Emails on M1XEP

[newalarm]

I was wondering if anyone else had problems with the M1XEP on M1G. My email was working great for several months, then one day, January 13th or 14th to be exact, poof. stopped working. So i finally got to messing with it after trying basic stuff like restarting router and switch did not work.
 
I use lavabit. I think the IP address for mail server changed, but am not sure. For some reason, my XEP cannot accept the mail server ELK recommends: lavabit.com. but works fine when you put in the IP address. Does anyone know why ELK recommends something on their website that the equipment does not allow? Is it not better to have a domain name in case the IP address changes?
 
I finally got it working again by changing the Port but the domain lavabit.com does not work. I am really looking to understand what went wrong and to make sure it will not happen again, especially if i did something wrong on my end.
 
Thanks.

 

[Gearhead]

Sounds like DNS is not properly resolving lavabit.  Chances are that Dyndns and NTP are also not working.  Making this rock solid is really simple....
 
1.  Always use DHCP on your LAN.  Forget static IP addressing for the XEP and set it to DHCP.  You will have to reset the XEP to DHCP mode if you were already in static mode.
 
2.  Reserve an address for the XEP in your router.  Forward 2601 in the router pointed to this reserved LAN address.
 
3.  Save your Router settings.  Most routers allow you to save the router configuration to a file.  This may save you some headaches later if your router dies (just happened to me).
 
Some IT guys will flame this approach.  I'm a mechanical guy and know that it just works.

 

[drvnbysound]

Yeah... I'm not saying the above method won't work, but I went the static route and have had 0 issues - and I get messages 4 days a week.

I set my router to hand out up to a total of 50 DHCP addresses (starting at .100). That said I have a few devices which I have set static addresses to which begin in the .200 range (including the XEP).

That said, I do have my own mail server that I'm using for this, so I'm not trying to use some free mail service to do this...

 

[Gearhead]

On my LAN, I reserve addresses that are outside for my DHCP range.  For example, my XEP is reserved to x.x.x.50 and my DHCP range starts at x.x.x.100.

 

[RLSinOP]

I've got to tell you, I'm having nothing but trouble with my XEP.  I'm new to the ELK world, but I'm an IT/Networking professional and know how to make this stuff work.  The XEP I have may very well be defective because it won't hold an IP address.  DHCP works and interfaces great with RP software, then it won't.  Same with StaticIP.  I've tried the JP2 jumper option to force DHCP or the 192.168.0.251 address, and get mixed results with that also.  I've been working on this for 2 days and called my supplier and told him I want a new XEP.  I've read many posts on this it seems the XEP is a weak link in what seems to be a very robust Elk product line.  From my IT perspective, it appears to be very (VERY) poorly designed if in fact the one I have isn't defective.  I'll be sure and let you all know.

 

[drvnbysound]

The only issue I had getting the XEP to hold a static IP was that I didn't realize that this information had to be SENT after it was set on the XEP configuration page. Once I realized that I needed to "connect" to the M1 first, change the address, then SEND the information I haven't had any issues at all... It took me about an hour or so to figure that out.

 

[RLSinOP]

Yea, I've "SENT" it about 50 times.  Each time I connect, it warns me that I have information that's out of sync also - a couple of users, sunrise/sunset info, and a change to a global.  I connect, send it, save it, and then the XEP will lose it's connection.  After the JP2 jumper trick for DHCP, I can connect again and it's we start all over again.  The info from the prior connect was never saved.  I'm pretty sure I have a defective XEP with something wrong with the firmware which I've re-flashed also.  I have to think that surely, this isn't standard operating procedure.

 

[drvnbysound]

Sounds like it. I'm glad I didn't have those kind of issues... I'd have certainly pulled my hair out

 

[newalarm]

Well, in my experience, the XEP was the most difficult thing with Elk i have had to deal with. And it flaked out on me as i posted above, but since has been working.
 
I guess the fact that Elk give instructions on how to set it up that are incorrect does not help either (making installers waste time). Why they can't update their website is beyond me.
 
Everything else about my M1G has been peaches though...   Love it.
 
Thanks for the tips. I will try them and see how they help...

 

[jpmargis]

Sounds like DNS is not properly resolving lavabit.

 
You never addressed this point.  What did you enter for the primary and secondary DNS servers?  If these aren't correct, there is no way for the M1XEP to find lavabit.com.

 

[drvnbysound]

While I wasn't the one to post that, I'll tell you what I did... I ran a simple IPCONFIG command which (I believe) provided my DNS information. I'm 99% sure the DNS information is provided there, but since I can't try it right now I can't know for sure... if that wasn't the case, I read it from my router (via the configuration webpage, as I have a stanardard Linksys router). Either way, I entered those values into the XEP.

 

[Gearhead]

You never addressed this point.  What did you enter for the primary and secondary DNS servers?  If these aren't correct, there is no way for the M1XEP to find lavabit.com.

DHCP will handle this for you automatically. 

 

[drvnbysound]

I wanted to update the information regarding the post I made above. I just ran the IPCONFIG command via Windows PC and it does not list the DNS addresses. The 'STATUS' page of my router displays the DNS that are currently being used.

 

[sda]

I wanted to update the information regarding the post I made above. I just ran the IPCONFIG command via Windows PC and it does not list the DNS addresses. The 'STATUS' page of my router displays the DNS that are currently being used.

"ipconfig /all" will give the DNS info that the PC is using.
 
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 172.16.3.4

 

[drvnbysound]

There ya go... I couldn't even tell you how long I've known about adding /all to the ipconfig command ... I didn't even think about it for this.