OT: remote data acquisition options

[mpiotro]

Folks,
Sorry for the off topic posting.....
I'm looking to setup a remote data acquisition system (fairly basic, a few analog and digital inputs).

Web based systems seem the best choice, and I realize there are a ton of options out there, but this setup (and future ones)will be done at a customer site.

My concern is that the customer would not or could not allow access to their network for this (firewall).

I see modem access as an alternative, but are there any other options? Are there ways of setting up something web based that can work around a firewall?

-Mike

 

[MartB]

Is your customer willing to set up a VPN for your data acquisition?
I have a customer in Venezuela who point blank refused to allow us remote access to our machine via the web, however he did (eventually) set up a VPN for us to do so. We can now troubleshoot/reprogram his machine without leaving the office

 

[danw]

Same deal as MartB, customer provided VPN access and routes me directly to the device, probably limiting my access elsewhere.

Dan

 

[XtremeIN]

We are looking at the same situation as mpiotro. The end user said something about using a VPN. What is a VPN? What softwarte/hardware is needed to make it work on our end as well as theirs.
Thanks,
Micheal

 

[mpiotro]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I'll look into the virtual private network option....


-Mike

 

[surferb]

Fundamentally, your customer will have OK remote access for this to work. A VPN is a secure way of doing so. They come in many flavors: hardware, software, site to site, client connects to network similar to a Dial up connection, etc. Searches will yield a lot of good info - there's been many good discussions on this topic.

I would argue that besides being much slower and more expensive to operate, modems pose a higher security risk than VPNs in general. Obviously depends how you engineer your solution.

Folks,
Sorry for the off topic posting.....
I'm looking to setup a remote data acquisition system (fairly basic, a few analog and digital inputs).

Web based systems seem the best choice, and I realize there are a ton of options out there, but this setup (and future ones)will be done at a customer site.

My concern is that the customer would not or could not allow access to their network for this (firewall).

I see modem access as an alternative, but are there any other options? Are there ways of setting up something web based that can work around a firewall?

-Mike