Remote access

Thank you all. Couple here that are attractive - customer is as tight as!
The **** I note is only 3G but probably OK. Would cost him an M2M card per month. An option for sure.
No IT people there either - it is a caravan park in the middle of nowhere.
It is an Omron PLC - no screen - I will certainly download from My Omron and have a look.
It is a job where I did not want to get involved but it is a good friend of one of my good customers who is quite happy to pay me a good hourly rate and also pays right on the dot of 30 days - a rarity these days so I am sort of obliged.
Will let you know where I finish up.


**** is the way to go, the cost of a 2G data sim per month is about all you need for it + HW costs of about £900 IIRC. We have used them on PAYG sims before and just top up as needed.
 
I find teamviewer useful, but they are wise to the world of corporate bypassing there license.
Not sure what you are trying to say.
With Teamviewer you can install the Host version on the remote site. The Host is free to distribute for when you have purchased a licensed version on you home site. That makes it an attractive option in comparison to many other solutions where you have to pay per remote site.
 
Try anydesk it seems to do the same and no License issues
I checked their website, and it looks like they have a similar license policy of "unlimted endpoints" which is good. But I dont see any mention of VPN functionality. Does anydesk provide remote VPN connection like Teamviewer does ?
 
Not sure what you are trying to say.
With Teamviewer you can install the Host version on the remote site. The Host is free to distribute for when you have purchased a licensed version on you home site. That makes it an attractive option in comparison to many other solutions where you have to pay per remote site.



Found that the "free" version of Teamviewer is now restricting the access and have had a message saying that you are breaking free licence conditions and kicks you off. Guess its ok if you have a FULL license.


Have had a message like this before


"Your license limits the maximum session duration to a partner, immediate reconnects are blocked. Please try later or upgrade your license. Connections to this partner will be blocked until 12:03pm"
 
Neither Teamviewer nor anydesk are free for commercial use.
I dont recommend a product based on that it is easy to bypass the license.

And what aout the VPN functionality ?
 
A customer has asked me about remote access through a VPN. Heve done it with a modem before but not a VPN. I will need to run PLC programming software and do some changes online. I guess I would need an Ethernet port on the PLC as well? Standard Ethernet or Ethernet IP or does it matter?🍻
Is the customer asking you to provide them a VPN solution or asking you if you can use their existing VPN solution at there site to remotely service the equipment you provided?

And yet you would need an Ethernet Port. (I assume this will be a new piece of equipment?)


With Team Viewer are you guys talking about TeamViewer IoT? Or are you just talking about their Original Remote Desktop Product?


Update (Read more of the Thread):

Ok it seems there is no existing solution there. So if there is internet access I would just use an ****. It will be the easier for you to setup and manage.
 
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I have not tried AnyDesk VPN functionality, but we did buy a license for it at a tiny fraction of the cost of Teamviewer. For remote access to PCs, it works just as well as Teamviewer. They use a "partner ID" and password, and all users on the same account have access to the same address book. The biggest differences:
1) Phone app navigation is backwards. Easy enough to get used to.
2) Passwords are not stored in the address book. This means keeping up with site passwords separately and entering them at least once per device you use. There is a tickbox that will store an encrypted password token on the machine if you want to skip the password entry on subsequent connections to each site. This is slightly less convenient than Teamviewer but perhaps more secure.

A couple of years ago, I attempted to use the Teamviewer VPN to access a (Allen Bradley) PLC network following Jesper's instructions but was not able to get it to work for me. I think the issue was being able to bridge the two network adapters in the target PC properly. I followed the directions and had to restart the remote PC iirc, but still had no success and I did not pursue it diligently.

This link appears to state that Anydesk does not support bridging to the remote local network when using its VPN:
https://support.anydesk.com/VPN
 
VPN is great for permanent connections to a network that allows this access or if the controller's Gateway is configured, but what about the millions of control systems out there that are not connected to a WAN or cannot be configured with a proper Gateway address.


Say you are an automation programmer that gets an urgent call for a malfunctioning stand alone controller and there is no way in hell the control system will be connected to their office network. The facility has guest WIFI. If you can get anyone with a standard laptop to connect to the controller using the LAN connection and get on the WIFI to access the internet, you can gain access. Even if there no Guest WIFI, cell phone tethering is possible.


Without having to ship a laptop with expensive software, or "N_E_T_B_I_T_E_R" or similar equipment, suck it up and pay for a service that will do this. It's a fraction of the cost for a round trip visit or about the same cost as an overnight package. Most importantly, it can be setup immediately.



Google "remote plc access". There are plenty of options. One of them requires no additional equipment, expensive software, or invasive manipulation of the remote laptop.
 
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[...]
Avoid these in your machine network:
[...]
172.168.0.x

I think Jesper meant 172.16.0.x

I.e. the first 256 out of 4096 addresses in the 20-bit block of the 172.16.0.0/12 orivate IPv4 subnet.

After the 1x2.16 of 192.168 or of 172.16, the 8 just seems to flow ...
 
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I gave up on the "free" routes. I pay "SplashTop" $299 a year for up to 25 computers.
The same power as being at the computer, I can even drag and drop files across the desktops and reboot. Great software, easy to set up groups, and I can even give the customer access to his control computer through "SplashTop" for no additional charge.
I charge my customers $150.00 for the "connection fee" as part of my troubleshooting.
 
"I can even give the customer access to his control computer through "SplashTop""
I use Splashtop also, but but not for direct connections. I don't know of how Splashtop can provide a VPN connection like TeamViewer. I assume that the end user has the programming software and the file transfer is for this purpose.


I have a variety of tools to keep the customer operational. I even created a PVP ".mer" utility program for all AB controllers using .RSS type programs. It can access pretty much every register on the PLC from the panel from Integers to Strings.


Remote support is the most important part of my profession. I can work from a rural location while connecting to PLCs literally around the world. It is very gratifying to help someone thousands of miles away while parked off the highway with miles of corn fields around you.
 
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This is a good thread. I was going to start a new one because I have some remote access issues coming up.

In both situations, there is no local Internet available, except for a WiFi Hot Spot from one guy's cell phone that he will be using throughout the day for calls, texts and emails. Yes, this was his brainchild solution...


This was actually coupled with a 131 with WiFi, but I don't think it will be reliable. Not that far up in Canada.
 
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I use Splashtop also, but but not for direct connections. I don't know of how Splashtop can provide a VPN connection like TeamViewer. I assume that the end user has the programming software and the file transfer is for this purpose.


I have a variety of tools to keep the customer operational. I even created a PVP ".mer" utility program for all AB controllers using .RSS type programs. It can access pretty much every register on the PLC from the panel from Integers to Strings.


Remote support is the most important part of my profession. I can work from a rural location while connecting to PLCs literally around the world. It is very gratifying to help someone thousands of miles away while parked off the highway with miles of corn fields around you.

I believe that Splashtop can do anything that Teamviewer can.
In my setups...there is a computer at the other end. I have the plc software and the HMI Development software installed on the remote computer.
I connect, download either the PLC or the HMI development license from the "cloud". Do my troubleshooting and/or upgrade, then return the development licenses to the "cloud".
As far as the remote computer, I have also used an "Engineers Interface" laptop that is kept by maintenance.
I have big issues with a remote connection straight to the PLC. I worry a lot about losing connection during a download or firmware upgrade.
 
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