Tame Parent box User Manual

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Get your ParentBox set

up more quickly by

following this simple User

Guide

USER GUIDE

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USER GUIDE

Your ParentBox

Your family uses the Internet all the time, which is a great thing. But you sometimes worry that the children spend too much time on Facebook or that they download too many movies.

What is a responsible parent to do?

Well, you’ve already answered that question by purchasing a ParentBox, and you’re now going to plug it in and set it up so that you can:

• Give each member of your family their own, customised daily quota for downloads.

• Set time limits for each of the children, so there’s no Internet after bedtime!

Once you’ve done those things, you can sit back while ParentBox monitors Internet usage and collects statistics. Next week you can:

• Review graphs of each day’s activity to see who’s using the Internet most, and at what times of the day.

• Review graphs of the month’s activity to see how the family as a whole is tracking against your ISP’s data plan.

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Contents

Your ParentBox .......................................................................................... 2

Getting started .......................................................................................... 5

Have you got all the bits and pieces?................................................ 7

Connecting the cables ........................................................................ 9

Logging into ParentBox for the first time ........................................... 11

Setting the family’s monthly limit ....................................................... 13

Turning on the wireless ........................................................................ 15

Day-to-day running of the ParentBox .................................................. 17

Adding family members to ParentBox .............................................. 18

Assigning computers to family members ......................................... 21

Setting daily download limits for a family member ......................... 23

Setting timeslots for a family member ............................................... 26

Temporarily unblocking a family member ....................................... 29

How a family member checks his or her progress .......................... 31

How you check the family’s progress for a day .............................. 35

How you check the family’s progress for a month ......................... 36

Reference................................................................................................. 39

Changing the ParentBox password .................................................. 40

Configuring ParentBox so it can send emails .................................. 41

Choosing which emails to send ......................................................... 44

Ensuring the ParentBox clock stays accurate .................................. 46

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Using static or dynamic IP addresses ................................................ 47

Switching the ParentBox off ............................................................... 47

Understanding the lights on the ParentBox ...................................... 48

Can’t connect to ParentBox? ........................................................... 50

Adding ParentBox to a more complex home network .................. 51

The advanced controls in ParentBox ................................................ 53

Changing the wireless encryption method ..................................... 54

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Getting started

In this section:

• Have you got all the bits and pieces?

• Connecting the cables

• Connecting to ParentBox for the first time

• Setting the family’s monthly limit

• Turning on the wireless

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Figure 1

Figure 2

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Have you got all the bits and pieces?

After unpacking your new ParentBox you should have in front of you (Figure 1):

• The ParentBox unit

• The power supply unit

• The yellow network cable

• A plastic foot (not shown in Figure 1), which you can use to

stand the ParentBox unit on end.

You will also need:

• A PC for configuring the ParentBox. Actually, a Mac or any kind of computer – as long as you can plug a network cable into it – can be used. This Guide will refer simply to ‘your PC’ to save space.

• A network cable, to connect your PC to the ParentBox.

• A free network socket on the back of your modem.

This Guide will refer to ‘your modem’ meaning whatever electronic box brings the Internet into your home and provides connections for computers to plug in to.

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Figure 3

Figure 4

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Connecting the cables

1. Before connecting any cables, check that your PC can connect to the Internet using your modem.

2. Disable or turn off any wireless that you may have on your PC. Disconnect any network cables from your PC and turn your PC off.

3. Connect the supplied yellow cable between your modem and the ParentBox.

• At the modem end the yellow cable plugs into the same kind of socket that your computers plug in to.

• At the ParentBox end it plugs into the yellow socket (Figure 2).

4. Connect the ParentBox to the mains using the power supply unit and turn the ParentBox on.

5. Wait approximately 60 seconds until the power light on the ParentBox (Figure 3) is a steady green.

6. Connect your PC to the ParentBox using a network cable (not supplied) and turn your PC on.

Your setup should now look similar to that shown in Figure 4 – the modem at left is connected by the yellow cable to the ParentBox, which is connected by another cable to the PC at right.

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Figure 5

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Logging into ParentBox for the first time

Now that ParentBox is connected between your modem and PC and everything is switched on you can view the first ParentBox screen.

1. Open a web browser on your PC and type http://parentbox into the address bar.

2. After a second or two you should see the screen shown in Figure 5.

In Figure 5 the fuel gauge shows how much of your daily download is left and the ‘horizontal traffic lights’ shows whether you are currently in a timeslot or not.

Next you should enter details of your ISP’s data plan, as described over the page.

If you don’t see this screen refer to

Can’t connect to ParentBox?

on page 50.

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Figure 6

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Setting the family’s monthly limit

The values that you set for the family’s monthly limit are used by ParentBox for a number of purposes so it’s a good idea to set the monthly limit before you allocate limits to individual family members.

1. Go to http://parentbox in your web browser.

2. Click the green, ‘Login for parents’ button at top right.

3. Enter the default ParentBox password (which is ‘password’) and click the green, ‘Login’ button.

4. Select the ‘Setup’ tab and then the ‘ISP’ tab to see the screen shown in Figure 6.

5. In the text field enter the number of gigabytes (GB) that you are allowed to download in a billing cycle by your ISP without being traffic-shaped or having to purchase additional data blocks.

6. In the dropdown select the day of the month on which new billing cycles start.

7. Click the blue SAVE CHANGES button.

Next steps:

• Switch on the ParentBox’s wireless network (next page) so that computers can connect to the Internet by wireless.

• Or go ahead to the chapter Day-to-day running of the

ParentBox on page 17 if you don’ need wireless right now.

• At some point you should change ParentBox’s default password to something more secure, see Changing the

ParentBox password on page 40.

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Figure 7

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Turning on the wireless

Your ParentBox can be used as an access point for a wireless LAN, i.e. you can have your family connect to your ParentBox using wireless instead of a wired connector. In fact, the ParentBox can provide 2 wireless networks simultaneously – one in the 2.4 GHz band and one in the 5.0 GHz band.

• The 2.4 GHz band is compatible with more devices, especially older devices.

• The 2.4 GHz band often has better range, particularly through house walls.

• The 5.0 GHz band is less congested and may give you better speeds.

Your ParentBox comes with both wireless networks switched off, but you can switch either (or both) on.

1. Log in to ParentBox (if you’re not already logged in) and click the ‘Setup’ tab followed by the ‘Wifi’ tab.

2. Change the radio button for the network or networks that you want to turn on.

Turn OFF your existing wireless network – or to change its password – to ensure your family members connect to the Internet via the ParentBox.

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3. Enter a name (or ‘SSID’) in the text field for the wireless network(s) that you want to turn on. If you are using both wireless networks then give them different names.

4. Note the default password, FiliosNostrosCurareDebemus, or enter your own password.

5. Optionally, change the wireless channel in the dropdown. You might do this if your neighbour’s wireless network is using the same channel and causing interference.

6. Optionally, change the wireless transmission power. You might increase this value to extend the range of your wireless network. You might decrease this value to reduce the interference you cause to your neighbour’s network.

7. Click the blue SAVE CHANGES button.

Note: ParentBox is preconfigured to use WPA2-PSK security for the wireless network. If this doesn’t work for some of your family’s computers or devices then refer to Changing the wireless

encryption method on page 54.

Next steps:

• Your ParentBox is now successfully set up! Continue on the next page with Day-to-day running of the ParentBox.

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Day-to-day running of the ParentBox

In this section:

• Adding family members to ParentBox

• Assigning computers to family members

• Setting daily download limits for a family member

• Setting timeslots for a family member

• Temporarily unblocking a family member

• How a family member checks his or her progress

• How you check the family’s progress for a day

• How you check the family’s progress for a month

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Figure 8

Adding family members to ParentBox

The idea behind ParentBox is that you allocate daily download limits (and daily timeslots) to your family members. Before you allocate limits, however, you must enter the names of your family members into ParentBox using the Family screen under the ‘ParentBox’ tab (Figure 8).

1. Log in to ParentBox (if you’re not already logged in) and click the ‘ParentBox’ tab followed by the ‘Family’ tab.

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2. Enter the name of the family member you want to add in the ‘Add new family member’ text field and then click SAVE CHANGES.

3. After the screen reloads, you can click the icon beside the family member to change its colour. You can also edit the family member’s name or enter an email address. Click SAVE CHANGES when you’re done.

You can add up to 15 family members. Each family member has a coloured, ‘person’ icon, which is used to identify them in various reports. You can give family members an email address – if you want them to receive emails telling them when they’ve exceeded 75% of their allocation (refer also to Choosing which emails to send on page 44).

The family member named ‘Unknown’ is special. This family member is created automatically, cannot be renamed, and is the family member to which new computers are automatically assigned until you re-assign them to someone.

As with the ‘Unknown’ family member, not all family members in ParentBox need correspond to real people. You may wish to create other ‘unreal’ family members such as ‘Shared’ for the Internet-enabled TV, or ‘No access’ for specific devices that you don’t want using the Internet at all.

Once you’ve added a new family member you cannot delete them, although you can rename them at any time.

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Figure 9

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Assigning computers to family members

ParentBox detects each new computer or device when it connects and lists it on the ‘Computers’ screen (Figure 9). You then assign those computers to the family members that you have entered (Adding family members to ParentBox on page 18) on the ‘Family’ screen.

1. Log in to ParentBox (if you’re not already logged in) and click the ‘ParentBox’ tab followed by the ‘Computers’ tab.

2. For each computer listed, select the appropriate family member from the dropdown. You can also enter or edit a description for the computer.

3. Computers that have not connected for some time will show a delete checkbox. Check the checkbox if you want to delete the computer.

4. Click SAVE CHANGES when you’re done.

Assuming that you will have a number of computers and devices using your home network, ParentBox does its best to help you figure out which computer or device is which.

Figuring out which computer is which

Most of the time it should be obvious which computer (laptop, tablet or mobile phone) is which from the computer’s name. However, some devices do not send a name or the name they send is not meaningful. Fortunately, ParentBox provides you with several other pieces of information that help you identify devices:

• MAC address, e.g. C4:88:E5:17:D1:AE or C4-88-E5-17-D1-AE If you suspect which device is involved then you can check

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the MAC address shown by ParentBox with the MAC address shown in the device itself. Look for an ‘About’ or ‘Properties’ screen on the device for network or wireless connections.

• IP address, e.g. 192.168.5.123 As with the MAC address, if you suspect which device is involved then the device should be able to confirm what IP address it is using on an ‘About’ or ‘Properties’ screen.

• Recent activity ParentBox shows you (to within 10 minutes) how recently the device tried to access the Internet.

• Description ParentBox tries to guess the type of the device and display its guess in the Description text field.

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Setting daily download limits for a family member

The ‘Amounts’ screen under the ‘ParentBox’ tab (Figure 10) is where you set a limit on the amount of data that each family member can download from the Internet in any 24-hour period.

If you have not already configured ParentBox with your monthly download limit set by your ISP then you should go and do this now otherwise the numbers displayed on the Amounts screen may be misleading. Refer to Setting the family’s monthly limit on page 13.

1. Log in to ParentBox (if you’re not already logged in) and click the ‘ParentBox’ tab followed by the ‘Amounts’ tab.

2. For each family member, drag the person icon left or right.

3. Click SAVE CHANGES when you’re done.

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Figure 10

Dragging a person icon (Figure 10) to the far left stops them from having any Internet access at all. Dragging to the far right gives them unlimited downloads, although they are still subject to the timeslots you set for them (Setting timeslots for a family member, page 26). You can also use the dropdown to quickly select a preset value. The person icon on the TOTAL horizontal bar is driven by the other bars – you cannot drag that icon.

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On the screen, 1 DAY’S WORTH is calculated by ParentBox as the family’s total monthly download limit divided by the (average) number of days in a month.

• A conservative strategy is to share download limits between family members so that the TOTAL displayed is exactly 1 day’s worth. Now, if everyone uses all their downloads every day you are still guaranteed not to run out of downloads before the end of the month.

• A more liberal strategy is to over allocate. This time you give family member more generous daily limits so that the TOTAL displayed is 2 day’s worth or more. Now, assuming most family members have days of light Internet use as well as days of heavy use you should still not run out of downloads before the end of the month.

The ‘Monthly’ report (How you check the family’s progress for a

month on page 36) is designed to help you monitor and adjust your

allocations.

You may find, particularly with younger children, that they need a fairly firm limit on their daily downloads as they will happily use up however much is given to them. With older children you can discuss ‘responsible Internet use’ and give them a more flexible and generous limit.

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Figure 11

Setting timeslots for a family member

The ‘Times’ screen lets you set timeslots for each family member. Figure 11 shows the top of the screen and the timeslots for the first family member. The full screen would include timeslots for all family members (and a SAVE CHANGES button at the bottom).

1. Log in to ParentBox (if you’re not already logged in) and click the ‘ParentBox’ tab followed by the ‘Times’ tab.

2. For each family member listed, click on the red and green boxes to toggle them on and off.

3. Click SAVE CHANGES when you’re done.

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You can set different timeslots for each day of the week: timeslots run from midnight to midnight. You set timeslots in blocks of 30minutes – click once to turn the block on (green, meaning that the family member can access the Internet during that 30-minute period) and click again to turn the timeslot off. To speed things up you can, for example, click on ‘Sunday’ to toggle all Sunday’s blocks on or off and you can click on ‘10’ in the morning to toggle that column on or off.

In Figure 11, Emily can access the Internet between 7AM and 9PM each day except Wednesday. Since there is no school on Saturday, she gets an additional 3 hours on Friday night.

When a family member is outside all their timeslots then ParentBox blocks them from accessing the Internet. They can, however, still access other computers and devices, such as media servers and printers, that are connected to the ParentBox.

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Figure 12

ParentBox checks every 10 minutes to see whether any family members need to be blocked or unblocked.

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Temporarily unblocking a family member

Since there will always be occasions when a family member who is currently over their daily download limit (or outside their timeslots) really needs access to the Internet, the ‘Blocks’ screen under the ‘ParentBox’ tab provides a way to temporarily suspend a limit and unblock the family member (Figure 12).

1. Log in to ParentBox (if you’re not already logged in) and click the ‘ParentBox’ tab followed by the ‘Blocks’ tab.

2. For any family member listed as blocked, make a choice from the dropdown.

3. Click SAVE CHANGES when you’re done.

The dropdown lets you choose to unblock the family member for 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours or 4 hours. During this time the family member can download any amount of data.

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Figure 13

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How a family member checks his or her progress

Only you and the people you share your password with can access the majority of the ParentBox screens. However, all family members can access the screen that shows their progress.

1. Enter http://parentbox in your browser or, if you are already looking at ParentBox screens, click the ‘ParentBox’ tab. It does not matter whether you are logged in or not.

The ‘fuel gauge’ at top left of Figure 13 shows you how much of your daily download limit is left both as an absolute amount (264 MB in this example) and as a relative amount from ‘full’ to ‘empty’.

The ‘horizontal traffic lights’ tell you about your timeslots:

• If the leftmost, green light is on then your Internet is currently on.

• If the middle, amber light comes on, then your Internet is on right now, but will be switching off within 15 minutes.

• If the rightmost, red light is on then your Internet is currently off.

Your times

Figure 13 has three tabs in the lower half.

Under the ‘Your times’ tab are your timeslots – green meaning times during which the Internet is on and the grey, padlocked areas meaning times during which it is off.

ParentBox highlights the current day and time with a ‘NOW’ indicator.

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Figure 14

Figure 15

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Your amounts

Under the ‘Your amounts’ tab (Figure 14) are the amounts of data that you’ve used so far today and for the preceding 6 days. ParentBox updates these download counts every 10 minutes, so the amount shown for today is never more than 10 minutes behind.

In case you’re wondering, a user can exceed their daily quota – as shown for ‘yesterday’ – if they are granted a temporary suspension of their limit as described in Temporarily unblocking a family

member on page 29.

The ‘Your amounts’ tab provides your children with a perfect tool for learning how different kinds of use of the Internet – watching videos or using Facebook, for instance – use up different amounts of download.

Your computers

Under the ‘Your computers’ tab (Figure 15) is a list of all the computers and other devices assigned to you and a breakdown of the amounts used by each device (for the current day). This provides your children with another tool for understanding how the use of different devices contributes to their total download amounts.

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Figure 16

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How you check the family’s progress for a day

There are two reports designed primarily for you (the parent) to use: the ‘Daily’ report and the ‘Monthly’ report. The ‘Daily’ report under the ‘Reports’ tab (Figure 16) shows data for one day at a time.

1. Log in to ParentBox (if you’re not already logged in) and click the ‘Reports’ tab followed by the ‘Daily’ tab.

2. Click the Previous and Next buttons to move between days.

The ParentBox collects and stores hour-by-hour data for all family members that have connected to the Internet via the ParentBox during the last 5 days. Using the Previous and Next buttons you can click backwards and forwards through the available data.

Along the bottom, the graph shows the hours of the day from midnight to midnight. The height of each bar shows the total amount downloaded during a given hour. The colours in the bars are the same colours that you assigned to each family member on the Family screen (Adding family members to ParentBox on page

18).

If you wish to focus on some family members and exclude others – for example to show your children how much they used while not letting them see how much you used – then you can check and uncheck one or more of the checkboxes beside the family member names and the graph will update itself.

You will find two main uses for the Daily report – finding out who in your family are the big data users, and seeing what times of the day they are most active.

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Figure 17

How you check the family’s progress for a month

The ‘Monthly’ report under the ‘Reports’ tab (Figure 17) shows a month’s worth of data at a time. The purpose of this graph is to help you manage your monthly data allocation from your ISP and to stop your family from running out of data before month end.

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1. Log in to ParentBox (if you’re not already logged in) and click the ‘Reports’ tab followed by the ‘Monthly’ tab.

2. Click the Previous and Next buttons to move between months.

This screen is accurate only once you have configured your ParentBox (as described in Setting the family’s monthly limit on page 13) with the amount of data your ISP plan allows you per month, and the day of the month on which your new allocation starts.

Figure 17 shows how your ‘Monthly’ report looks when you are close to halfway through the month. Between the start of June and today you are seeing actual data. Between today and the end of June you are seeing predicted data extrapolated from the actual data.

The bold, dashed line shows what will happen if your family continues downloading at the same rate that they’ve been downloading up until today.

The grey, dotted line shows the ideal rate for downloading. If you were able to follow this line, then you would use up all of your monthly data allocated by your ISP on the last day of the month with none left over.

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Figure 18

In Figure 17 it looked as if our family is going to come in slightly below target with about 15.1 GB of data left over. In Figure 18, which shows what happened 2 months previously, our family went over target slightly before the end of the month.

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Reference

In this section is information that you may find useful from time to time:

• Changing the ParentBox password

• Configuring ParentBox so that it can send emails

• Choosing which emails to send

• Ensure the ParentBox clock stays accurate

• What the lights mean

• Static and dynamic IP addresses

• If a computer has trouble connecting

• Switching the ParentBox off

• Adding ParentBox to a more complex home network

• The advanced controls in ParentBox

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Figure 19

Changing the ParentBox password

The ParentBox has an easily-guessed initial password of ‘password’. You should change this as soon as possible to something harder for your children to guess.

1. Log in to ParentBox (if you’re not already logged in) and click the tab ‘Setup’ and then the tab ‘Password’.

2. Enter your new password, once in each textbox (Figure 19). Note that passwords must be at least 8 characters in length.

There is a way to recover a lost password. If you have configured ParentBox so that it can send emails (Configuring ParentBox so it

can send emails, page 41) then simply click the ‘Forgot your

password?’ link on the login screen.

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Figure 20

Configuring ParentBox so it can send emails

There are several kinds of email that you might want your ParentBox to send you: alerts when your family members are blocked or unblocked, alerts when a new computer joins your network, and an email to help you in the event that you forget your ParentBox password.

In order to configure email you need to provide ParentBox with enough information for it to send emails on your behalf. If you have

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an email client such as Outlook (Windows), Mail (Apple OS X) or Thunderbird already installed on your PC then you can copy its settings. Otherwise you may need to Google the web pages of your ISP in order to find the correct settings.

1. Log in to ParentBox and go to the ‘Setup’ tab and then the ‘Email’ tab.

2. In the ‘IP address (or hostname)’ text field (Figure 20) enter a value such as ‘mail.gmx.com’. This is the address or name of the ‘SMTP server’ that will send your outgoing email for you. Real examples of such servers include:

• smtp.mail.yahoo.com (Yahoo)

• smtp.live.com (Windows Live / Hotmail /

Outlook.com)

• smtp.gmail.com (Google Mail / Gmail)

• smtp.aol.com (Aol)

• mail.gmx.com (GMX)

3. In the ‘Port number’ text field enter the port number that goes with the IP address (or hostname) text field. When your ISP or email provider doesn’t require you to authenticate (provide a password) before you send an email then the port number is invariably 25. When your ISP or email provider does require authentication then the port number is usually:

• 465 (Yahoo, Google Mail / Gmail, Aol and GMX)

• 587 (Windows Live / Hotmail / Outlook.com)

4. In the ‘Username’ text field enter the username by which your ISP or email provider knows you. You would have chosen this username when you signed up with your ISP or email provider. It may simply be the same as your email address, or it may be the first part of your email address up to the ‘@’ symbol.

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5. In the ‘Password’ text field enter something only if your ISP or email provider requires authentication. You will have chosen this password when you chose the username discussed Step 4.

6. Finally, in the ‘Your email address’ text field Figure 21 enter the email address at which you want to receive emails from the ParentBox. This can be (but need not be) the email address related to the details you entered above.

You may now wish to test that ParentBox can indeed send emails. A simple way to do this is to click the ‘Forgot your password?’ link on the login screen. This will cause ParentBox to send an email to the address you specified in Step 6 above.

If you have waited at least 15 minutes for an email and none has arrived, then there may be a problem with the values you entered in the Email screen. To help you, ParentBox displays email-related error messages on the Email screen in the ‘Errors from last email attempt’ field (bottom of Figure 20).

Your ParentBox does not send email immediately, but checks for emails to send once every 10 minutes.

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Figure 21

Choosing which emails to send

The ‘Email’ screen under the ‘Setup’ tab lets you select which kinds of email ParentBox sends.

The first two checkboxes (Figure 21) let you control whether you get an email every time a family member is blocked or unblocked from the Internet. You may want these emails at the beginning, to be sure that the ParentBox is working as you intend. However, over time, these emails can become quite numerous and you may wish to turn them off.

The ‘email when a new device joins your network’ checkbox controls whether ParentBox notifies you when a computer or device that it has not seen before connects for the first time. When

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ParentBox is new there are likely to be a number of these emails. However, as time passes these emails are likely to become less frequent. These emails are probably worth seeing though, because a new computer usually means that you should assign it to a family member so that ParentBox can manage the new computer correctly.

The last, ‘send reminders about devices allocated to “Unknown”’ checkbox is there to remind you daily about devices that are currently assigned to the ‘Unknown’ user and really should be assigned to a real family member.

It is also possible that a new device joining your network does not belong to you or your family – in which case it is certainly worthwhile receiving the email. Remember that new devices are automatically assigned to the ‘Unknown’ family member, so you may wish to give this user a very small daily allocation or to limit their timeslots.

The ‘email … when they exceed 75%’ checkbox lets you decide whether individual family members should receive an email warning if they exceed 75% of their daily download limit. Of course, you will need to provide email addresses for family members on the Family screen for ParentBox to be able to send out these emails – refer to Adding family members to ParentBox on page 18.

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Figure 22

Ensuring the ParentBox clock stays accurate

ParentBox needs its clock to be synchronised to your local time zone so that when you tell ParentBox to turn your child’s Internet off at 10PM then ParentBox does so – at 10PM.

Your ParentBox was made in Melbourne, so it comes preconfigured for the correct time in Melbourne / Victoria. If you don’t live in Victoria, then you should change the time zone by choosing

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something more appropriate from the dropdown shown in Figure

22.

Your ParentBox is also preconfigured to synchronise its internal clock automatically from time servers (‘NTP’ servers) on the Internet. Provided you are using your ParentBox in Australia then you should not need to change any of the NTP server names.

Using static or dynamic IP addresses

Almost any computer or device that can connect to the Internet will offer you the choice of ‘static’ or ‘dynamic’ IP addresses.

A static IP address is where you choose the IP address that a device will use to connect to a network. ParentBox does not work with devices that use static IP addresses.

A dynamic IP address is where a device negotiates an IP address when it connects to a network. ParentBox needs all connected devices to be using dynamic IP addresses.

Fortunately, most new devices come preconfigured to use dynamic IP addresses. (Some devices call this ‘DHCP’.) If you have reconfigured your computer or device to use a static IP address then you’ll need to change the device back to use dynamic IP addresses.

Switching the ParentBox off

The ParentBox is designed to run 24 x 7 – after all it is supposed to monitor and control Internet activity around the clock. But when you do switch the ParentBox off – before going on holiday, for example – you are guaranteed to lose no more than 6 hours’ worth

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of data because the ParentBox backs up its working memory into permanent storage four times a day.

Tame Technology recommends that you put the ParentBox somewhere out of easy reach of children’s fingers lest they make a particularly large download and then power cycle the ParentBox hoping that the details of their download will be erased. As a deterrent, as long as you have set up email (Configuring ParentBox

so it can send emails on page 41) ParentBox will send you an alert

to tell you that it was turned off and back on again.

Figure 23

Understanding the lights on the ParentBox

Your ParentBox has nine LEDs on the front. Sometimes knowing what the lights are saying can help you understand what the ParentBox is doing.

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Starting from the left of Figure 23:

1. The power on/off light should be a solid green when the ParentBox is switched on and has booted up correctly. During the booting process, the light will start orange, then flash green after about 30 seconds, then go solid green after another 30 seconds.

2. The 2.4 GHz wireless light will be green when the 2.4 GHz wireless is turned on (Turning on the wireless on page 15). The light will blink when the wireless network is being used.

3. The 5 GHz wireless light will be blue when the 5 GHz wireless is turned on and blink when it is being used.

4. The Internet light will be orange when your ParentBox has managed to establish a connection to your modem via the yellow cable described in Connecting the cables on page

9. If this light is off then no one using your ParentBox will be able to access the Internet and your ParentBox will not be able to send email or set its internal clock.

5. The next four lights indicate whether a PC has been plugged into one of the four sockets on the back of the ParentBox. The lights may be green (indicating a fast, 1 Gbps connection) or amber (indicating a 100 or 10 Mbps connection). When the light is blinking then data is being transferred.

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Figure 24

Can’t connect to ParentBox?

There are some circumstances which may cause computers and other devices to have difficulty connecting properly to the ParentBox. The most common circumstance involves the ParentBox being switched off and back on again shortly after a new computer has connected to it for the first time.

Regardless of the exact circumstances, if browsing to http://parentbox results in the screen shown in Figure 24 then follow one or other of the three procedures described next.

1. The simplest and most reliable solution is to turn your computer or device off and then back on again. This will reset the network connection between your computer or device and ParentBox and you should then be able to access ParentBox normally.

2. Alternatively, you can disable and re-enable just the network adapter that is connecting your computer or device to the ParentBox.

• In Windows 7 and 8 this means going to the Network and Sharing Center (in the Control Panel), clicking

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the ‘Change adapter settings’ at left, identifying which adapter is being used if you have more than one, right clicking on the adapter and selecting ‘Disable’, then right clicking again and selecting ‘Enable’.

• On a mobile device that is connecting over wireless, simply turning the wireless off and back on again should work.

• On a MacBook or other OS X computer open the System Preferences and select Network.

i. If you’re using a wired connection, select

‘Ethernet’ and click the ‘Advanced…’ button. Then click the ‘Renew DHCP Lease’ button.

ii. If you’re using wireless then you can turn it off

and on again.

3. Finally, you can just wait for up to 30 minutes after which time your problematic computer or device should have registered itself with ParentBox.

Adding ParentBox to a more complex home network

There are many different ways in which you can organise your home network. The more knowledgeable may build themselves mini replicas of commercial networks with firewalls, demilitarised zones, port forwarding and so on. ParentBox can be integrated into such sophisticated networks, although the user will likely have to deploy the ‘advanced controls’ (The advanced controls in

ParentBox, page 53), which they must do at their own risk.

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However, even with a straight-forward home network you may want to know about some of ParentBox’s features that make it easier to deploy in some ways rather than others.

1. The first point is that ParentBox will only monitor and control the computers and devices connected to one of its four wired ports or two wireless networks. Any devices between the ParentBox and the Internet – anything on the other end of the yellow network cable – will not be monitored or controlled. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing – you may want the adults’ computers to completely bypass the ParentBox and only the children’s computers to be monitored.

2. The second point is that computers and devices monitored and controlled by the ParentBox should have few problems connecting to other computers (or printers) connected between the ParentBox and the Internet. The reverse is not true, however, so other computers connected between the ParentBox and the Internet are likely to have difficulty locating and connecting to computers and devices monitored by the ParentBox.

3. The third point is that the ParentBox has a firewall that stops incoming connections from the Internet reaching the computers and devices being monitored and controlled by the ParentBox. Consequently, there is minimal risk of data on the ParentBox being viewed or changed by anyone on the Internet, but if you are running some sort of server that is meant to be accessed from the Internet then you will have the knowledge to locate the server ‘upstream’ from the

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ParentBox – or to open the appropriate ports on the ParentBox.

4. The final point is that the ParentBox is preconfigured to live on the 192.168.5.0/24 subnet. If your home network already has several subnets, and of them is the 192.168.5.0/24 subnet, you may need to make some special provision for routing.

Figure 25

The advanced controls in ParentBox

In the preceding sections of this User Guide every ParentBox screen has been described. However, in addition to the ParentBox screens there are numerous screens that the more adventurous and knowledgeable users may wish to access. Please be aware, however, that you use these advanced screens at your own risk as you could cause the ParentBox to stop functioning.

The advanced screens are accessed via the ‘Administration’ link at the top of the ParentBox screen (Figure 25).

The advanced screens are provided by the excellent, open source OpenWRT project on which ParentBox is built. OpenWRT’s web presence is at https://openwrt.org

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Figure 26

Changing the wireless encryption method

As was mentioned in Turning on the wireless on page 15, ParentBox is preconfigured to use the WPA2-PSK security for its wireless networks. If this type of security is not appropriate for your home network then you can change it by following the instructions below.

1. Log in to ParentBox and click the ‘Administration’ link at the very top of the screen.

2. Select the ‘Network’ tab then the ‘Wifi’ tab.

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3. Click one of the two ‘Edit’ buttons depending on whether you are changing the wireless for the 2 GHz band or the 5 GHz band.

4. In the lower half of the screen select the ‘Wireless Security’ tab – refer to Figure 26.

5. Select your desired value from the ‘Encryption’ dropdown.

• Depending on your selection you may have to enter one or more keys.

6. Finally, click the ‘Save & Apply’ button.

For further support, go to http://parentbox.com.au