Remote access/port-forward help.

[UrBaN]

Hey guys,

I have a customer in Mozambique who requires remote access to a serial device.

They have a temperature controller running on RS-485 which they need to control over the net.

We will supply an RS-485/Ethernet converter to give it Ethernet access, as well as Serial/IP software to give them Ethernet access to the serial port on the converter.

The problem I have is getting the data from the connecting PC in RSA to the device in Moz.

Two ways to do it would be via a VPN, or direct-connection to the router and port-forwarding the data.

The router is not on an ADSL line with a static IP, so I need to either:
a) Get a static IP line to do this, or
b) Setup dynDNS on the router (if it supports it) and connect that way, or
c) Setup dynDNS on a networked PC and use that PC to port-forward the connection...

Am I missing something, is there an easier way? At this point I don't know if the router supports either dynDNS or port-forwarding, I'm just hoping it does.

Once that's all setup though, how do I go about setting up the port-forwarding?

Do I simply tell the router that any comm coming from x.x.x.x gets forwarded to y.y.y.y? Or do I tell it any comm using com port XYZ gets forwarded to y.y.y.y?

Thanks for the help

[SBSP]

as far as the serial config goes i cant help, but.


Routers normally dont like it if you forward to out of range IP's.

So make sure your router forward to IP's in the same range
E.G 10.0.0.1(ROUTER) Port 3455 ----> 10.0.0.2(TEMPRATURE DEVICE) 5895 Should work fine.
NATing sometimes causes problems, in your case you will be natting to an ip then converting to serial. If the serial
temprature device instructions is not too complicated it should work ok. (But remember converting from serial to IP isnt always working)


If your router doesnt have forwarding, then you might have a problem.

You can still set up a PC with dynDNS software then forward from that PC to the temprature device9In same range), by using software.
Ive been looking for software that can portforward and could never find something propper.

You can try Fpipe(FREE)good, TansuTCP(FREE But not ideal), or PortMarshal(NOT FREE 30 day eval, But the best and easier to use.)

Edit:

Do I simply tell the router that any comm coming from x.x.x.x gets forwarded to y.y.y.y? Or do I tell it any comm using com port XYZ gets forwarded to y.y.y.y?

Differnet routers and firewalls have different ways of displaying this.
But yes its as simple as that.

As the connection comes in it takes it as is and direct it to a different ip.

Simple E.G
1.) 10.0.0.1:3389 Port forward Service (PC or Router)
2.) 10.0.0.2:3389 Dekstop PC with Remote Desktop.
3.) 10.0.0.3 Connects to 10.0.0.1 but ends up connecting to 10.0.0.2 via 10.0.0.1 (Simple form of tunneling)