Cheapest remote access for my boat

[agurney]

I'd set up dynamic DNS and ssh to the name.
You might need a tunnel if there's a firewall or proxy in the way as you used to get with mobile broadband, but I thought that was a thing of the past.

Marina wifis are likely to have (and should have) most ports locked down, and have a firewall that only allows outbound connections.

 

[[163233]]

Marina wifis are likely to have (and should have) most ports locked down, and have a firewall that only allows outbound connections.

Yes, it looks like mobile broadband still forces you through a proxy as well, so he'd need an http tunnel of some sort.

 

[Forty_Two]

The problem is the mobile co never gives you a public ip (unless you pay usually with a buss a/c) it's behind a NAT so you just cant ssh direct to it & ddns wont cut it.

Remote3.it looks a good solution though.

On my boat monitor i use a Pi which has 3G dongle & use the Sakis3G script to connect. So if i want a picture from camera2 say, i send a text to the Pi (it also has a GSM shield) which logs in to the camera (another Pi) takes the pic opens the 3G data link then uploads pics & log files etc using SFTP to my web space ready for me to download when i want.

I do all my control by sms so data connection is just from the Pi outwards. Nice & easy!

I will look at the Remote3.it route as occasionally it would be nice to have a look at the Pi logs i dont forward. I will always use sms & 3/4G as they do go down sometimes & at least you get some comms from the boat. I get a bit touchy if my status sms or daily pics aren't available ?

 

[agurney]

... So if i want a picture from camera2 say, i send a text to the Pi (it also has a GSM shield) which logs in to the camera (another Pi) takes the pic opens the 3G data link then uploads pics & log files etc using SFTP to my web space ready for me to download when i want...

I've taken a slightly different approach:

• every hour or so rsync in a cron task copies files/photos in a directory between the remote pi and home
• another daily cron task deletes all files in the directory that are more than about 10 days old.

which means that:

• if the data connection is unavailable the files will be transferred at the first opportunity, but only those files that haven't already been copied over
• if the data connection is dropped for a protracted period of time I won't run out of memory, and I'll still be able to access the most recent files when reconnected

 

[Forty_Two]

I've taken a slightly different approach:

• every hour or so rsync in a cron task copies files/photos in a directory between the remote pi and home

/QUOTE]

Interesting. My next system will use a 4G router with ethernet ports so i should be connected most of the time giving me more ways to do things (i am in SoF & have a 100GB/mth sim). My Pi cameras use 32GB sd cards so they take hourly, on demand or event driven (shorepower on/off, passerelle up/down) pics. I replace the sd's every year anyway as a precaution so have an archive that way.

I will be able power cycle the router by sms & will still have the 3G dongle as a fall back. I have lots of reboot protections programmed in watching my python threads, pinging the cameras & i use the Pi hardware watchdog. I am moving to a Pi3 & Zero's for the cameras using the Pi3 as the wifi AP to link to them & ethernet to the router on seperate subnets.

Being in another country does make you think really hard about what could happen. I had a problem two weeks ago where i started getting partial uploads. My program tries four times at 30min intervals & if all fail it gives up & sends me an sms. I did remote reboots but no change, till after a week all is back. I guess the local 3G cell was out & the sftp couldnt be sustained. It would log in but then drop. Anyway i still had my sms capability so could still see battery volts & temperatures etc.

Just finished building my new hardware, four months to soak test before refit next March ?

 

[roblpm]

Yes, and then we can revert to sailing-related topics to avoid reinventing the wheel: https://software.intel.com/en-us/setting-up-serial-terminal-on-system-with-linux

And this link just saved me ages. Works a treat.....