Zerotier help needed

S

Sailboater410

IPCT+ Member
May 18, 2017
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At the advice of many on here I've signed up for Zerotier because I gave up getting port forwarding to work with my Verizon Home LTE device and, as many state, it's not a very secure method anyway. I am not-not-not very network savvy and the site seems to assume some prior knowledge of VPNs or something.

In "Join Zerotier Network" it wants a 16 digit network ID, where do I find that? I don't see any instructions.

On this site ZeroTier Central "Zerotier Central"?) it shows some networks with network ID's, names, and subnets I don't recognize, am I supposed to pick one at random? No instructions.

I'm guessing other questions will come up so this is probably inquiry 1 of many.

Thank you. -Ron
 
Yes, it generates a network ID that you need to remember and a strange NAME that you have the option to change once you select it. After selecting, scroll down the page and you will find the MEMBERS area. There you need to check the box by AUTH? for your devices. To add another device, from that device enter your same network ID. Once that device is set up you need to login to your my.zerotier and AUTHorize it.
 
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Last night I was able to turn my phone wifi off and force Zerotier and BI through outside cell connection and it worked fine. This morning it doesn't work anymore. ZT is running on my phone and on my BI PC, so I'm questioning the settings in the PC, both in ZT and BI.

For those who are running ZT successfully, in BI Web Server settings are you still using a port number that is NOT port 80? (On my BI Android my port shows in LAN and WAN.) In ZT I don't see a place to enter that port. However in one of the ZT tech recommendations it notes that ZT uses Port 9993 as default. Suggestions? (This may not be the issue but gotta start somewhere.)

Thanks again!
 
I am using the iPhone app. But make sure in the phone app it is using port 81, or whatever port you have listed in BI under Remote, external (WAN/Internet) access in the Web Server tab.

Sometimes you need to turn the ZT phone app off and then back on and wait a minute or two. Sometimes you need to hit cancel and then connect on the phone app. Give it some time while it states retrying.
 
Thank you Sample, I tried those things and still no connection via cell phone; however it is working now.

I did a few things but one or more helped it seems:
- In BI WebServer I changed from an obscure port number to :81. This updated both the LAN and WAN port settings. Last night I had also turned of UPnP and port forwarding for security reasons; however I read on ZT router setup tips that having UPnP open will speed up response time and allow ST to talk to the Verizon router if needed for configuration. Port forwarding is still off.
- In my Verizon Home LTE unit (model XCI55AX) added Port Triggering for ZeroTier's 9993 both incoming and outgoing.
- In my BI phone app I refreshed IPS (new port 81 showed up) and saved.

I re-ran the ZT installation app and chose "Repair"; I figured the UPnP I set up above might ensure the router is correct.
I restarted BI.

Hopefully when I wake up tomorrow, and unlike this morning, BI will still be running on my phone.
 
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You may also try Tailscale. I use both but find it flawless. I have one account that I monitor where Zerotier frequently fails to connect where Tailscale never fails. Setup is a little easier and the devices do not need to be authorized. It provides an IP for each device that you set it up on. You access BI the same way by entering its IP address followed by the :81 or whatever port you have set up in BI. Both will run on the BI PC at the same time but on an Iphone you have to toggle between ZT and TS.
 
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I may try that.... I noticed this morning that my connection still worked (on cell, WiFi off) however it took a minute and I had to turn ZT off, they on, and did the same with the BI App. 2 hrs later I had to do the same. It seems something in the path is going to sleep.

Now that I've been initiated with ZT I'm feeling braver about trying Tailscale.
 
I do not keep the ZT app on all the time. I only toggle it on when I want to use the BI app on my phone. I have found that having the ZT app running 24/7 does drain the battery quite a bit.

We have another long trip coming up soon, so I think I am going to setup Tailscale to try it out.
 
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