1 settings? Of course, I’ve fixed a number of things by unplugging and plugging something back in again (or taking something apart, cleaning it, and putting it back together again). I suspect this was a case of “correlation does not imply causation.”
In any case, the only time ETH1 vs. ETH0 should matter is when you’re initially getting set up, since only ETH0 does DHCP.
Getting [I]groov [/I]connected to the Internet is the most complicated piece for most people (the doc that Ben mentioned above usually answers all the questions that come up, about port numbers and VPN, etc.). Of course, we’re always looking for ways to make this easier for our customers. Any/all suggestions, or links to other sites that explain these networking concepts, are greatly appreciated!
-OptoMary
Thank you Mary. I could not tell any differences in the settings between the two ports, so your suggestion about unplugging/plugging the cables might have been the solution. I am sure we all have seen ethernet ports get locked up and appear fine. Of course, since the system is now working I am apprehensive to go back and change the cables back to see if it still works. “Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke.”
The biggest lesson learned out of all this for me is that the IP Address must be internet routable and (should be) static. This was not clear to me before, so I did not know to reinforce this to the customer. The document referenced by you and Ben is very good at explaining this, too, which is why I got so very frustrated at why I could not connect. I was doing everything right according to what I had read. It was out of desperation that I switched the ethernet ports. But, if it worked, I will take the victory.
LM
Yes! I believe in the “ain’t broke” concept too. Glad you got it going.
We’re making some revisions to the [I]groov [/I]Box manual and that networking guide based on your feedback (among others), and settings that were most often missed (like the gateway), especially when it comes to that more advanced step where you connect to your [I]groov [/I]over the Internet.
So thanks for the input, and keep those comments and suggestions coming!
FYI all you groov via the Internet users, especially those doing a port forward… in case you missed the last OptoNews, check out this video where we show the best way to configure your router if you’re doing a port forward:
He happens to be using a Cradlepoint in this one, but concepts are the same for other types of routers.
Also, we’re constantly revising this Networking Guide mentioned above. We’d love to hear about other networking challenges you had (and how you solved them, if applicable). Including products, like Cradlepoint or others, that help make your networking easier.
Things have changed since 2014, but maybe not for the better. When setting up the groovBox it is important to understand that only one gateway is supported and you now need to specify whether this will be on ENET1, ENET2 or WLAN0. Especially if you are using fixed IP addresses instead of DNS servers. In this case not only can things get messed up, but I have even seen the groov box get pretty upset when it couldn’t find the router on the port it thought it should be on.
I recently rediscovered this problem, with Node-RED, where the Groov Box app could be accessed perfectly on the local network, but Node-RED couldn’t get its data exchanged through internet as it couldn’t find the 3G router on ENET1. First World Problems maybe, but there can sometimes be an entire universe between port:10000 and port:1880.
