I messed up: Need advice on bringing Trojan L16s back from near dead

[hammick]

You need to have a SSH server on the router behind the Hughes satellite modem - where the OpenVPN client is installed. You also need to have a shell account on that router. If you have Openwrt, by default you have a root (username) / admin (password) account.

Regarding the SSH config, it'll ask for your root's password. I used root as a sample username - it can be anything you want, not necessarily a privileged user. It'll ask you for a password unless you use key authentication.

Thanks. I don't think I have Openwrt. I am using RT-N66R routers that have OpenVPN installed on the stock firmware. The only place I see an SSH option is for allowing the router to be administered remotely. That's in the admin page of the router. I have enabled it and I can remotely log into the client router.

[extrafu]

You likely won't be able to SSH to it. Either flash it or toy around with routes on the router with OpenVPN *server* is installed.

[hammick]

You likely won't be able to SSH to it. Either flash it or toy around with routes on the router with OpenVPN *server* is installed.

OK. Thanks. My routers also support PPTP VPN with or without Samba support. Any thoughts on that using a similar setup with the Client being attached to the Hughesnet router. I'm aware of the lack security but my VPN needs are to monitor and control solar equipment, not encrypt data. With strong passwords I'm wondering if it might be the way to go with my lack of VPN skills.

[extrafu]

PPTP or OpenVPN is gonna be the same thing after all - ie., you'll need to adjust the routing or do a SSH tunnel.

[hammick]

PPTP or OpenVPN is gonna be the same thing after all - ie., you'll need to adjust the routing or do a SSH tunnel.

Thanks. I'm messing around with routing on the open VPN server with no luck so far. Very confusing trying to figure out "network/host ip" "gateway" and "lan vs wan" or even "man"

[hammick]

Etrafu I have give up on running OpenVPN client on a router. I've tried OpenVPN client on a Win 10 PC and it works great. So for the SSH part I need to install SSH Sever on the OpenVPN client machine, right? And I'll use a windows machine connected to the OpenVPN server router for the SSH client?

UPDATE: I just installed SSH Sever using powershell on to a Windows 10 Pro machine.

[extrafu]

If your OpenVPN client is running on Windoze, you might just as well use RDP and avoid SSH entirely.

[hammick]

If your OpenVPN client is running on Windoze, you might just as well use RDP and avoid SSH entirely.

OK. I might do that but I have spent so much time on this that I can't quit. I successfully made an SSH connection through the OpenVPN tunnel tonight. The OpenVPN Windows 10 Client/SSH Server was connected to the the Asus router OpenVPN sever using my Verizon Iphone for Internet. I had a different router connected to the Win 10 machine in AP mode to simulate the Combox. After making the SSH connection I could Ping both the Win 10 IP (192.168.1.160) and the AP router simulating the Combox (192.168.1.165). The LAN IP of the OpenVPN Server router is 192.168.1.100. Even though I could ping the test AP I could not get it to come up putting it's IP into Chrome or IE browsers. I tried 192.168.1.165:22 in Chrome and initially got an unsafe port error. I then told Chrome to allow port 22 and after that I got a timed out error.

The OpenVPN Client/SSH server machine has all of it's firewalls disabled. I'll probably use Teamviewer RDP which also has built in VPN but I've spent so much time on this I need to figure it out for piece of mind.

Thanks all your help and if you have any ideas please let me know.

[hammick]

Extrafu have you tried RDP or Teamviewer using Hughesnet? I'm wondering weather the latency is unbearable.

[extrafu]

I've used both and they were just fine over a satellite connection. We first started with the idea that the WiFi router where the ComBox is connected would run Openwrt (like me) but if you don't end up doing that and you prefer having a Windows PC acting as a VPN client, it's better that you either use RDP instead of SSH's port redirection OR you use TeamViewer.

The advantage of running Openwrt on the WiFi router is that it'll consume less electricity than a Windows laptop - which might also crash, freeze, go to sleep or die for running 24/7 non-stop.

[hammick]

I've used both and they were just fine over a satellite connection. We first started with the idea that the WiFi router where the ComBox is connected would run Openwrt (like me) but if you don't end up doing that and you prefer having a Windows PC acting as a VPN client, it's better that you either use RDP instead of SSH's port redirection OR you use TeamViewer.

The advantage of running Openwrt on the WiFi router is that it'll consume less electricity than a Windows laptop - which might also crash, freeze, go to sleep or die for running 24/7 non-stop.

I've decided to go the Teamviewer route. I bought a Mini PC that only has a 2.5 amp power supply. I bet it uses less than an amp when idle. Teamviewer is very secure and does everything I need. This cheap little PC allows ethernet connections and wifi at the same time. The Wifi AGS board that I'm installing on my MEP-802a genset is a direct wifi connection. So with Teamviewer I will be able to see both the combox and the AGS. I can turn off the wifi before I sign off of Teamviewer to use less power. The wifi board runs off the gensets batteries which are charged by a solar tender so no power use there.

So I won't use SSH but I still want to figure it out. I discovered that I can ping the IPs on the local network from within Powershell but can't ping them with a command prompt. So that's why I couldn't log into the router AP in my test setup. Makes no sense to me.

Thanks for all the help Extrafu!

[Mike90250]

Beware about TeamViewer. I used the free version to maintain my dad's computer remotely for 3 years. Till they decided I was using it commercially and limited my free sessions to 5 minutes long, with a 30 min forced idle

[hammick]

Beware about TeamViewer. I used the free version to maintain my dad's computer remotely for 3 years. Till they decided I was using it commercially and limited my free sessions to 5 minutes long, with a 30 min forced idle

Thanks for the heads up. I will be on Mini PC that has nothing else installed on it. Sole function of the PC will be for accessing the combox and starting my generator. I can always install a DynamicDNS updater and use the built in MS Remote Desktop if they lock me out. What I like about Teamviewer is how simple and secure it is. I've spent way too much time trying to figure out the best way to go about accessing my system with my crappy Hughesnet.

[extrafu]

If TeamViewer goes ape-**** on the Mini PC, you won't be able to use MS Remote Desktop from home to your Mini PC. You *will need* a VPN tunnel for this, since your Hughesnet modem port-blocks every incoming connections / doesn't do port forwarding.

[hammick]

If TeamViewer goes ape-**** on the Mini PC, you won't be able to use MS Remote Desktop from home to your Mini PC. You *will need* a VPN tunnel for this, since your Hughesnet modem port-blocks every incoming connections / doesn't do port forwarding.

OK. Makes sense. If I have an OpenVPN connection (Client on Hughesnet router/Mini PC network) can I RPD into the Mini PC without an SSH connection?

I'm coming into that time of year where snow covering the panels won't be an issue. I'll have time to get this all sorted out including a second way to remote start/stop my genset using the two wire interface of my AGS board connected to an Insteon on/off module. The Insteon stuff has been 100% reliable connected to the Hughesnet router as has the Blink XT2 camera equipment.