How to connect a PCD behind an (A)DSL router?

FAQ #101007

 

General introduction
For connecting a PCD to the internet using an ADSL router, the principal understanding of the functionality and tasks of a router need to be understood. In a second step, the communication protocol for the connection is to be defined because
every of the following protocols does require other configurations of the router. The attached document tries to explain the router functionality and tries to point out relevant information for connecting a PCD to the Internet and realizing the communication over the following protocols:

• http direct (for accessing the Web Server of the PCD, don't forget the password protection of the Web Server)
• Ether-S-Bus (not recommended unless you are using a secure VPN connection)
  - for programming the PCD with PG5
  - for connecting a PCD which does not feature http direct with WebConnect)
• SMTP (for sending EMails from the PCD)

For each of these protocols, please refer to the corresponding chapter in the attached document.

Important remark concerning security
Please consider the fact that the connectivity of a PCD on the internet does also mean that everyone can connect to the system. Therefore the interfaces over which the PCD can be reached from the internet need to be protected additionally (if the web server can be reached from the internet and no security is implemented, everyone can e.g. modify Register values on the PCD which can lead to malfunction of the application).

We therefore recommend whenever possible to use a VPN connection rather than just forwardig ports.
If this is not possible:

• Enable the password protection of the S-Web server (this can be configured in the PG5 Device Configurator)
  Note that the password macro in the Web Editor does NOT secure the access to the media of the PCD (but only the access to the Web Editor Pages)
• Remove the default user "root" from the FTP server (can also be done in the PG5 Device Configurator)
• Do not enable Ether-S-Bus unless the PCD is connected over a VPN connection only (because even with the password protection of S-Bus will still allow everyone to modify media values as e.g. Register Values)