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macchina.io REMOTE Client (remote-client)

remote-client is a command-line program that sets up a tunnel for a TCP connection from your local machine (e.g., your PC, Mac, etc.) to a device connected to the macchina.io REMOTE.

Note that in contrast to WebTunnelAgent, which typically runs on an embedded or IoT device, remote-client runs on a PC or Mac that you want to connect to the device. You'll have to build the macchina.io REMOTE SDK for your machine to get the remote-client program.

In addition to remote-client, there are also more specialized command-line client programs for specific protocols:

  • remote-ssh: This is a variant of remote-client that first creates a tunnel connection from your local machine (Windows, macOS or Linux) to the remote device, then launches a SSH client using that tunnel connection.
  • remote-scp: This is a variant of remote-client that first creates a tunnel connection from your local machine (Windows, macOS or Linux) to the remote device, then launches a SCP (Secure/SSH File Copy) client (scp) using that tunnel connection.
  • remote-sftp: This is a variant of remote-client that first creates a tunnel connection from your local machine (Windows, macOS or Linux) to the remote device, then launches a SFTP (Secure/SSH File Transfer Protocol) client using that tunnel connection.
  • remote-vnc: This is a variant of remote-client that first creates a tunnel connection from your local machine (Windows, macOS or Linux) to a remote device running a VNC (Virtual Network Computing) server, then launches a VNC remote desktop client using that tunnel connection.
  • remote-rdp: This is a variant of remote-client that first creates a tunnel connection from your local machine (Windows, macOS) to a remote Windows device (which must have the remote desktop feature enabled), then launches a Microsoft Remote Desktop (RDP) client using that tunnel connection.

Running remote-client

remote-client usually does not need a configuration file, most parameters can be passed via command-line arguments. Some settings can be set using a configuration file (see the WebTunnelAgent documentation for more information on configuration files). Also, see the Configuration section below.

At startup, remote-client will look for a configuration file .remote-client.properties in the current user's home directory, and read it if it's present.

To run remote-client, you'll need to specify the URL of the remote device to connect to (e.g. https://8ba57423-ec1a-4f31-992f-a66c240cbfa0.remote.macchina.io), as well as the remote port number - the port number on the device you want to connect to, and the local port number - the port number on your machine that will be forwarded to the device's remote port.

For example, to forward the SSH port (22) of an embedded Linux device to your local machine (port 2222), run:

remote-client https://8ba57423-ec1a-4f31-992f-a66c240cbfa0.remote.macchina.io -R 22 -L 2222

If running on Windows, the parameters must be passed Windows-style:

remote-client https://8ba57423-ec1a-4f31-992f-a66c240cbfa0.remote.macchina.io /remote 22 /local 2222

remote-client will prompt for your macchina.io REMOTE username and password. When no longer needed, the tunnel can be terminated by typing CTRL-C.

The macchina.io REMOTE username and password can also be supplied via environment variables REMOTE_USERNAME and REMOTE_PASSWORD, or via the configuration file.

You can now start your SSH client and connect it to port 2222 on your local machine in order to open an SSH session to your device:

ssh pi@localhost -p 2222

Note that pi in pi@localhost actually refers to the pi account on the remote device, not your local machine.

The WebTunnelSSH program also included in the SDK simplifies these steps for SSH access to a device, by setting up the tunnel and then launching the SSH client with correct parameters.

remote-client can also run a command after setting up the tunnel, instead of just waiting. To do so, use the --command (short -C, or /command on Windows) option to specify the command. Arguments for the command can be specified at the end of the command-line, separated by --. Example:

remote-client https://8ba57423-ec1a-4f31-992f-a66c240cbfa0.remote.macchina.io -R 22 -L 2222 -C ssh -- -p 22 localhost

Given command to execute, remote-client will terminate as soon as the specified program has terminated as well.

Like WebTunnelAgent, remote-client can be used as a daemon or Windows service. Please see the WebTunnelAgent documentation for more information.

You can also run remote-client without command-line options (or with --help or /help on Windows) to see a help screen with available command-line options.

Connecting Trough a HTTP Proxy

In some environments it may be required to connect to the macchina.io REMOTE server via a HTTP proxy. This can be done by providing the address of the proxy server on the command-line (--proxy, -P for short, or /proxy on Windows), or by providing the proxy server and optionally credentials for the proxy server in a configuration file (see below).

Below is an example for specifying a proxy server on the command-line:

remote-client https://8ba57423-ec1a-4f31-992f-a66c240cbfa0.remote.macchina.io -R 22 -L 2222 -P http://proxy.nowhere.com:8080

Configuration

remote-client can optionally read settings from a configuration file. A configuration file can be specified on the command-line with the --config-file (or /config-file on Windows) option. Also, specific configuration options can also be set with the --define (or /define) option.

At startup, remote-client will also look for a configuration file named .remote-client.properties in the user's home directory and read it if it is present. If that file is not present, remote-client will attempt to read a configuration file named remote-client.properties located in the same directory as the remote-client executable, or a parent directory.

Please refer to the WebTunnelAgent documentation for the configuration file format.

The following settings can be provided via a configuration file:

Credentials

  • remote.username: The username for the macchina.io REMOTE server.
  • remote.password: The password for the macchina.io REMOTE server.
  • remote.token: A token (JSON Web Token) for authenticating against the macchina.io REMOTE server. If a token is given, username and password are not required. NOTE: A token is supported by remote-client only, not any of the other client programs like remote-ssh.

Credentials specified in command-line arguments or via environment variables (REMOTE_USERNAME, REMOTE_PASSWORD) will override those in a configuration file.

When storing credentials in the configuration file, make sure to keep your configuration file secure. From a security perspective it's recommended to not store the credentials in a file in clear-text.

SSL/TLS Configuration

Please refer to the WebTunnelAgent documentation for SSL/TLS configuration settings.

HTTP Proxy Configuration

Please refer to the WebTunnelAgent documentation for configuring a HTTP proxy, including proxy credentials.

Logging

Please refer to the WebTunnelAgent documentation for configuring logging.