Tips to troubleshoot device to server connection

This guide gives you some tips to for troubleshooting if you cannot get your tracker to connect to your GpsGate Server installation.

Checklist

When you've device connectivity issues, it's always useful to review the following items one by one:

1. SIM card

2. Ports open

3. Unknown connections

4. Terminal traffic

1. SIM card

  • Make sure the SIM card is active or GPRS is enabled on your SIM card (surprisingly often it is not). The best way to verify this is to test your SIM card in a mobile phone. Use the web browser to verify that GPRS is enabled. You can also test a TCP/IP service, or ask your operator, as some SIM cards only permit HTTP traffic and not TCP/IP.

An example of a SIM card activation portal. Consult your SIM provider for more details.

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  • Verify the device APN settings. Check the APN, APN Username, and APN Password with your SIM provider.
  • If you have a prepaid card, make sure you have enough credit on it.
  • Disable the PIN code on the SIM card (or make sure the tracker can handle the PIN code). Put the SIM card in a mobile phone and go to the security settings to disable the PIN code.

More things to consider with SIM cards and GPRS billing. 

2. Ports Open

It's important to verify that both the server's and firewall ports are open, to allow incoming traffic from the GPS trackers. There are mainly two ways to check this in GpsGate platform:

In the application

1. Log in to an application with a Site Admin user.

2. Edit a unit/vehicle.

3. Go to Device 1.

4. Check the ports are open, if not, click on Open firewall.

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In Site Admin (legacy)

1. Go to Site Admin (legacy).

2. Navigate to Devices → Listeners.

3. Use the Test button.

Click on the mceclip2.png button for your device listener to make a connection test from the Internet.

If the test completes in green, means that the configuration is correct.

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The tester will mark where the problem is in red. In this example, the problem is that the firewall ports are closed for the TCP/IP 12050 which is the port Teltonika uses by default.

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  • Enable Windows' Firewall ports.

Even if you open your router firewall ports, it could be Windows Firewall blocking your ports at the server level.

You can open Windows Firewall ports directly in the interface as the image shows:

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  • If the test fails on the Firewall side, you might have to perform the correspondent port-forwarding settings in your firewall or router and try again.
  • You also need to open port 80 for your web server.

3. Unknown connections (Site Admin legacy)

An unknown connection means that there's a device reporting to the server that it's not identified or has no user associated with it.

If an unknown device reports to the server, you will see it highlighted in orange on the Devices tab in Site Admin.

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By clicking on mceclip4.png you can also filter by these types of devices where you'll see a list that you can export for further analysis.

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To remove a device from this list, add the device to an application.

Read how to add an unknown device here.

4. Terminal traffic

The Terminal is a very useful tool to diagnose connections between server and tracker. Any incoming traffic will be displayed here.

If there's no traffic in the terminal, it could be a sign that you're missing some of the steps of the checklist above.

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Read how to use the terminal here.