Accessing VNC through Cosy

I followed the NAT setup instructions here. Brilliant! However, my internet router (AT&T BGW210) doesn’t let me specify a custom IP address, and the HMI is not showing up in the device list. Should it be? Is this just not possible with a “normal” internet router/gateway device?

Thank you!

This is not possible because you need to have another IP address on the WAN network and in the same subnet. You could perhaps ask AT&T if they can give you one.

Interesting. Would that entail having a second router? That would still be much cheaper than our manual recording processes. (We are working with our vendor to get tag recording set up in FactoryTalk; this is just a temporary solution hopefully.)

We have successfully accessed the VNC server through a laptop on the local network, so that is a viable option for what we need.

Our AT&T router also has an “IP Passthrough” option, but that has to specify a MAC address. Since the router cannot see the HMI, I assume this is a no-go also.

Thank you!!

Hi @Wes,

I think the better and cheaper option would be to use Port Forwarding. See: How to define somes Proxy rules on the Ewon Cosy
However, you will still need to have a public IP address (which AT&T should be able to provide).
Any traffic directed to the Cosy’s IP address on the VNC port will be forwarded directly to the VNC server.

Actually, strike that. I misunderstood. I forgot you have a separate AT&T router. Port Forwarding (and NAT 1:1 for that matter) will only work if you have the AT&T modem embedded in the Cosy.

You cannot use these features through another modem.

So I would recommend using the Cosy+ NA (with built-in cellular modem) and Port Forwarding to accomplish this.

However, keep in mind the security implications of making your HMI reachable on the public internet. You would want to make sure the firmware is updated for security patches and a very strong password is used.

I just wanted to follow up to tell you that IT IS possible. I will have to look further into how we have our router subnets set up, but with the NAT settings, our Cosy is in a public facing subnet! I am looking at our HMI remotely right now through VNC.

Like you said, security is definitely a concern. We will ultimately be whitelisting only my IP to be accessing that port, so hopefully it will be okay.

If you can set it up so that the the Cosy is accessible on a public IP address, then you should be able to use port forwarding. Just make sure that you have very strong passwords on the Ewon and VNC server. Limiting incoming access to your specific IP address is a very good idea!