Port forwarding?

AstroBox Questions
#1

Is the astrobox allowed to be port forwarded?

Due to the fact that the first time booting up Astrobox we must access through local interface in order for the Astrobox to pair to the 3D printer. I am not able to remotely turn on both my Astrobox and printer then start a print job from AstroPrint.com because the Astrobox and printer would not pair.

Thus I need a way to ping the astrobox locally. But after trying to forward port 80 of my astrobox and using no-ip dynamic dns service, there seems to be no response, or maybe I’m doing something wrong.

#2

Why? This is the real problem. What kind of printer is it? Is it running standard Marlin or Sailfish firmware? Is the printer USB Cable snug?

Sure. But, it should be unnecessary once you fix the printer problem. Furthermore, port forwarding still won’t allow you to print if the Astrobox refuses to connect to your printer.

#3

Short answer is yes you can porf foreward the astrobox. It won’t solve any print issues. And it will create the issue that when ypu are off the LAN and want to access the astrobox will not be able to get to it from the astroprint dashboard controls. You will have to create a separate browser bookmark to connect you directly to the forewarded port on your router.

It is not ‘clean’ and i have mentioned it before to the developers so think it will improve, but it certainly does work and I use it frequently to start or monitor prints from a remote location.

#4

My printer is the Mankati Fullscale XT Plus (it’s a Marlin). My printer connects fine.

To be able to connect my printer to the Astrobox I must:

  1. Plug both Astrobox and printer in
  2. Open AstroPrint locally
  3. Wait for printer to connect to Astrobox
  4. Print locally

But if I want to remotely turn on both from away using my remote wifi socket my idea was:

  1. Turn on remote wifi socket (both Astrobox and printer turns on)
  2. Open www.astroprint.com
  3. Wait for printer to connect to Astrobox which does not happen in my case.
  4. Printer doesn’t connect, can’t print.
#5

Ok, so the problem seems to be connecting to the cloud at astroprint.com.

Once you access your Astrobox locally, do you see the rocket icon on the top right hand corner?

This Icon ^ should be green to indicate a successful connection to the cloud.

This is what’s confusing me:

It’s confusing because, right above that, you confirm that your printer connects FINE to your Astrobox.

Have you created an account at astroprint.com to pair your Astrobox with?

Once you pair it, you can control your printer, start/stop jobs etc… remotely through the astroprint.com cloud (You cannot TURN ON or TURN OFF the printer obviously).

If the astrobox pairs with the cloud, you are good to go.

P.S: Screenshots etc… would help.

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#6

IMG_4505.PNG750×1334 97.3 KB

Hi Dilanka, here is the screen shot.
By remotely turning on my Astrobox and 3D printer When I’m away from home I am able to connect to my Astrobox from AstroPrint.com but my Astrobox won’t connect to my printer.

#7

How exactly are you TURNING ON your Astrobox and 3D Printer remotely??

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#8

Note sure if this applies to the OP situation but…

I use an Insteon appliance controller to remote switch on my astro box and printer…and I have found that sometimes after the power is up the printer and Astro box don’t connect right away/automatically…I can usually just log in to the astro box as I have it port forwarded and then reconnect.

Not sure why this would happen as I am sure the printer boots faster than the Astro box but sometimes even this won’t reconnect things but a reboot of the astrobox fixes it…I see this even locally sometimes when I turn things on manually…I just assume it is a USB thing…maybe something about how the pi actually powers up my printer electronics before the printer power supply is up.

#9

@dilanka s I’m using a wifi connected socket which comes with its own app that I can use to toggle on off the appliances connected to it. Similar to Darrens situation.

@Darren_DeVecchio may I ask how did you Port forward your Astrobox because I can’t seem to forward mine successfully.

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#10

Ah ok. Got it. That’s an interesting setup.

Re: Port Forwarding, I usually go into my router settings and open up a port corresponding to the Astrobox’s IP address. Then, I can access it remotely.

Not sure if @Darren_DeVecchio is doing anything different…

#11

@dilanka @Darren_DeVecchio /ok I’ve got it. Seems like the problem all along is my ISP. Called them and they removed my IP address from NAT servers and now I can see my forwarded Astrobox. Thank you both for your time :relieved:

#12

Well I was going to explain my forwarding but since the OP got it going I guess there is no need…:)…I will say that I forward to an alternate external port address…this maybe why I don’t have trouble with my ISP. I find it easier to specify external port numbers then map them to internal web and ssh etc server ports instead of internally using different ports for different servers. This feature is available on most routers and keeps things ‘simple’ when you have only one external IP address. I use a pattern that makes it easier for me to remember which machine is connected to which port.

#13

Please tell me, I have a similar problem with access to the Astrobox, it may be due to the fact that I use proxy and my ip is not displayed correctly?

#14

It’s possible.

Unfortunately, we cannot help diagnose the myriad of network issues…

You might be correct about the proxy and IP…

If it’s a direct question related to the Astrobox, I’d be happy chat though.

#15

Not sure how your proxy setup will work but what I do is on my router I setup my astrobox MACC to have a fixed local IP address. In addition I set the router to map an external port number to the internal astrobox IP and TCP port 80

I also have a domain name I associate with my cable modem address but that is optional.

then from outside I connect from a web browser to My.ExtrenalIP.com:extenalportnumber

(i.e. I type http://123.45.6.7:8254) where 123.45.6.7 is my modems external IP and 8524 is my router port mapped to
port 80 on the astrobox…see attached photo…where the local IP address of my astrobox is 10.0.1.254

Hope that helps

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#16

Try calling your ISP and ask them for advice.

You may be behind a universal MAC address like my case. aka they block port forwarding as default. Which means you need permission from your ISP. just told them I need to view CCTV cameras at home and they were happy to enable my pet forwarding.

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