Remote Access over the internet

[hormelspam552]

Hey there,

I recently worked through how to connect a client to my main computer on a local, home internet network. I'm still new to this IP and network config stuff though, so I was wondering if someone could give me a step-by-step guide on how to remote access over the internet rather than on a local network. The reason why I ask is because I want to remote monitor the FAH client folding under my name over at my Dad's house on my main computer at my house. I've heard that it takes quite a bit of config to get right with port and IP stuff, but with this stay-at-home order I got plenty of time. I want to remote monitor the PC myself rather than just let it fold under my name without remote access because my dad is not really tech-oriented, and he's only on his computer like an hour a day, so he can't monitor it for me.

I have full administrator permissions on both computers as well as complete access to the routers and local networks at both houses, plus a ton of free time, so none of that should be a problem.

Thanks in advance.

[PantherX]

Have you considered to use TeamViewer to simply have the ability to connect on demand (with permission/notification) from your local system to the remote system? That way, even if your dad isn't on the computer, you can have access to it as long as it is turned on. TeamViewer is free for personal use. That's what I have used in the past to manage my remote systems. Also, TeamViewer doesn't kill a GPU slot when it's folding unlike RDP connection... at least when I last used it.

[Rel25917]

If I didn't suck at writing guides/explaining things I would give it a try, also writing on a tablet is way to slow. Short version it is the same as local connections just have to forward the port on the remote router. The problem is what ip address to allow as your or his public address can change. Ddns can allow you to get to his but if yours changes you won't be allowed to connect. You can allow a range but how big a range to allow? With broadband connections these days you can keep the same ip for months so maybe just deal with that if they do change? And be sure to not use the passwordless IP settings obviously.

As PantherX says something like teamviewer could be a lot easier.

[hormelspam552]

Well I prefer to have the FAH client connected rather than teamviewer because it's more convenient to have it show up in FAHControl rather than going through another window. And the fact that I have to go through the reconnection process every time teamviewer closes, such as during a computer restart.

I've heard of people using static IP addresses, shouldn't those stay, well, static? I also fiddled around on the router config yesterday and found the port-forwarding menu but have absolutely no clue on what to do. I did do ipconfig /all in cmd but it comes down to what to do with which IP address it shows.

[Jesse_V]

You're poking around in the right places.

You will first need a couple pieces of information:
1) the IP address for both your home and your dad's home. At each location, open up DuckDuckGo or Google and type in "what is my IP address" and it will directly tell you. Write these down.
2) You will need the LAN IP address of the F@h machine at your dad's place. This is the IP address that your router sets, so this is where "Ipconfig /all" is most helpful. You're looking for the IPv4 address. Another way is to finding the network icon in the taskbar down by the clock, right-click, click on "open Network and Internet options", click "view your network properties". There is a line labeled "IPv4 Address" in the format X.X.X.X/16. Write down those first four numbers.

What you want to do is configure the router at your dad's place to port forward TCP 36330 from your IP address (from step 1) to the LAN IP address (from step 2). Let us know when you've set that up.

[PantherX]

...I've heard of people using static IP addresses, shouldn't those stay, well, static?...

The Static IP is generally done on the ISP level for your modem/router. If the ISP decides to have DHCP, it can change.

[bruce]

My ISP charges me more if I want a static address than if I accept one assigned by DHCP.

Bottom line:
I, too, recommend the teamviewer approach.

[HaloJones]

Teamviewer have an annoying tendency to class someone as a commercial user and refuse to then listen to any evidence.

[PantherX]

Humm... that's not been my experience. On all the systems that I have TeamViewer installed, I have setup automatic authentication from my control system. I had a case where they classified it as commercial use (disconnects after 5 minutes) but once I provided the logs and use case, they accepted it and it was sorted out within a week. However, this was a while ago so not sure of the recent experience.

[TPL]

Voice for TeamViewer too. I've been using it for about 10 years with no difficulties. Anyway, if you are having such, there are other software like Anydesk. ( And many more).

I have configured Teamviewer to open with OS and with constant password so I can reboot my computer remotely if necessary. I don't think it is as I'm running on Linux now unless I decide to install some new software remotely. I am travelling a lot at work so maybe that day could be ahead.

[peterjammo]

When I was trying to sort out access to a temporarily headless box, couple of folk suggested using the web version of FAHControl with Chrome Remote Desktop. It didn't help in my case, but might be an option for you?

[hormelspam552]

You're poking around in the right places.

You will first need a couple pieces of information:
1) the IP address for both your home and your dad's home. At each location, open up DuckDuckGo or Google and type in "what is my IP address" and it will directly tell you. Write these down.
2) You will need the LAN IP address of the F@h machine at your dad's place. This is the IP address that your router sets, so this is where "Ipconfig /all" is most helpful. You're looking for the IPv4 address. Another way is to finding the network icon in the taskbar down by the clock, right-click, click on "open Network and Internet options", click "view your network properties". There is a line labeled "IPv4 Address" in the format X.X.X.X/16. Write down those first four numbers.

What you want to do is configure the router at your dad's place to port forward TCP 36330 from your IP address (from step 1) to the LAN IP address (from step 2). Let us know when you've set that up.

Ok, so I found both public IP addresses as well as the LAN IP of my dad's machine. I'm on the router config page for port forwarding, but I don't see where exactly to put the IP addresses. Here's a screenshot:


Which service do I use as well? It seems to have automatically chose FTP, but I can also select HTTP, telnet, etc.

[bruce]

Port 36330 uses telnet-like messages between FAHControl and FAHClient on your local machine. Presumably the same thing happens across your LAN or remotely across the internet. You can download a telnet client and test things locally before you venture out to you Dad's house.

[Jesse_V]

I don't see any screenshot image there, could you try that again?

If you have the router set up, you'll also need to figure the F@h software at your dad's place. Click "control" in the upper-left corner, go under the Remote Access tab, and add a password/passphrase into the first section. Then under the Allow field in the IP Address Restriction section, add a space and your router's subnet. The Allow field should look like "127.0.0.0 192.168.0.0/16" although your router might be different. This information is shown in the "IPv4 Address" line I mentioned above. Once that is done, save the configuration and completely restart the Folding@home software, or the computer. You will also then need to go into Windows Firewall and allow an incoming connection to FAHClient. Once that is done, you should be able to connect from your own computer. To do that, open FAHControl, click "add" in the bottom left corner, put in the public IP address of your dad's place, the passphrase you generated earlier, and it should connect.

[hormelspam552]

I don't see any screenshot image there, could you try that again?

If you have the router set up, you'll also need to figure the F@h software at your dad's place. Click "control" in the upper-left corner, go under the Remote Access tab, and add a password/passphrase into the first section. Then under the Allow field in the IP Address Restriction section, add a space and your router's subnet. The Allow field should look like "127.0.0.0 192.168.0.0/16" although your router might be different. This information is shown in the "IPv4 Address" line I mentioned above. Once that is done, save the configuration and completely restart the Folding@home software, or the computer. You will also then need to go into Windows Firewall and allow an incoming connection to FAHClient. Once that is done, you should be able to connect from your own computer. To do that, open FAHControl, click "add" in the bottom left corner, put in the public IP address of your dad's place, the passphrase you generated earlier, and it should connect.

Oh, here was the screenshot in the form of an imgur link: https://imgur.com/a/fP0Zh0b

I don't really see a place for me to put my public IP address here in the portforwarding menu, but once that is taken care of these next steps to seem too complicated to follow.