Advanced Commands

Revision as of 13:46, 29 November 2011

Here are some notes about commands for advanced users and developers:

• Note: Telnet only works for outdated firmware versions of Vera

Telnet & SSH

Telnet

Telnet is enabled by default on Vera. With the network autoconfiguration left on, if Vera gets an internal IP address on the WAN port (i.e. any 192.168.x.x, or 172... or 10... address).
Vera is put into 'switch' mode; all 5 ports are bridged together like a switch. In this mode you can telnet into Vera using the IP Vera gets from the WAN port.
If you don't know it, go to findvera.com and click 'Setup my Vera in my home' to be redirected. If Vera gets an external IP address on the WAN port, or no IP at all, Vera goes into Gateway mode.

SSH

For more info on how to acces Vera through SSH please click here

Local acces

The firewall is enabled and the DHCP server is turned on. You cannot telnet into Vera using the IP on the WAN port; you must connect your PC to the LAN 1 through LAN 4 ports and telnet to 192.168.81.1 (the default IP for Vera). Note that even in switch mode Vera will still listen to IP 192.168.81.1, so you can always set your PC to a static IP in that range. Telnet uses the default port 23.

• Note: Once you set a root password, telnet is disabled and you must use ssh instead. Set the root password either with the Linux passwd command, or by going into the OpenWRT configuration found on Vera's Advanced, Net & Wi-Fi, Advanced Configuration link.

Performance bottlenecks with network throughput

When in gateway mode (see above 'Telnet & SSH') all network traffic runs through Vera's CPU, and the CPU maxes out at around 30 Mbps and you'll find Vera is slow to respond. If you will be needing high volume network traffic it's best to use Vera in switch mode, so the network traffic goes through at full speed without using Vera's CPU. This is not a limitation of our software, it is the nature of residential/consumer access point hardware and most access points have roughly the same performance and speed of CPU.

Manually upgrading the firmware

Vera 1

If you lose access through the web page you can enable SSH on Vera by setting a root password (see above Telnet & SSH). Then use scp to copy the firmware image to Vera's /tmp directory. Then you can either manually write the firmware using this command:

mtd -r write [filename] linux 

However you will lose all your settings. To preserve your settings name the image: firmware.img and run:

/usr/bin/cmh-upgrade.sh

which will create a backup of your configuration online, restore the firmware, and then restore the backup on the first boot.

For more info check the guide for flashing your Vera 1 here or for Vera 2 here.

Vera 2

TBD