OK, i have searched and in the past I feel I have been pretty tech savvy, but with old age, I have developed a mental block with EVERYTHING concerning VPN. I lack any and all scaffolding to understand, I apologize again. It is frustrating! I guess VPN is a bridge too far!
All I want to do is access Dump1090 from my Android Phone or IPAD when I am away from my network using/employing (whatever) VPN.
Here is what I have:
RPI (all I have on it is PIAWARE/Dump1090-FA
PIAWARE running GREAT!, Feeding GREAT
Router: Linksys WRT1900ACS
VPN: EXPRESS VPN subscription
The router is configured for ExpressVPN. I can turn on and use ExpressVPN on my Desktop, IPAD, and Android.
I just can’t figure out how to “see” the Dump1090 output/PIAWARE output (hell, just the planes). While I don’t necessarily need single syllable explanation, if you can help, please don’t get carried away
VPN, Virtual Private Network, is a method/protocol for sending/receiving/connecting from one node to another in such a way that the data is encrypted. There are many variations and uses for a VPN.
Express VPN is used to hide your location/IP Address from the server you are contacting. You are spoofing your location by using the address of another node. As an example, you want to watch Japanese Netflix at the local Japanese rate. Netflix blocks IP addresses from outside the that country from joining that portion of their network. A VPN connection to a server in Japan via a VPN fools the Netflix server into thinking you are there. (Netflix is very aware of this and blocks those VPN servers when discovered.)
Another use for a VPN and the one you are seeking is to provide a connection to your LAN from somewhere else on the internet. You connect to a VPN server on your network which accepts connections from the internet. The VPN server then routes you to a local address on your LAN. The workstation you are connecting with will receive an address that is issued from your LAN’s DHCP server through the VPN server. (Still with me?)
There are some routers that have this type of VPN built in. In my configuration, I loaded a spare Raspberry Pi with OpenVPN. It acts as a server. As I recently mentioned in another post, I use port 443 as the the communication port because many WIFI hotspots block the standard ports used by VPN’s. 443 on most hotspots is left open for secure web sites but traffic is traffic. Only the most sophisticated software can detect what port 443 is actually being used for.
Once you have set up a VPN server, you will generate a secure key to use on your various devices. Again, OpenVPN supports Windows, Linux and Android with client applications. It may well support Apple products but I don’t go there.
This is, of course, a very simple discussion of VPN. Pages and pages are written about the pro’s and con’s of each implementation. Good reading for a rainy day (or season).
I hope this gets you started in the right direction.
It sounds like you’ve already verified that you can connect to the VPN externally [while you are away from your local network].
If that is the case, then as long as you are connected over VPN you should be able to type in the IP address of your RPI in a web browser and pull up the planes / status.
For instance, my RPI’s private address is 192.168.0.14. If I connect over VPN from outside my network, all I have to to is type in 192.168.0.14 and it’ll bring up the status page, and of course I can click on the Map from there to view the planes.
I do not think that you need VPN services from external service provider such as Express VPN for accessing your RPI. What you need is to configure your router VPN server (instructions here linksys.com/us/support-artic … Num=157327 ) and then put OpenVPN client on your devices (search App Store for OpenVPN on iPad and Android) and configure access to your router vpn server within those apps (one way is to save the config to .ovpn file on the router and use that file on devices).
EDIT: Forget to mention that, unless you have static IP address from your Internet provider, the future live will be much easier if you will sign up for DDNS service and configure your router for the DDNS before your configure VPN server.
I do the same as agretch with OpenVPN on a Raspberry Pi 3. Here are a few additional details:
1- I use duckdns.org which is a free DDNS and set up a domain (e.g. jcinnb.duckdns.org). A cron task on the RPi will update your IP address periodically.
2- Set up router port forwarding to the RPI IP address for the following ports: TCP 443, TCP 943, UDP 1194
3- I never success with the tutorials to set up OpenVPN so I download and run setup scripts: $ git clone git://github.com/StarshipEngineer/OpenVPN-Setup and follow the instructions on site.
3a- If you’re not using the RPi ethernet port eth0, be sure you change /etc/firewall-openvpn-rules.sh accordingly (to wlan0 or whatever)
4- I use TunnelBlick on my Mac and OpenVPN app on iOS devices. Generate a .ovpn file and also have to enter the PEM passphrase that you select during setup. For the Mac you can transfer the file and open it with TunnelBlick. For iOS devices it works best to email the file to yourself, and then on the device press and hold the attachment and save it to OpenVPN.
BTW netcat is my favorite way to transfer individual files without ftp or sharing drives if I can open a terminal (shell) on both ends:
On the receiving end run nc -l -p 1234 > out.file
which will begin listening on port 1234.
On the sending end run nc -w 3 [destination] 1234 < out.file
which will connect to the receiver and begin sending file
Sounds overly complicated (with a caveat that I am using Asus router and had not had any issues configuring OpenVPN server). Why do you forwarding ports to RPi? If VPN server/client configured correctly as soon as you established VPN connection with your network you should be able to use yourlocalrpiadress you see on the FA feeder stat page to access dump1090 web map or use telent to access RPi.
Sounds overly complicated (with a caveat that I am using Asus router and had not had any issues configuring OpenVPN server). Why do you forwarding ports to RPi? If VPN server/client configured correctly as soon as you established VPN connection with your network you should be able to use yourlocalrpiadress you see on the FA feeder stat page to access dump1090 web map or use telent to access RPi.
If you run OpenVPN server on some device (Pi, PC, Linux box, etc) on the LAN side of the router rather than using an OpenVPN server in the router itself then you need to forward the mentioned ports. The poster mentioned he was using a Pi to host the OpenVPN server (as do I since my router does not offer that feature.)
That’s correct. I’ve got a Verizon FIOS router which, to the best of my knowledge, doesn’t run OpenVPN.
When you establish a VPN session from a remote location, it’s just like you’re attached to the local network in your house. Besides using your browser to look at your FA site, you can use VNC or Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection to log into your pi’s, run ssh, etc.
Given how handy this can be, I also installed a Raspberry Pi at my Mom’s house running OpenVPN so that I can connect to her local network and help her with computer issues. It makes OS X screen sharing much easier and I can also log into her router and see what’s going on. This turned out to be a better solution for us than our previous LogMeIn remote control.
Sorry, missed that you running OpenVPN server on RPi rather then on the router. I got rid of Verizon router long time ago when dropped cable subscription. I also put OpenVPN capable routers with OpenVPN configured to my parents and brother houses - much easier when help is needed.
