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Proper setup with PC that go out of network & WOL

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Aaron Jensen, User (Posts: 9)
Sep 14, 2020 12:52:38 am EDT
Need some assistance on properly setting up Remote Utilities.  I'm coming fr om GoToAssist /  [censored] Rescue where no ports are needed to open up, but its the $$$. Just a weekend warrior with family & friends to support. I will purchase whatever license, either Starter and maybe eventually Pro

I have spent a lot of time playing around and reading the docs.  I'm successful, but then something eventually doesn't work.

Currently:
-Secure enterprise-grade firewall, Sophos UTM
-Always on server, Server 2019
-Want / Need WOL - (I do an app that can wake them also, just got spoiled with GoToAssist)
-8 Computers at home
-2 of which can go anywhere and wh ere they end up, there may be a firewall blocking 5655
-Mobile App - which I understand will get better as time goes on...


Ideas I have tried so far:

No Self-hosted Server / Public ID server / Port 443
In my testing, this appears to connect the best and I don't need to open 443 in my firewall (used on a LAMP server).  Only thing is I lose WOL.

My Server / RU Server / 443 and Internet ID.  Can't have 443 going to to, two separate machines/VM's.  However, if I had two WAN's...

My Server / RU Server / 5655 and Internet ID's.  WOL does not work and if my two laptops go off my network, firewalls may block them connecting...

First idea I had was to create DNS entires and use Direct Connections for all of my computers.  computer1.domain.com  Worked great until I connected to a PC from outside the network.  Internally worked perfect.

Another idea I thought, why can't we have both, Internet ID and Direct connect together?  Internet ID for away from your network and then local for faster connections and WOL.

Would I just waste 6 Connections and cascade 1 Server (Direct Connect / Port Forwarded) and 5 WOL PC's?

Also a VPN too, but not a fan of that solution.


Is there a performance impact if I'm using a public Internet ID server and if connecting to machines that are on the same network?
Do you think the developer would ever get WOL working through a public ID server, or just self-hosted ID server?  Self-hosted is on there feature listed....

Like wow, a lot of thought went into this.  Thanks everyone.  I'll take any advice and suggestions.
Pauline, Support (Posts: 2863)
Sep 14, 2020 6:03:33 pm EDT
Hello Aaron,

Thank you for your message.

Mobile App - which I understand will get better as time goes on...

Yes, we plan to release an improved version of the mobile Viewer with the full-fledged address book. Unfortunately, we cannot provide any specific ETA on this yet.

Another idea I thought, why can't we have both, Internet ID and Direct connect together? Internet ID for away fr om your network and then local for faster connections and WOL.

In this case, you can simply use the Internet-ID connection only, since there is a direct route detection mechanism implemented in the program. This way, even if you use an Internet-ID connection, if there's a direct route available between Viewer and Host, then it will be used automatically. However, in this case, as you noticed, it's not possible to use the Wake-on-LAN feature, which only works if you use direct connection and only for remote Host machines located in the same LAN and the same subnet as the Viewer PC.

Also a VPN too, but not a fan of that solution.

Please note that in case if your Viewer and Host machines are located in the same VPN, then we recommend using Direct connection. Direct connection is always faster than an Internet-ID connection, so it's advised to connect directly whenever possible.

Is there a performance impact if I'm using a public Internet ID server and if connecting to machines that are on the same network?

As I mentioned above, Remote Utilities has a direct route detection mechanism, so if you use an Internet-ID connection, but there's a direct route available between Viewer and Host, it will be used automatically for better connection speed/performance.

Do you think the developer would ever get WOL working through a public ID server, or just self-hosted ID server? Self-hosted is on there feature listed....

We actually already have a feature in our roadmap that will allow users to use the Wake-on-LAN command even with Internet-ID connection, provided that there is another Host online in the same LAN and it is online, i.e. the connection will be established through the second Host. We will implement this feature in our future updates, but, unfortunately, we cannot provide any specific ETA on it yet.
However, in case if you want to use the Wake-on-LAN feature over the internet, then you might try waking the remote Host machine over the Internet by sending magic packets. For more information, please refer to this guide. In addition, here's a related community thread wh ere one of our users shared their extensive experience on using WoL over the internet.

Hope that helps.

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