Want to monitor/control my running VI anywhere in the world !!

[NE☼]

Hi everyone,

I want my running vi to be monitored/control from anywhere by simply using the internet.

What all i have already done is --

I am using web publishing tool LabVIEW web server and able to see/control my vi on my LAN. Control to this vi can have by only one at a time and in web browser I have to type IP address of my PC where I want to see it. (ex : http://192.168.10.24/web_pub.html)

I am using WindowsXP.

But when I try to see it outside of my LAN it's not available. Like if I want you to see my running VI, what all you have to do on internet??

-Alok

[tst]

To recognize a specific machine in the internet by its IP address, that address has to be listed with the organizations managing the internet, which means buying a specific IP address.

What normally happens in internet connection is that your provider either gives you an address from a pool of addresses they have or that they assign you an internal IP address on their internal network and to the outside network you are recognized by the IP address of your provider's server. So, unless you buy a static address and set up your machine accordingly, I'm not sure you can do this. You could try searching here for some previous answers to see if there are ways around this.

[NE☼]

Thanks for reply "tst",

I also think that it must be connected to the internet server. it's ok the LabVIEW server is playing the role of web server for the application but still it'll need some connection to the "internet".

I'm looking for moer information, if you get some pls don forget to share with me.

-Alok

[Lycangeek]

As tst said, the IP address shows that you are behind a NAT (Network Address Translator). Any address like 10.xxx or 192.xxx typically is a NAT based system. So, what is a NAT?

Well, your company probably has one IP address assigned to it (believe it or not but we're running out of IP addresses, hence the work on IPv6). Since you may have thousands of computers that need IP adresses, you'll create a network off of one of the above numbers - they are reserved in the IP mapping specifically for this sort of thing. Thus all the computers in your company can see each other - they all have IP addresses. However, those addresses are not legal outside your intranet. So when you hit a gateway to the internet, your IP address is translated to the single company IP address. Your actual IP is hidden in the communication packet. When the internet site responds, it goes back to the gateway, which pulls out your IP and forwards the information to you.

However, if my computer, outside your intranet (or LAN if you will), can't address the 192.xxx directly. So, you have to configure your gateway to forward requests to you. For example, if your single address was

1.2.3.4

You could configure the gateway to forward any requests to 1.2.3.4, port 80, to your machine and port 80. A different port could go to a different machine. At the end of the day, however, you need to configure something on your gateway.

If you have an IT department, expect to do a lot of justification. Not only are you going to take up a port, but you are opening a hole in the security barrier and most IT departments get very touchy about that.

Once that is done, however, you should be good to go - anyone else in the internet should be able to access your LV images.

[BestPker]

You could simply try Start->Run (Win+R) then type in "cmd",

after opening the command windows, type in "ipconfig"

And use the ip address shown there.

[tst]

---

@BestPker wrote:

You could simply try Start->Run (Win+R) then type in "cmd",

after opening the command windows, type in "ipconfig"

And use the ip address shown there.

---

As Brian explained very eloquantly, that won't work because that IP address is not an internet IP address, but is defined in the OS, and would only be valid in the LAN.

[BestPker]

hi tst,

It is possible that the actual ip is hidden, but normally the actual ip is shown this way. As i am in a LAN but i can still see my actual ip.

I just wanna tell Alok to try an easier way.

[Dennis_Knutson]

No. Assuming that your IP is assigned by a DHCP server, that means it's behind the NAT.

[tst]

Even if your address isn't assigned by DHCP, it is unlikely that the address associated with your network adapter is an internet IP address. It is a real address in the sense that it uniquely identifies your computer, but to the internet, your IP address should be that of your NAT. For example, have a look at the top of this page to see which IP you're being identified by in the internet. It should be different from the one assigned to your network adapter.

Message Edited by tst on 06-29-2006 11:39 PM

[BestPker]

Well i am sorry. I thought i was behind a LAN network but it turns out that i am assigned a unique IP. This website explains a lot, thanks.