Difference between revisions of "Setup Network"

Revision as of 01:16, 16 December 2012

When you have done the flashing of your meteobridge and initial network setup done, you can reach meteobridge for some final configuration with your browser by typing in its IP as URL. Following sections will tell you how to finalize the configuration so that your weather data gets uploaded to Weather Underground.

Your browser will show you meteobridge's web interface with 5 tabs. Please go through all these tabs and make the required settings. The page will show warnings for all still missing essentials until you have worked through all of this. It is just a few steps, which will be explained in the chapters below, page by page.

Setup Networking

When you can reach meteobridge web interface this is a proof that your network settings are fine. The meteobridge application code that presents the web interface is not stored in the non-volatile flash memory of the meteobridge, but gets downloaded from the Internet during boot. So without having the meteobridge connected to the Internet, this will not be there. However, once you have access to the web interface you can make changes to networking to prepare the unit to be operational in another network environment which may need different settings. To get you around the bootstrap problem (how to configure networking when you need networking already configured to be able to do changes in the configuration?) there is a meteobridge simulator in the Internet, which works as described here.

Type Of Connection

In this section you can specify whether meteobridge should use "LAN" or "wireless LAN". When you select "wireless LAN" you have to provide some more information.

• SSID is the name of the wireless LAN provided by the access point or router. Unless you have configured your router in a way that it hides the SSID, you shuld see the WLANs meteobridge can login to in the "nown SSID" drop-down box.
• WLAN Region defines the geographical region your WLAN is located at. As frequencies and rules how to use these frequencies does change from region to region, it is important that you select the corect region here to make sure your meteobridge operates within RF regulations of your region. Simply select the country code that fits best to your current location.
• Encryption must refelct the type of encryption vaild for your WLAN. Meteobridge supports
  • none, no encryption at all, which is not recommended to use
  • WEP Open System, WEP Shared Key encryption methods from the past easy to hack today (also not recommended to use)
  • WPA PSK, an encryption method not so easy to hack (weakly recommended)
  • WPA2 PSK, an up-to-date encryption method, with good protection (recommended)
  • WPA/WPA2 mixed mode', which might make sense when you haven WPA equipment in your WLAN not abble to run WPA2.
• Mode defines the 802.11 standard used in the WLAN. You can choose between
  • auto', let decide meteobridge itself
  • 802.11b, the oldest and slowest standard up to 10 Mbps
  • 802.11g, a faster standard up to 50 Mbps
  • 802.11g+n, todays standard up to 100 Mbps and above
• Passphrase is the password that grants access to your WLAN. Please don't use passwords with special characters, as these might not be handled correctly by the web interface.

IP Addresses

You can chooese between two diffrent ways to provide the IP details for meteobrige. When you select DHCP all nedded data will be provided automatically from a DHCP server in the network. Meteobridge identifies itself as a DHCP client in the network and the DHCP server (mostly your router) does send all IP configuration data to it. If you dont select DHCP, you have to insert the following data manually:

• IP is the IP address which is used in your local network to address meteobridge. As most home networks are using a class c network, you have to make sure that all devices in your network have IPs from the same class C network, or to say it less technical, that the first three numbers seperated by dots are the same.
• Netmask defines the size of the subnet. A class C subnet as usually used in home networks always has a netmask of "255.255.255.0".
• Gateway defines the IP in your local network that acts as a connector to the Internet. Normally this will be the LAN IP of your router.
• DNS is the nameserver that should be used to translate domain names into IPs. In some stuations your router also acts as a DNS forwarder and handles DNS requests in your local network. If so, the IP of your router is a suitable DNS IP. If not you should use a DNS IP of your ISP or you can use google DNS which has esy to remember IP "8.8.8.8".

When you use meteobridge in a non DHCP mode all these manual entries must be correct, otherwise you will not have Internet connection.