Securifi Community Forum

Securifi Products => Almond+ => Topic started by: presence on January 22, 2015, 05:22:37 pm

Title: How the almond+ operates on a network level
Post by: presence on January 22, 2015, 05:22:37 pm

I received my almond today, but I'm not thrilled about how the device operates.  I have a cable modem, firewall, switches and everything else a network needs to have functional networking, and wanted the almond+ to provide functionality for wifi and z-wave stuff.  The way the default almond operations works is it has a lan segment with multiple ports and a wan segment with a single port.  I guess the idea is that you would connect the almond+ WAN port to your cable modem or other network gateway directly, and then connect your hosts behind it on one of the LAN ports..  The problem is, I have real switches hooked up to a firewall hooked up to the cable modem, and I don't need the almond+ to be in between these communications.  I have placed the almond on a dmz switch that connects to a port on my firewall allowing wifi clients a path out and in.  I have disconnected the WAN port, and added a static route (for default) on the almond+ so that the wifi clients and the AP itself knows what path to take to other networks.

The problem is, the almond+ website/software expects the clients to egress through the WAN port.  I wouldn't even care ultimately, if I could add sensors to the device using the web interface through the LAN connection, but I can't.  With the LAN port disconnected, the website doesn't see my almond+ as online, and won't let me do anything with the sensors I have.  There must be some way to tell the almond+ to connect to the external website VIA the LAN interface, so that functionality will be available when I need it.  How do I do this?

Also, it would be great if we could add sensors to the device from the web management console.

Title: Re: How the almond+ operates on a network level
Post by: razzfazz on January 23, 2015, 12:21:24 am

Install the beta firmware and enable AP mode; sounds like that should give you the behavior you're looking for. (It does for me, in a similar scenario.)

Title: Re: How the almond+ operates on a network level
Post by: LGNilsson on January 23, 2015, 01:26:39 am

As pointed out, you might want to try the AP mode on the second screen of the LCD UI. It'll also disable the DHCP server.

Adding sensors via the web UI is something we might do in the future, but keep in mind that at least according to the Z-Wave standard, you should be no more than 3 feet / 1 meter from the sensor when you add it.

Title: Re: How the almond+ operates on a network level
Post by: presence on January 23, 2015, 03:24:33 pm

When I enable "AP mode" it works, but it uses a DHCP address for its IP.  How do I enable a static address?  I know I can do this through SSH, but I'd prefer to do this through the GUI or web interface.

Title: Re: How the almond+ operates on a network level
Post by: jtrott on January 23, 2015, 05:14:52 pm

Setup a static lease on your DHCP server.

Title: Re: How the almond+ operates on a network level
Post by: presence on January 25, 2015, 12:45:37 pm

I guess I have no choice.  Not the best option by far, unfortunately.