Monitoring Multiple F@H Machines

[Zoravar]

To anyone who has more than one folding machine; how do you monitor and/or manage your multiple machines? 

 

I'm aware of the "clients" list that's built right into the Advanced Control Menu, but I was wondering if any alternatives exist. 

 

Also, what if one of your machines is not on the same local network?  I'm sure you could port forward from the internet and the Advanced Control Menu would work fine, but exposing it to the internet just doesn't feel right (even if a password is specified). A VPN is always an option, but that seems like a lot to just monitor a client.

 

Thoughts/experiences?

[Gorgon]

19 hours ago, Zoravar said:

To anyone who has more than one folding machine; how do you monitor and/or manage your multiple machines? 

 

I'm aware of the "clients" list that's built right into the Advanced Control Menu, but I was wondering if any alternatives exist. 

 

Also, what if one of your machines is not on the same local network?  I'm sure you could port forward from the internet and the Advanced Control Menu would work fine, but exposing it to the internet just doesn't feel right (even if a password is specified). A VPN is always an option, but that seems like a lot to just monitor a client.

 

Thoughts/experiences?

Three different ways:

 

1. Using FAH Control
2. HFM.net
3. F@H Mobile monitor

 

If your systems are on multiple subnets then all these methods should work.

 

if there is a Network Address Translation (NAT) boundary then you will need static NATs for each system and have to open the TCP port for FAHControl but know that the password is likely sent as plaintext and is subject to interception.

 

So yes, while a VPN seems like overkill it would still be the most secure method.

 

You can create static web pages with HFM.net but you can’t control the systems remotely and you still need to copy the web pages to a server (it supports FTP which is Not secure)

[Zoravar]

On 9/2/2019 at 11:16 AM, Gorgon said:

Three different ways:

 

1. Using FAH Control
2. HFM.net
3. F@H Mobile monitor

Thank you Gorgon. 

 

I looked through the different options.  FAH Control works, it's just unfortunate the stats can only be accessed from a machine running a FAH Client.  However, the central control it gives you is very nice.  Mobile Monitor looks nice, but unfortunately is iOS only.

 

I ended up really liking HFM.net.  I particularly like that it can publish the stats as a webpage.  My next plan is to get that feeding into my raspberry pi so I can serve up the page to other devices such as my phone. 

 

Like you said, it's unfortunate it only supports plain FTP.  However, the plan is the pi and the webpage will only be exposed locally, so (while still bad in my book) isn't a showstopper in this instance. I'll just connect into my house via my vpn server if I want to look at it remotely from my phone or laptop.

[Gorgon]

6 hours ago, Zoravar said:

it's just unfortunate the stats can only be accessed from a machine running a FAH Client. 

Just install the FAHclient on any PC then delete the localhost system and the others will still work.

6 hours ago, Zoravar said:

I ended up really liking HFM.net.  I particularly like that it can publish the stats as a webpage.  My next plan is to get that feeding into my raspberry pi so I can serve up the page to other devices such as my phone. 

 

Like you said, it's unfortunate it only supports plain FTP.  However, the plan is the pi and the webpage will only be exposed locally, so (while still bad in my book) isn't a showstopper in this instance. I'll just connect into my house via my vpn server if I want to look at it remotely from my phone or laptop.

I ended up using FTP to copy the static web pages to an intermediate internal server and then ran a cron Job on that server to copy them to the web server every 5 minutes.

 

Kludgey, but it worked.