Problems with my IP Address

[Mickey]

I use an AC3Pro and have had it set up for a number of years working perfectly. Suddenly a few weeks ago I haven't been able to connect via the internet.

I know there have been changes with DYNDNS.org and free accounts, but I have been checking monthly and making sure that my IP address is correct. My internet service is with AT&T Uverse and surprisingly enough I have a static IP address - at least it hasn't changed in a year or so.

When I try to connect to the Aquacontroller from the internet I get this message:

The requested URL could not be retrieved

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While trying to retrieve the URL: http://www.mickeysreef.getmyip.com/

The following error was encountered:

Unable to determine IP address from host name for www.mickeysreef.getmyip.com
The dnsserver returned:

Name Error: The domain name does not exist.
This means that:

The cache was not able to resolve the hostname presented in the URL.
Check if the address is correct.
Your cache administrator is root.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I just checked again and the IP address at DYNDNS is correct. When I am at home I can connect fine through the intranet and I can ping the AC3Pro as well.

[kenargo]

It sounds like your IP address was expired. I tried it here and it fails as well.

[kurt_n]

Try without the "www".

I went to http://mickeysreef.getmyip.com and received a log in prompt. I assume the log in prompt was from your AC3Pro.

[Mickey]

I have tried it without the www. and I do get the login prompt, but when I input the userid and password I then get the same error. It is odd that I get the login screen and I don't understand that.

My understanding of the changes at DynDns is that I now need to use the www with the free account as they took away the option of handling an alias.

The DynDns site shows my IP address was last updated on 6/27. There is nothing that indicates the free account is expired and I have been diligent about updating it ever since they made the changes.

[RussM]

Originally Posted by Mickey

My understanding of the changes at DynDns is that I now need to use the www with the free account as they took away the option of handling an alias..

that's not the case. Many people use a simple hostname.domain.com/.net/.org URL with free accounts, old and new.

Use the display menu to verify the username and password.

[RussM]

In the host record for your dyndns account, is the wildcard option there? If it is, is it enabled or disabled?

I would not be surprised if they have eliminated that option for free accounts.

[Mickey]

The wildcard option is definitely disabled and a note has been added that it is only for DYNDNS Pro users - which is not the free account.

So, how else can I tell if my account is disabled? As I said, it shows as having been updated last on 6/27/2012.

[RussM]

Your dyndns account is not expired; mickeysreef.getmyip.com resolves to an IP address 99.39.125.xxx, which is allocated to AT&T, so things there are OK. The only change, apparently, is that you can no longer use wildcard hostnames. Most people have no use for them anyway... a standard hostname is just fine for our purposes. There's even an up-side... you now have 4 less characters to type in (www.)

If your account was expired, it would not resolve to an IP address - my DNS query would have been answered with a "not found" message.

[Mickey]

So, what do I need to do to access AC3Pro from outside my network? I've been struggling with this for a couple of weeks. I understand just enough of this to cause trouble but not enough to fix it. Grrrrrrr. The only other thing I can think of is that one of the settings is bad. I did have some problems a few weeks ago with my gateway/router and I had to update my settings, could I have something set up wrong? I can access it via my network and I can ping it from a cmd prompt.

I'm also looking to find an Updater that will update the IP with DYNDNS.org periodically even if it isn't changed. I'm sure one of these days I'm going to forget and my account will expire. Any suggestions?

[Mickey]

I decided to try one more time accessing it directly. It took two tries but I did get in to it via http://99.39.125.XXX:80/. Firefox might be a little wonky too hence the two tries.

Anyway, this seems to tell me that DYNDNS isn't forwarding it correctly. I'll try checking with them to confirm my account is active, but they don't offer support for free accounts.

Does anyone have another suggestion for somewhere else I can go for this service? I'd rather not pay $20 per year. With my luck my provider will change my IP address when I'm traveling for a time and need the remote access the most.

Mickey

[RussM]

Originally Posted by Mickey

I decided to try one more time accessing it directly. It took two tries but I did get in to it via http://99.39.125.XXX:80/. Firefox might be a little wonky too hence the two tries.

Anyway, this seems to tell me that DYNDNS isn't forwarding it correctly. I'll try checking with them to confirm my account is active, but they don't offer support for free accounts.

Your account and hostname *ARE* active, and by all indications I can see, are working properly. The Service Type for your hostname should be Host with IP address. If you changed to a different option, like WebHop, change it back to Host with IP address.

Try this: open a Command Prompt, and type:

ping mickeysreef.getmyip.com[ENTER]

You should see a response like this:

Pinging mickeysreef.getmyip.com [99.39.125.xxx] with 32 bytes of data:

(I put the xxx in, of course)

If the IP address listed in that line is the same as the IP address you tried with http://99.39.125.XXX:80/, then all is well with your hostname and account.

Is the AC3 the only thing you have port forwarding defined for in your router?

When I try mickeysreef.getmyip.com, I get a login prompt that definitely appears to be as I would expect from a Neptune controller.

Originally Posted by Mickey

Does anyone have another suggestion for somewhere else I can go for this service? I'd rather not pay $20 per year. With my luck my provider will change my IP address when I'm traveling for a time and need the remote access the most.

There are quite a few other dynamic DNS providers out there, but I still do not believe that you have a dyndns problem.

It's generally best to use the DynDNS update feature in your router if it has one. In your case, that is not an option because the bleepin' 2Wire routers issued by AT&T don't support any form of DDNS.

You can download the Dyn.com updater software and run that on a PC or Mac. But (there's always a "but"!) that computer needs to be on all of the time or at least frequently in order for the updater to work properly. And the computer on which the updater software is installed should not be a portable, i.e. a notebook which is taken to work/school/Starbucks/grandma's house/girlfriend's house/etc., or the updater will update your DynDNS account with the public IP address of wherever that computer is at - and that's not a good thing! Even if you change to another DDNS service like no-ip.org, you will still have this caveat.

[kurt_n]

Originally Posted by RussM

...
There are quite a few other dynamic DNS providers out there, but I still do not believe that you have a dyndns problem...

Agree. I've been using the free dyndns site for a couple years now - before they limited your options with the free account. And everything now still works just as it did before. I haven't had any issues. And from the log in prompts I saw earlier in the day, it's definitely resolving to your controller correctly.

Have you changed your internal network recently? Added a new wireless bridge or adapter? Moved your wireless router from where it was? If so, maybe you're losing the connection between the router and the controller? Just talking out loud... as I'm not sure what the problem is. But I don't think it's dyndns.

[Mickey]

It's very odd and I truly appreciate you trying to help me out.

When I ping mickeysreef I get the expected response and the IP is correct. So that is good.

When I type mickeysreef.getmyip.com in my browser, I get an error in Firefox and I get brought to Google search results in IE. When I type www.mickeysreef.getmyip I get Internet Guide search results from Dynamic Network Services. Five minutes later I tried again by typing in mickeysreef.getmyip.com and it brought me right in correctly without even a log in screen.

Could the problem be with the AC3Pro itself? Or is it influenced by the fact I'm doing this from within my own network right now? Earlier today I tried it from work and couldn't connect no matter what I did.

Thanks again for sticking with me.

[Mickey]

P.S. I also have the DynDNS Updater running on a computer that is on almost all the time, though the IP address hasn't changed since the gateway/router was changed in early May by AT&T when the equipment shorted out due to a thunderstorm.

Location is the same. No other changes.

I had a little trouble getting things set up again because of bad advise from the installer but I did get everything working eventually. Though I'm not sure I've been able to access the AC3P since then. I can't remember. Everything else on my network seems to be fine.

AC3P is hooked up to the gateway via a wireless bridge (Buffalo Gaming adapter).

Again, everything is in the same place it was before.

[RussM]

Forget about www.mickeysreef.getmyip.com; that's using a wildcard alias, and as we covered earlier, that is no longer available to you. So the test you did from work (using the www. URL) was invalid. The proper URL for you to use is mickeysreef.getmyip.com. You really need to do a test from somewhere other than at home... a neighbor's home maybe, or if you have a smartphone, using it in 3G/4G mode (WiFi disabled)

Using a dyndns hostname from a device on your local network to access another device on the same local network does not always work... it depends on whether the router supports a capability called hairpinning. I don't recall if the 2Wire/UVerse gateways support it or not. Both Kurt_n and I have tested, and we get a login prompt when using mickeysreef.getmyip.com, which I are fairly sure is from the AC3P. If you want to PM your AC3Pro username & password to me, I'll verify that the login prompt is in fact from the AC3Pro.

Go into the DynDNS updater program, and disable the Internet Guide crap... you don't need it.

[Mickey]

I'll be testing again this afternoon using my work laptop, but accessing the internet via a hotspot so it will bypass my home network. I'll let you know.

I did test it yesterday from work using 'www' and not and could never connect. sometimes got the login screen but then got an error. It is possible my work network blocked it or dropped it at some point because it goes from Hartford, CT to Georgia, then back to Hartford.

When I connect from home using the hotspot I can bypass my work network totally.

I'll let you know.

[kurt_n]

Originally Posted by Mickey

...
AC3P is hooked up to the gateway via a wireless bridge (Buffalo Gaming adapter).

Again, everything is in the same place it was before.

If nothing has changed, you wouldn't think it would be the wireless bridge, but...

Is it possible to hook up via an ethernet cable and take the wireless aspect out of it? And then test using the wired connection? Just wondering if for whatever reason - could even be interference from your neighbors - the wireless connection is dropping the connection and making it look like nothing was there. Grabbing at straws, but it really sounds like something funky with the internal network, and not inside.

Edit: just reread you comment about your work possibly blocking it. That's possible, but I doubt it. When I tried it, I was at work and I was able to see it. And I think our company has the absolute stupidest, errr... I mean, tightest firewalls/blocking there is possible. I'm surprised they even let us see any of the internet, except for our company's website!

[Mickey]

I checked again this afternoon from a computer not on my own network, and it did work again.

The adjustments I made a week or so ago must have worked and it just took a while to get it right. Plus I needed to check on it from outside my network. Lesson learned.

Thank you all for the help.

Mickey