Hello World! Just starting out with Elk M1 Gold

[tmehta]

Hi everyone!  I am just getting started installing a new M1 Gold system, with

• 2 - M1KP2 keypads
• M1EXP Ethernet interface
• M1XPRF2H Wireless receiver

I am replacing an old security system in my house, and am trying to repurpose the hard wired sensors already there (e.g. Smoke detectors, motion sensors, etc.).
 
I have a couple of quick questions right out of the gate.  I have wired up the M1G system, and have connected the M1EXP.  I am able to connect to it, but get a long list of conflicts in a yellow window.  I have only connected a couple of zones so far, and will add to them but wanted to set up the device to use a time server for automatic time updates, etc.  But I run into issues when in the config for the M1EXP.  If I make any changes in the setup, and then click on Send, it tells me that the static IP address and default gateway are not in the same subnet as defined by the subnet mask
 
This error is strange because I have successfully configured the device for DHCP.  I also currently have the green "Conneted" indicator in the main RP2 software window as well...  Any thoughts on making initial progress here?  Do I need to clear all conflicts first? If so, how?

Thanks!
TM

 

[tmehta]

A quick update on this.  I went and resolved all conflicts by finding the corresponding nodes and either disabling zones or clearing things out.
 
The one item that I cannot clear is the XEP Setup conflict.  This is related to the issue I posted previously, where I get an error whenever trying to "Send" from the XEP setup.  I get this error message: "The Static IP Address and Default Gateway are not in the same subnet as defined by the Subnet Mask.  Please consult with your IT professional or Internet Service Provider for the correct values."  I shouldn't be getting this error message because the XEP is setup to default to DHCP (I followed the steps to force DHCP/IP Address Settings, so that I applied a jumper to JP2 and waited until the green LED blinked once, not twice). 
 
Any thoughts on solving this problem?
 
Thanks,
TM

 

[drvnbysound]

Can you explain why you are choosing to setup your XEP via DHCP and not via a static IP address?
 
Do you plan to access the system remotely? If so, are you able to provide proper port forwarding to the DCHP address?

 

[linuxha]

Hmm, we're going to need the IP address, the Mask and the GW IP address to see if we can figure it out. It sounds like it could be a couple of things. Perhaps the XEP doesn't understand CIDR or perhaps you don't (please don't take offense). If you'd like, you can send a private message if you'd rather not post the info.

 

[drvnbysound]

Curious, can you define a reason why internal LAN IPs (e.g. 192.168.1.125) wouldn't be safe to share?
 
I don't know of any reason not to share it. Mine are 192.168.1.200, 255.255.255.0, and 192.168.1.1

 

[tmehta]

Wow thanks to everyone for hopping on so quickly.  I've made some progress to report, but will answer your questions first:
 
drvnbysound:  My router distributes IP addresses via DHCP and I wanted to take advantage of that.  I'll be accessing from the web, and have already set up port forwarding for ports 2362 and 2601.  I'll add additional ports if needed, but for now I just wanted to get it all working from within the network.  I am accessing from the same subnet (or at least that's what I thought, which is why the error message was weird).
 
linuxha:  I think I figured it out.  See below.
 
So, there are two places where you can 'Send' config updates to the XEP.  The first is via the M1XEP Setup panels from the Account Details node in RP2 software.  That was the one that never worked for me.  The other is via the conflict resolution window, where you can 'Send' config updates to the XEP.  I kept trying to send via the first, and never tried the second.

I believe the problem is that the XEP was defaulted to static IP.  I had to power it down, put the jumper on JP2, powered up and it was giving me a consistent double-green-blink, which meant that it was in Static IP mode.  I powered down and back up while leaving the jumper on JP2, and it came back and blinked with a single green blink.  Then, I went back and connected via RP2, which still told me that there were conflicts with the XEP.  At this point, I Sent config from my PC to the XEP in this conflict window (the yellow window), and it seemed to work.   I then went to the M1XEP Setup panel and was able to push other changes to it via the Send button there....
 
I had to repeat all of the above steps when I upgraded the firmware to the latest on the M1EXP - I needed to do it to configure my smtp server which requires TLS or SSL (which wasn't supported prior to the 2.xxx firmware).  At any rate, I'm back in business, and will move my future questions over to the appropriate forum.
 
Thanks for the welcome, and I look forward to learning a lot from all of you!
 
TM

 

[linuxha]

Curious, can you define a reason why internal LAN IPs (e.g. 192.168.1.125) wouldn't be safe to share?
 
I don't know of any reason not to share it. Mine are 192.168.1.200, 255.255.255.0, and 192.168.1.1

Some people are careful about sharing any information, especially when it might not be their field of expertise (not saying that is the case with tmehta).

My network is growing and I'll probably need to move from my ...24.0/24 (255 hosts) to a /23 (512 hosts) or /22 (1024 hosts) or I can put my IP addresses into a db and clean the dang thing up. I probably won't do the later anytime soon. ;-)

The good new is that with DHCP it's not terribly hard to juggle a network address scheme.

 

[drvnbysound]

Wow thanks to everyone for hopping on so quickly.  I've made some progress to report, but will answer your questions first:
 
drvnbysound:  My router distributes IP addresses via DHCP and I wanted to take advantage of that.  I'll be accessing from the web, and have already set up port forwarding for ports 2362 and 2601.  I'll add additional ports if needed, but for now I just wanted to get it all working from within the network.  I am accessing from the same subnet (or at least that's what I thought, which is why the error message was weird).

 
Curious how you are port forwarding to a DHCP address. Here's the general issue, what happens if your router reboots and assigns your XEP a different address?
 
My router also hands out DHCP addresses; I have it limited to only give out 50 (192.168.1.101 - 192.168.1.150). However, I can statically assign any IP outside of that range (e.g. 192.168.1.200) - then port forward to that address specifically.

 

[tmbrown97]

Curious how you are port forwarding to a DHCP address. Here's the general issue, what happens if your router reboots and assigns your XEP a different address?
 
My router also hands out DHCP addresses; I have it limited to only give out 50 (192.168.1.101 - 192.168.1.150). However, I can statically assign any IP outside of that range (e.g. 192.168.1.200) - then port forward to that address specifically.

This depends on the DHCP server.  Some are great about always giving the same IP back and others absolutely don't care and will reuse IPs all over the place.
 
Agreed though - if you're great at networking and understand reserved IPs within your network and know how to set that up (and your router supports it), then great... if not then use a static IP.  The XEP will be happier and you'll avoid ill-timed surprises.