Quote:
Originally Posted by kknudson
Any further info on the older Windoz version ??
Most had some limited remote desktop capabilites.
The VPN router only provides the connection, you would need to put some form of PC at the remote site. Got an old laptop/PC laying around ?? You'd need a pretty basic setup.
Then you'd connect into it and use it to monitor the remote site.
LogMeIN, RDP or any other remote connection products, do a Google search
Does the remote site see the internet with a fixed IP ??
A lot of points have IPs that change, mine does but rarely, then look at DynDNS or some other product to monitor it.
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I'm glad that you asked these questions; they help to clarify what I need to achieve.
While it would technically work to buy another computer, put it on the remote network, and then RDP into it, for a variety of reasons I can't put another computer at the remote site (mainly, there is no place to put one, either from a space standpoint or from a security standpoint, and some political resistance to this idea as well). The industrial equipment can't be RDP-ed into either.
So, for this particular scenario, assume for now that it's not possible to RDP into a computer that is at the remote location. Instead, I want my own computer in my office to act as if it is located at the remote site (not all the time, just when I need to check on things).
I think the VPN router will do this for me; in the manual for the Cisco RV082 VPN router, they say (I'm paraphrasing a bit):
The VPN capability creates encrypted “tunnels” through the Internet, allowing traveling users to securely connect into your office network from offsite. Users connecting through a VPN tunnel are attached to your company’s network just as if they were in the building.
My wife VPNs into her office from our house, and it does exactly this. Start the connection, and all of our local home network devices (printers, NAS, PCs) disappear, and her work network is there instead (office printers, other computers, network shares, etc.). It's like being at her office, but less boring
. Disconnect and things are back to normal.
This is exactly what I want - for my computer in my office to appear as if it's in the same building, on the same network as these three pieces of industrial equipment. The monitoring software I need to use can then run on my office PC. So I think I'm on the right track with a device like this. But, I'm not sure how to hook it up with the wireless network in the middle (vs. having the VPN router on a static IP directly exposed to the internet, which I think I could bumble my way through from the examples in the router manuals).
My best guess at the moment is to:
- Buy one of these VPN routers and a wireless bridge
- Put them on the wireless network with a static IP for the router (by this I mean static relative to the local side of the wireless network, not the internet)
- Get the administrator of the wireless network router to configure it to forward the ports associated with VPN tunnels to this static IP (I think these are ports 50, 51 and 500, but this is all new to me
).
- If the building's public wireless network doesn't have a static IP on the internet, then use the DynDNS service on the VPN router to give me a name I can use to connect to it. (good tip - thanks!)
- Configure the firewall in the VPN router to block the industrial equipment from accessing the internet.
- Connect the industrial equipment to the VPN router's LAN ports, and the wireless network to the WAN port via the wireless bridge.
- Run VPN client software on my PC to create the VPN tunnel, putting my PC on the remote network.
I have no idea if this will actually work though...
I've never had to do any networking this elaborate before.
I really appreciate all of the responses; I know this is a weird / complicated situation with a lot of restrictions - that's why I feel fortunate to have your help!