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Tomy28's avatar
Tomy28
Aspirant
Sep 10, 2022

Connecting furnace to wifi

Hello

I use an RBK23 configuration in my house (RBR20 router + 2 satellites). I want to be able to control a device (furnace) which is connected to one of the satellites through an RJ45 cable. This device needs to have an externally accessible IP. How can I configure this?

Thanks in advance

6 Replies

  • ekhalil's avatar
    ekhalil
    Master
    Sep 10, 2022
    “Externally accessible IP” can mean many things.
    How do you want to access the device from Internet?
    There are few ways to do this. The most secure way is using VPN.
  • CrimpOn's avatar
    CrimpOn
    Guru - Experienced User
    Sep 10, 2022

    ekhalil identified the key issue: How is the furnace to be controlled?

    • Is the goal to telnet into a command line on the furnace computer? (probably not)
    • Is the goal to access a web page put up by the furnace?
    • Is the furnace part of a home management ecosystem (Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Apple)?

    Providing a link to the furnace user manual would be a big help.

     

     

    • Tomy28's avatar
      Tomy28
      Aspirant
      Sep 11, 2022

      Thanks ! Sorry for the lack of details. The goal is to access a webpage put up by the furnace. The manual does not say anything useful about this unfortunately.

      • CrimpOn's avatar
        CrimpOn
        Guru - Experienced User
        Sep 11, 2022
        Tomy28 wrote:

        Thanks ! Sorry for the lack of details. The goal is to access a webpage put up by the furnace.

        There are two methods to access a web page hosted on a device on the local network (LAN):

        • Connect to the LAN using OpenVPN and then open the web page using the IP address of the furnace device.
        • Forward port 80 (http) through the router to the IP address of the furnace device.

        Both of these methods require:

        • That the furnace device have a predictable IP address on the LAN.  This is usually accomplished by reserving the IP address to the MAC address of the furnace Ethernet adapter in the Advanced Tab, LAN Setup Table.
        • That the Orbi router is not "behind" another router.  i.e. the internet IP address of the Orbi router must be a public IP address.

        Setting up OpenVPN is a bit complicated.  See page 122 of the User Manual.

        Forwarding port 80 to the furnace device is done on the Advanced Tab, Advanced Menu, Port Forwarding.

        Instructions for port forwarding are on page 112 of the RBR20 user manual:

        https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RBK50/Orbi_UM_EN.pdf 

         

        You should be aware that forwarding a port through the router to a local device will result in constant attempts to connect to the device from people on the internet who discover that the port is open.  This is an unfortunate consequence of "opening the door".  For example, when I get a phone number, there is nothing I can do to prevent people from calling it.  ("To see if your home is qualified for upgrades, press 1.  If you are already qualified, press 9." -- 20 times every day!)  Once you forward a port, it is up to the furnace device to recognize allowed connections and reject unallowed connections.)