Due to some concerns with port forwarding, I tried out using web services that uses secure tunneling.
I tried out remote.it and remote-iot.com.
- remote.it
- pro
- con
- more control -> more setup, must use terminal to setup each port/service you want to accessible remotely (ie: https/vnc/ssh ...)
- remote-iot.com
- pro
- easy to install, only takes a few command line inputs
- con
- default (only option?) to have all ports on device open/accessible remotely
Pricing plans
- remote.it
- free for non commercial use, unlimited devices
- $2/month per commercial device
- Or $50/month seat license for commercial with unlimited devices, economical at 25 or more devices
- remote-iot.com
- free for non commercial use, up to 5 devices
- $1/month per enterprise device, no seat needed
- $0.1/month per business device, but starting with 200 devices ($20/month)
First impressions - Once I figured out how to use remote.it's command line interface, I liked the extra step in setting up what ports were remotely accessible. To set up a connection to access the IoT Gateway, you need to use option 4) Custom (TCP), not it does not use a web browser N, protocol name https, port 443, name [insert your name here]. Then you can use the online remote.it gui to launch a connection. They will give an address like: proxy13.remot3.it:123456 To access this, put
https://proxy13.remot3.it:123456 in your browser address bar, don't forget the https:// part.
remote-iot.com was also nice to use one I got it figured out. It does only allow 5 devices to be connected, but that is probably more than enough for most, also since there isn't a seat license, it is likely cheaper for most if/when they go commercial.
Is anyone else interested in using tunnels like this instead of port forwarding and would there be more intrest in a more indepth tutorial on how to set this up?