Proxy with DHCP

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itxtme

2050 posts

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#153590 2-Oct-2014 09:27

My company is deploying devices in remote locations (remote as in around the country) and we want the ability to log into these devices and control them. This isnt difficult with port forwarding and the locations IP address.

The problem being the IP addresses may change or be dynamic as we do not control these connections. These devices support Proxy settings with DHCP options. What I am wanting to do is run my proxy server locally and then connect to these devices based on the name assigned to them in the DHCP setting.

This is outside my comfort zone, but something I am willing to learn, I just need a push in the right direction. What software would you recommend to accomplish this? To begin with I want to host the proxy server locally in-house. In the future we will look at co-locating.

So suggestions on software that will do this?

raytaylor

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#1148523 6-Oct-2014 19:22

We use screen connect
www.screenconnect.com

however i suspect you may be talking about devices and not computers?

Ray Taylor

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itxtme

2050 posts

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#1148870 7-Oct-2014 08:33

Yea you are correct, devices so cant install anything on them :/

qyiet

454 posts

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#1148902 7-Oct-2014 09:08

I don't come offering solutions, I just want to make sure I understand what you are looking for.

As in the diagram above you want Proxy server to record Random PublicIP that Super Amazing Device Thing registers when it logs into the proxy so that you can access Super Amazing Device Thing remotely? If so.. I'd give it a possible rating.. needs testing.

Warning: reality may differ from above post

itxtme

2050 posts

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#1148961 7-Oct-2014 10:24

Yea that is what I want to do! After further research I am not sure how successful I could be, in the sense I probably just need a back door into the device. We are in talks with the device maker for this as a solution.

What I cant have is address forwarding in the router as many of our customers wont/dont have the knowledge to set it up. It is cost prohibitive for us to get into that kind of solution, not to mention the nightmare of dynamic DNS.

timmmay

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#1148968 7-Oct-2014 10:36

What kind of network are the connected to? Internet via random ISP? Do they already have the facility to upload to a central site, either configurable or preset by the factory? Do they support a VPN? Can you change the hosts file? Can you tell us what the devices are?

itxtme

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#1149010 7-Oct-2014 11:23

The locations are random clients, utilizing their own ISP's. The devices are cameras, which report back when triggered, but can be targeted through the setup within them. We dont want customers to have to do this. The only other option we can really see is have a local computer installed with something similar to what raytaylor has suggested and then login into their computer and access the device by their local IP. No we cant install software on them (the cameras) :/

I was thinking since they supported proxies maybe we could get into them via that, however what wouldnt deal with the local IP issue.

toyonut

1508 posts

Uber Geek

#1149086 7-Oct-2014 12:45

Do you have control of the routers on site?
could you make use of a dyndns setup?
Most routers I have seen have the ability to update a dynamic dns provider, usually dyndns, but some others too. So if you port forwarded 80 and 443 through the router to the camera and then used a dynamic dns hostname for each site you could access the cameras through a DNS name which you set up. This will only work for one camera per site though unless you forward non standard ports through to the camera so dynamic.host.name:81 goes to camera1:80, :82 goes to camera2:80 etc. Can do the same for https too.

Try Vultr using this link and get us both some credit:

http://www.vultr.com/?ref=7033587-3B

Glassboy

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#1149116 7-Oct-2014 13:14

Given that most domestic routers are DHCPing addresses from a very low address in 192.168.1.0/24 you could your device a static IP address that's much further up e.g. 192.168.1.220. If anyone is running hundreds of devices behind a router they're going to be more hands on with what you can do anyway.

qyiet

454 posts

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#1149167 7-Oct-2014 14:27

Yeah, you'd get the public IP, but if you can't setup fwding on the router (and lets assume you can't because random user's routers suck) you are still hosed with using a proxy to harvest the public IP addresses.

If it's just a one-off config I'd go with raytaylor's advice and use something like screenconnect or teamviewer to take over a PC on their local network briefly to do it. But if you need ongoing access it gets messy.

Warning: reality may differ from above post

itxtme

2050 posts

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#1149173 7-Oct-2014 14:34

Hmm yeah its looking messy. Waiting to hear back from the camera vendor, maybe they will have some more ideas for us! Cheers guys

timmmay

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#1149375 7-Oct-2014 18:20

Your idea of capturing the IP via a proxy might work, but you may need to set up port forwarding on the customer router to give access. VPN? Otherwise it is a bit tricky if it's a packaged device.

itxtme

2050 posts

Uber Geek

#1149456 7-Oct-2014 20:04

Yea its packaged, running a web-server that feeds the data back as XML, so a VPN is a no go. I shall investigate further!