Support Suite

Note: This applies to Customer-Hosted customers only since EIOBoard-Hosted will always point to www.eioboard.com.

If you are running the Customer-Hosted Edition of EIOBoard on one of your servers and would like to configure outside/remote access for any of our interfaces (mobile, app, Outlook Add-in, browser, kiosk, offline, etc), follow the steps outlined in this document.

1. Configure a Name to Resolve the IP

   If you have a static IP:
   Though it is not necessary, we suggest that you create a DNS entry (A-record) so that you can access EIOBoard through a common name such as eioboard.yourdomain.com. That way you’ll be able to access it internally and externally through the same name. You may also keep them different if you only intend to use the browser or the mobile when remote. Sometimes you can even leverage an existing remote address/name. For example, if you installed EIOBoard on your Exchange server, you might already have everything set up and instead of pointing to http://yoururl/owa or http://yoururl/exchange, you point to http://yoururl/eioboard (or whatever you specified as an IIS location during installation).
   
   If you do not have a static IP:
   I’d suggest trying to get one through your ISP, but as an alternative, there are services out there such as www.dyndns.org that will allow you to pick a domain such as yourcompany.dyndns.org and have that redirect to your changing IP. Then you can use programs that they offer for free to keep your IP updated and some entry level router/firewalls even support settings in the device that will automatically keep it up to date. This is a good option for smaller companies.
   
   
   

2. Setup IP and Port Forwarding

   You need to configure your firewall to allow the outside world to see your EIOBoard server. You have to set up one-to-one NAT or port forward either port 80 for standard HTTP or port 443 for SSL (must have a self-signed or valid SSL certificate to use SSL). If you used another port during EIOBoard’s installation, you’ll need to port forward that port instead. If you plan to use chat, you should also port forward port 5222. All of the port forwards use TCP only. Some firewalls also make you add a rule to allow the traffic at a specific port to even pass. You’ll want to make sure the rules allow each of the required port’s traffic to pass. See your firewall’s user manual or contact their support for specific help on configuring these devices. 
   
   
   

3. Run EIOBoard Remotely

   For the browser, you’ll just open any browser to http://YourURL/EIOBoard assuming you installed EIOBoard to a virtual directory on the server that you set up one-to-one NAT or the proper port forwarding. If you installed it to the main site at port 80, you would navigate to http://YourURL. For the mobile, you’ll use the same address as the browser and it should automatically redirect you to the /mobile directory (ie, http://YourURL/EIOBoard will redirect to http://YourURL/EIOBoard/Mobile if it detects a mobile device). The application, add-in, kiosk, offline, and punch will all use the same URL that you specify for the browser interface. It is always a good exercise to test the web version first to make sure you have the URL right, then you can use this in your settings in our other interfaces.
   
   
   

4. Configure External Chat URL (Optional)
   
   In addition to opening the chat port in the step 2 above, you may also need to change the Chat Server Address.  This setting is found in the EIOBoard Server program's settings on the "Chat" tab.  By default this setting is set to the name of the server during installation.  If you want to use Chat externally you need to set the server address to a URL that will point to your EIOBoard server both internally and externally.  The URL needs to resolve to the server's internal IP address when accessed internally and resolve to the external IP address when accessed externally.  You do not need to specify the full path or port number to your EIOBoard website.  For example, if you access EIOBoard  with http://YourURL/EIOBoard or http://YourURL:801 you would just enter http://YourURL for the Chat Server Address.