Accessing Your ChronoAgent Mac Across the Internet
This guide was written to assist in connecting to your ChronoAgent Mac across the Internet from your iOS device running InterConneX or Mac running ChronoSync. If you have questions regarding ChronoSync, ChronoAgent, InterConneX, or anything else mentioned in this guide, please contact support@econtechnologies.com.
DYNAMIC IP ADDRESS SERVICE
To access your ChronoAgent Mac across the Internet, you need to know its IP address. This is a unique number, similar to a phone number. Unfortunately, many internet service providers utilize dynamic IP address assignment. This means that from one internet session to the next, the IP address of your ChronoAgent Mac may change. The solution is to have a consistent mechanism to allow you to find your ChronoAgent Mac. We recommend using one of the free Dynamic IP Address Services available.
The Dynamic IP Address Service allows you to create a unique name by which you can locate your ChronoAgent Mac across the internet. This works by using ChronoAgent’s built-in Dynamic DNS client that periodically checks for changes in the IP address and updates the record that associates the unique name you create with your ChronoAgent Mac’s IP address. NoIP.com isn’t the only dynamic IP address service provider, but the service they do provide is free, unlike many other alternatives, so we’re using them in this guide as an example. If you decide not to use NoIP.com, the steps provided here for configuring the NoIP daemon will be similar when using other Dynamic DNS services/software.
Sign Up for a NOIP.COM ACCOUNT
- From the ChronoAgent Mac, go to http://www.noip.com and create a free account by clicking “Sign-up.”
- During the Sign Up process, go ahead and create a hostname as directed.
- When signing up for a NoIP account, there are two different types of accounts – free and paid. With free, you have to keep the account alive whereas with paid, you don’t have to worry so much about expiration. This guide uses the free account, but you can update to paid if you get everything working to your satisfaction.
- Once finished, you’ll be sent an email containing a link to authenticate your account.
CHRONOAGENT SETUP
Make sure ChronoAgent is installed, configured and running on the Mac you want to access across the internet. The following screencast will walk you through this:
There are a few additional options to configure:
Security
Open ChronoAgent to the Advanced Panel and make sure the Settings popup is set to ‘Security.’ Encrypt communications by enabling “Require all connections to be secure.”
Router Configuration
Now change the ‘Settings’ popup to ‘WAN Access’. In the ‘Router’ section, enable the “Allow agent to automatically configure the router to accept incoming connections”, but leave the WAN port field blank. Click ‘Test Router’ and the port will be automatically chosen.
Dynamic DNS Configuration
In the ‘Service Discovery’ section, enable the ‘Dynamic DNS service’ checkbox and choose ‘No-IP’ from the popup. If you’re using a different service, choose it from the popup list. Fill out your user credentials and Dynamic DNS hostname, then click ‘Test DDNS’. If all goes well, you should see a ‘The DDNS settings are valid’ message.
Status Panel
Switch to the Status Panel of ChronoAgent, then start the ChronoAgent service by toggling the OFF/ON switch. You should see a ‘WAN Details’ section. The port and URL hostname are what you’ll be using to connect to the ChronoAgent Mac from ChronoSync or InterConneX.
CONNECTING FROM INTERCONNEX
These instructions are based on the following video with a few modified steps:
Connecting to the ChronoAgent Mac
When you go to choose an available ChronoAgent, choose Internet Address.
Enter Port and Hostname
Enter the NoIP hostname and ChronoAgent port, then switch Accessed on WAN to ON.
Connect to ChronoAgent Mac
Tap ‘Test Reachability’.
CONNECTING FROM CHRONOSYNC
These instructions are based on the following video with one modified step:
Connect to the ChronoAgent Mac
Enable Advanced Options
In the Advanced Panel of the connection profile, enable “Attempt reconnect on drops” to have ChronoSync attempt to reconnect automatically upon connection loss and “Force all data to Be encrypted” to encrypt all data transmitted across the Internet.
WHEN THINGS GO WRONG
If you follow this guide to access a ChronoAgent across the internet, things should work without issue. However, we live in an imperfect world and sometimes things just don’t work out as expected. If you encounter any problems following this tutorial, contact our technical support team and just ask! We don’t mind — we’re here to help!