Route internet traffic from Flexy 205 to another Flexy 205

I have three eWON Flexy 205 devices all on the same subnet that can communicate with each other on their LAN ports. One Flexy is using of its ports as a WAN port to access the internet and provide the VPN connection to the overall LAN. This Flexy is also running a BASIC IDE program which pushes data out to the cloud.

The other two Flexy devices run a similar BASIC IDE program to push data. Can these other two Flexy devices be configured in a way that they also route to the internet via the WAN connection on the first Flexy? Normally we would do this via a modem extension card but the service in the area is spotty at best.

Yes, you will just need to allow LAN to WAN traffic on the first Flexy, and make sure the default gateway of the other two Flexys are set to be the LAN address of the first Flexy.

On the secondary eWON devices, I assume I select ETHERNET Connection for the Internet Wizard, but what IP address do I give it:

You need to give it an address on the first Ewon’s LAN network. For example, if the first Ewon’s LAN address is 192.168.1.1 (255.255.255.0) then you could use 192.168.1.2 thru 192.168.1.254 (whatever is available). You will also need to make sure that second Ewon is using a different network address for it’s own LAN (192.168.2.1 255.255.255.0 for example). The Ewon has two network addresses and they can’t be on the same network because it is a router between the two networks.

Ok, I understand. Just a little background information as I think through how I want to ultimately configure this installation. For this setup we have three eWONs. Normally these stand alone and provide access to multiple devices on the LAN of the eWON. All the eWONs and all the devices for this installation currently reside on the same LAN.

Typically we use the cellular connection of an eWON to access the devices on its LAN, but the service in the area is poor, so we switched one of the eWONs to an Ethernet connection. Through this single eWON we can access all the devices on the LAN side, which normally would be sufficient, however…

…each eWON also runs a BASIC IDE routine which pushes data to a cloud from the PLC immediately local to the eWON. The first eWON with Ethernet connection to the internet obviously performs this function without issue, and it is using two topics to access two PLCs in its immediate locale, so only one topic remains to access the two PLCs located with the other two eWONs. The goal is to have those other two eWONs run the routine to push data from the PLCs at their locale to the internet through the first eWON. To do so, it sounds like the only solution is to move the LAN side of the other eWONs and the devices at their locale to a subnet separate from the LAN of the first eWON.

Changing the IP addresses can be done, and in the long run is probably the best solution.

I wanted to reason it out in writing to make sure I was on track.

Yes, you’re correct. If the first Ewon is going to be providing internet access, it can no longer share the same LAN network as the other two Ewons. The other two Ewons will now be connected to the first Ewon using their WAN ports. It sounds like you will have to change the IP address of the two Ewons LANs, and the PLCs they are connected to, to another network address in this case.

I’m revisiting this old thread due to a recent need to attempt this configuration.

Following the guidance in this thread from @kyle_HMS, I configured a second Flexy 205 with the WAN matching the subnet of the first eWON, making sure the LAN subnet of the second eWON was different than the first eWON’s LAN subnet.

Three configuration items I found from another thread were also required to complete the setup. On the first eWON I set NAT and TF to NAT and TAF on WAN and left the Enable transparent forwarding unchecked. On the Networking security setup I checked WAN IP Forwarding.

As a final note, both eWONs are running a Basic IDE code that pushes data from the eWONs to the cloud. The first eWON had already been doing this for months. The second eWON with a FLX3402 extension card was added to accommodate a 4-20 mA signal we needed to monitor. With this setup we are able to read that signal on the second eWON and use its Basic IDE code to push the data to the cloud by routing through the first eWON, which is also pushing data via its code.

Hi Dan,

In case you missed it, I provide a link to the correct instructions in my first response. Transparent forwarding can be checked or unchecked.