Remote access to Brewpi- current methods?

[jmrybak]

(this post was moved to the appropriate subfolder)

Hey all,

This will hopefully be a quick question for those more senior to the topic, but as I couldn't find a clear answer in reading through seemingly endless posts (containing great content mind you), I thought I would ask.

What is the easiest/ best/ most striaght- forward/ your favorite way to access and control your brew pi remotely? I would like to be able to monitor and control my brewpi from any computer or my phone if possible. I do not need public versions, just one for myself. I do have a website where I could host/ post or link anything needed. I have the most basic brewpi setup currently thanks to fuzzys thread (more advanced builds with LCDs and other set ups planned to tinker with).

I have seen a few methods posted around- but many seem as they may be outdated or need modifications, and others have broken links. I could try VPN, but this seems more complex to readily access and offers more than I need.

Thank you for any and all help or advice!

Rpi 3B (running Jessie with brewpi and all have been updated as best I can tell)
Sainsmart Arduino UNO R3
Sainsmart 2 channel relay
2 DS18B20 temperature sensors

 

[stlbeer]

Super easy to use: https://www.remot3.it/web/

 

[day_trippr]

My remote SSH arsenal includes Putty and WinSCP on my peecees, and Juice SSH on my 'Droids.

Old school

All of my RPIs are accessible from anywhere with interwebs...

Cheers!

 

[jmrybak]

Super easy to use: https://www.remot3.it/web/

How do you get this to work? Can you control the interface on your phone?

 

[jmrybak]

My remote SSH arsenal includes Putty and WinSCP on my peecees, and Juice SSH on my 'Droids.

Old school

All of my RPIs are accessible from anywhere with interwebs...

Cheers!

Can you use ssh to get the web interface? I use ssh on the home network (Comcast modem/router to apple time capsule wifi router) to control my Rpi, but can't for the life of me figure out how to use ssh to get the web interface from off the home network.

 

[stlbeer]

How do you get this to work? Can you control the interface on your phone?

If you have a smart phone you can use the browser. When I'm at home I simply use the IP of the Pi, when remote I use the Remot3.it. I've set up 2 services, HTTP and SSH. That way I can get a terminal or browser to work.

The BrewPi interface can detect your browser and accommodate it, though it's much easier in landscape mode.

 

[day_trippr]

Can you use ssh to get the web interface? I use ssh on the home network (Comcast modem/router to apple time capsule wifi router) to control my Rpi, but can't for the life of me figure out how to use ssh to get the web interface from off the home network.

Haven't tried setting up Apache2 for https, but there are quite a few tutorials on the subject, this one looks pretty readable...

Cheers!

 

[jmrybak]

If you have a smart phone you can use the browser. When I'm at home I simply use the IP of the Pi, when remote I use the Remot3.it. I've set up 2 services, HTTP and SSH. That way I can get a terminal or browser to work.

The BrewPi interface can detect your browser and accommodate it, though it's much easier in landscape mode.

Got remot3.it running. It took a minute to find the clean install instructions, and another few to find where their mobile interface hides the login fields, but it works great! Thanks for the tip!

 

[stlbeer]

Got remot3.it running. It took a minute to find the clean install instructions, and another few to find where their mobile interface hides the login fields, but it works great! Thanks for the tip!

Glad I could help.

Happy Brewing!

 

[sami1971]

Can you use ssh to get the web interface? I use ssh on the home network (Comcast modem/router to apple time capsule wifi router) to control my Rpi, but can't for the life of me figure out how to use ssh to get the web interface from off the home network.

Are you forwarding (tunneling) the http server port when making a connection?

 

[jmrybak]

Nope, I did not need to tunnel the port through my router to use remot3.it

 

[bufford]

I have installed remot3.it and have the SSH working. I can't get the http portion to work. Can anyone provide any tips or information?

 

[stlbeer]

I have installed remot3.it and have the SSH working. I can't get the http portion to work. Can anyone provide any tips or information?

What kind of messages are you seeing? Did you configure the port number in remot3.it correctly?

 

[bufford]

I believe that I did configure the port number correctly. At one point a got a TCP not listening error. Now when I log in all I get is the Apache it worked screen.

 

[stlbeer]

I believe that I did configure the port number correctly. At one point a got a TCP not listening error. Now when I log in all I get is the Apache it worked screen.

Then there's your problem. BrewPi isn't located in the correct folder.

Go to this link: http://diybrewpi.wikia.com/wiki/Multiple_Fermentation_Chamber_Control_with_BrewPi

Which version of the Raspbian software are you running and where did you install the BrewPi software?

Were you ever able to successfully see the interface without going through remot3.it?

If not, you might need to check log a problem in this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=466106

 

[day_trippr]

It's not actually a Raspbian issue, it was a change to the Document Root setting by Apache2 from /var/www to /var/www/html roughly a year or so ago. We had the same thing crop up in the RaspberryPints threads for the same reason.

So, either root BrewPi at /var/www/html or change the default DocumentRoot back to /var/www
by editing /etc/apache2/sites-available

and change DocumentRoot setting from /var/www/html to /var/www.

Cheers!

 

[bufford]

I don't understand. I get the web server to work just fine on my local machines. What do I need to change?

 

[day_trippr]

What is the full URL you use on your LAN to get to the server?

 

[boasist]

Thanks for the remot3.it tip!

From discovery to implementation in under 10 minutes.

 

[bufford]

http://192.168.0.37/chamber3/index.php

 

[day_trippr]

And I bet you'd find http://192.168.0.37/chamber3/ works as well.

So, an html access from the WAN side of your router would need to be steered to the host LAN address (see "Port Forwarding") and use a URL like http://<WAN address>/chamber3/.

Wrt port forwarding, if you only have a single web host on your LAN that you'd like visible from the outside world, you can simply set your router to forward all in-bound Port 80 requests to the LAN address of that server...

Cheers!

 

[bufford]

I you sir are correct. That address works as well. I thought the using remot3.it was a way around the port forwarding. How would this work for all 3 BrewPi Chambers?

 

[day_trippr]

I don't know much more about remot3.it then what's listed on their home page, but afaik nothing in-bound gets through a router unless the port is opened, and nothing actually lands on a LAN device unless the traffic through that port is forwarded to it.

I can't think of a single application I've ever used that could work through a router without port forwarding. I'd be surprised if remot3.it differs.

As for multiple servers on the same machine, you use the qualified path.
Eg: I have four BrewPi instances running on one of my RPi systems, each is rooted in its own folder below the DocumentRoot.
So when I access any of them from outside my LAN I use http://<my WAN ip address>/<BrewPiInstanceFolder>/ to get to the index.php file for that instance.

ie:
http://33.444.555.666/brewpi1/ gets me to the first instance
http://33.444.555.666/brewpi2/ gets me to the second instance
etc.

It's actually a little more complicated than that as I have numerous systems with web servers I need to access from outside my LAN.
To make that work each system gets its own WAN port assignment and forwarding rules, and the in-bound URLs are tagged with the port.
So those two paths above actually look like this:

http://33.444.555.666:81/brewpi1/ gets me to the first instance on System 1
http://33.444.555.666:81/brewpi2/ gets me to the second instance on System 1

and

http://33.444.555.666:82/brewpi1/ gets me to the first instance on System 2
http://33.444.555.666:82/brewpi2/ gets me to the second instance on System 2

etc...

Cheers!

 

[MacDee]

And I bet you'd find http://192.168.0.37/chamber3/ works as well.

So, an html access from the WAN side of your router would need to be steered to the host LAN address (see "Port Forwarding") and use a URL like http://<WAN address>/chamber3/.

Wrt port forwarding, if you only have a single web host on your LAN that you'd like visible from the outside world, you can simply set your router to forward all in-bound Port 80 requests to the LAN address of that server...

Cheers!

@day_trippr and @Thorrak I'm preparing to move my Fermentrack/BrewPi/esp8266/feed&bleed system from my development space(read basement) to my brewery so I can start on some ales. I'm looking at remote access.

I've signup for a NordVPN and a Dyn DDNS. I've installed ddclient and OpenVPN on the brewpi. Do you have a good reference on what I should be following as a how to?
I'm planning on having the pi on a non-public portion of the network at the brewery. I figure I'll use a combination of services I signed up for to access my Fermentrack remotely primarily.

Although it will be a different router at the brewery I'm still trying to get it going here in my "development space" which uses a FIOS modem and I can't seem to gain SSH access to the pi or Fermentrack.

But then again I'm in way over my head! Anything useful you could point me at would be a help.

 

[MacDee]

Success! I may have changed too many variables as far as porting and security levels but I can now see the Fermentrack remotely.

 

[LBussy]

I can't think of a single application I've ever used that could work through a router without port forwarding. I'd be surprised if remot3.it differs.

There are many which do not require port forwarding. They rely on the device to create an out-bound tunnel to a service. You then log into that service and traverse the tunnel to your device. Much safer than punching holes in your firewall.

Success! I may have changed too many variables as far as porting and security levels but I can now see the Fermentrack remotely.

I have the beginnings of an article on this. Let me go check it out and see if it's close to making any sense and I'll pop the URL in here. You've gotta be really careful about port forwarding directly to a system which is not hardened.

 

[MacDee]

There are many which do not require port forwarding. They rely on the device to create an out-bound tunnel to a service. You then log into that service and traverse the tunnel to your device. Much safer than punching holes in your firewall.


I have the beginnings of an article on this. Let me go check it out and see if it's close to making any sense and I'll pop the URL in here. You've gotta be really careful about port forwarding directly to a system which is not hardened.

That'd be great. I'm open to better ways.

 

[LBussy]

Yeah that article in print is not as complete as it is in my head.

What exactly are you trying to do? When you say "in your brewery" are you in the same building? Do you require access over the Internet from anywhere? What type of access, just web or ssh as well?

 

[MacDee]

Yeah that article in print is not as complete as it is in my head. [emoji14]

What exactly are you trying to do? When you say "in your brewery" are you in the same building? Do you require access over the Internet from anywhere? What type of access, just web or ssh as well?

Need access over the internet, some times from another continent.

 

[LBussy]

There's two things that come to mind right away:

• VNC Connect
• remot3.it

VNC may be something that seems more "traditional" for people. You connect your Pi to the VNC services and you can remotely control it with the graphical desktop you are used to. From there of course you'd run your web browser and do your thing. remot3.it allows you to register different services so you can register a connection for ssh as well as https..

Neither is as convenient as just punching a hole in your firewall and hitting it with a web browser, but I just can't explain how horribly insecure port forwarding to a Pi is without it coming off as a dissertation.

Port forwarding to a Pi is simply asking for someone to hack it. At best, they will install a bot to force you to be part of a botnet. At worst, they will use that as a jumping-off for exploiting other machines on the same subnet.