Remote Connection Challenge

I have a customer who would like for me to have remote access to his machine for troubleshooting and small changes so he doesn't have to pay me a day's travel and lodging to help him. The machine is controlled by a CompactLogix and a Panelview Plus connected by an unmanaged switch. The machine is in a building which does not have an Internet connection. He does have a phone with a Mobile Hotspot, a laptop (no Rockwell software), and a reasonable degree of computer savvy.

With nothing beyond (free?) software and proper configuration, would he be able to setup remote access to his equipment?

If not, would I be better off suggesting a Mobile Broadband Router like CradlePoint, an Industrial device like the *****, or something else?

No challenge here just a cake walk.

Many ways you can skin this cat. You can have him install logmein hamachi VPN free on his laptop and give you the creds and connect it to the unmanged switch with the HMI and PLC and make the laptop on the same subnet.

The laptop can get it's internet connection from the phone. The wifi card in the laptop will connect to the phone /hotspot like any other AP.

Once it's setup you connect to the VPN with your laptop and do your programming. Depending on his hotspot it may be slow as syrup though. If he has a 4G LTE connection then it may not be too bad but anything less will be painfully slow.

But it's cheap and fast to try. can't get any cheaper than free.

Make yourself a logmein remote access acount and then do a free 30 day trial of central and this will route you hamachi traffic through the faster paid servers for 30 days.

One other tip if you use hamachi have your customer make his anmchine the gateway. This will make life much easier.

PLC Kid,

Thanks for the tip about LogMeIn Hamachi. That is just the sort of service I was looking for. I was worried about trying to communicate how to setup VPN Passthrough and needing an external IP address. Since Hamachi is a hosted service, it looks like none of that will be a concern. I'll have to do some testing on my end to see what kind of speed I can get through a 3G/4G connection, but it sounds like this might be just the ticket.

Testing went well on the bench in my office. It took me a bit to figure out how to configure the Gateway to dish out an IP address to the Hamachi client with no DHCP on the control network. After that, everything worked out of the box. I downloaded a test program with the "local" laptop using a 4G connection, and then made a few online changes. RSLogix 5000 was a little sluggish, but usable. Another nice tool for the tool belt.

For a paid and more robust version with optional 3G communication, check ***** routers:

http://www.e won.biz/en/Products/

i like to use Teamviewer, you got partner id password for the day or for everytime and then you connect to the other pc anywhere on the planet as long as both pc are connected on any internet way.
But the local customer plc must have all software and local connectivity to machine plc...

Banker said:

http://www.secomea.com/

Click to expand...

I have implemented this solution at one of my clients.

Definitely not the cheapest solution considering there are free alternatives out there, but very robust and secure.

Has 2 factor authentication with the ability to customise logins to allow access to certain IP ranges or devices only, built in digital I/O to enable/disable access or turn on a light amongst other nice features.

Having said all that I think this is more aimed at plant level remote support rather than machine level.