Why use a VPN to access your boat systems

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What a VPN offers you

Viewable from any browser anywhere
Systems you leave powered on will be accessible via VPN, exactly as though you were on your network on board. We run the Raspberry Pi server with only our batteries and solar panel charging monitored while we're away from the boat. But when on board, we can use the same system and software to access other instruments (which we don't leave switched on when not on board) - see next panel.

Why you need a VPN ?

If you're using 4G or Wi-Fithen the IP address assigned to you by the communications supplier will change frequently. It's known as CGN (Carrier-grade NAT) devised to mitigate the problems of exhausting the supply of IP addresses world-wide. This means that the IP address of the 4G dongle on your boat will change frequently. Just try when on your boat using the boat server a web page such as What's My IP Address. So the VPN is used to assign a fixed tunnel to your boat server via one of our web servers on the Internet backbone, accessible only by you and authorised users and password protected. This means that when you access your private IP address via VPN you are effectively logging on to your boat server.

What do you need to utilise the Boat VPN ?

Any server which will run Linux. We have used the Raspberry Pi range for several years but there are plenty of alternatives out there - just Google - but other fruits spring to mind - Orange Pi, Banana Pi plus the NanoPi, the PocketBeagle ...

And you can access the command line or the X environment via the VPN, just as if you were on board.

For further details email Penny at this URL.

What you can see - remotely and when on board

What you can view remotely via a browser
You can view anything you choose to access - our demo offers examples that we use ourselves :

* Stored data - this is constrained only by the space you have available on your boat server.

Our System - What we can see when on board
When on board, we can also use the same system and software to access other instruments (which we don't leave switched on when not on board) :

and we will be replacing our wind speed and log over the next few months with versions which have network connectivity :

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