I realized as I was writing a new post that I had never documented the gateway pi undertaking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This started when a friend in the mountains got a new internet service where the ISP would not allow him (and therefore me) access to his router. As a result I could no longer use ssh to connect to his systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I solved this problem by setting his systems up to use a tool called autossh, with which I could have his system start, monitor, and keep running an ssh daemon with reverse tunnels open to my system. I could then reach him by attaching through the reverse tunnels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
I liked this idea very much, and I subsequently refined it. I began to build “gateway pis” on Raspberry Pi zero systems, which I can get, on sale, for $5. Well, that is a little bit of an exaggeration: I have to buy a case, and a micro-SD card, and a usb power brick. But the whole thing is less than $15. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wrote a couple of setup scripts so I can initialize one of these for anybody’s house given only their SSID and password. Then I can send it to them in the mail, they plug it into the wall, and voila. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So now I have these on the networks of 6 friends and family for whom I can now provide technical assistance, backup services, and occasional other things like transferring files. Of course these have to be pretty good friends, because they are putting a lot of trust in me – they are giving me access to their networks and their files. But generally it has been the case that I am the one they call on for help anyway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each of them is set up with a fairly large micro-SD card (32GB, 64GB, one is 256GB) so they can house a local backup of a limited amount of stuff. So their PC or their Mac is set up to do a nightly backup onto the pi. Every night that local backup is rsynced to me. Thus they have at least two levels of backup, one outside their house. The pi has a postfix setup to enable it to send me mail if there is any problem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And should they run into some kind of techical problem, and want help the pi is also set up to enable me to open a vnc connection to their PC or Mac, so I can share their screen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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I realized as I was writing a new post that I had never documented the gateway pi undertaking. This started when a friend in the mountains got a new internet service where the ISP would not allow him (and therefore me) access to his router. As a result I could no longer use ssh to … Continue reading Gateway pi<\/span>