The one problem I ran into (thanks to MS) is that when you create a cfg file for remote control, notepad automatically makes it remote_hosts.cfg.txt (which won't work). in your file manager (mangler - whatever) go to tools, select folder options. Select the view tab, and de-select the 'hide extensions for know file types' option. Which will reveal whether or not *this* is the issue. If so, remove the '.txt' from your 'remote_hosts.cfg' file and, voila - off you go.
Also, check your 'gui_rpc_auth.cfg', for the same issue.

Hope this helps
Happy remote controling

all that is in my BoincView guide

but it's all about knowing your OS properly, computers are dumb, you have to tell them everything
with windows in "make things simple and easy" mode it does some very dumb things, but there are tricks like using "remote_hosts,cfg" (quotes round the filename) or creating the file first, with the proper extension

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The one problem I ran into (thanks to MS) is that when you create a cfg file for remote control, notepad automatically makes it remote_hosts.cfg.txt (which won't work). in your file manager (mangler - whatever) go to tools, select folder options. Select the view tab, and de-select the 'hide extensions for know file types' option. Which will reveal whether or not *this* is the issue. If so, remove the '.txt' from your 'remote_hosts.cfg' file and, voila - off you go.
Also, check your 'gui_rpc_auth.cfg', for the same issue.

Hope this helps
Happy remote controling

Sparky

I think that you can use the hostname to connect to a remote pc, which would let the router deal with the internal address.

not really, over the internet it won't work, hostnames are very relative things, and their meaning changes depending on where you are, and the situation you're in, also hostnames have to be resolved to IPs anyway, and that's dependant on a resolution system (like DNS)

but if you have a good resolution system in place, that resolves the hostname to the correct IP, then sure, it can make life easier if/when the IP changes (as long as the DNS record is updated too)

my point was that hostnames have nothing to do with routing, if you say to a router "i want to access a host on your internal network with the hostname "fred"" the router either won't understand, or will tell you to go away

if he can assign port mappings to hostnames rather than IPs then that'll help, because i assume he's using DHCP

also over the internet, if his external IP has a DNS name, then again, go for it, but as long as it's something proper, that won't change (only the IP changes), but that's getting into dynamic dns and such, which might not be needed

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One of the routers has two clients behind it. How would I go about accessing both PCs if, for example, the ports on the router are only forwarded to one of the PCs?

If I just open the ports on the remote firewall, and then request BOINC Manager to open the remote IP, which client will it connect to as they will both have the same external WAN IP, just different local LAN ones.

ok, this is gonna get into the guts of networking, but you need to know this stuff for it to work (or at least be able to configure you're equiment):

first i'll say look in the how-to section of the wiki, there's a pretty extensive guide which a wrote about setting up boincview there, but that applies to connecting to hosts that are all part of the same network (LAN) with no routers involved

the BOINC client software that's running on your hosts, when told to allow remote access (read the guide above) it will be listening on port 1043 (if you don't know what i'm talking about at this point, you need to do some reading, the TCP/IP guide will have answers to most of your questions)
it only uses the other port if 1043 isn't available
but that's internally, which isn't a problem because you just access each host by a different IP address, but to access then when they're behind a NAT device ("router") which uses the same IP for all internal hosts, you need to use different port numbers, and then configure boincview to use the relavent port number for each internal host
but don't use 1043, it's too obvious, use something from 60,000 upwards (largest port number is 65,536), one for each internal host, telling your router to forward traffic from one external port, to the IP of one host using port 1043 internally, the next external port to the IP of the next host using port 1043 internally as well, and so on (i can give a step-by-step if needed)

to answer your specific question, which host will data/traffic be forwarded to, it depends which one you told your router to forward it to

i think what's needed is for you to explain your whole layout, so we can get an idea of what's needed (for example when you said some hosts are behind a router, that change the whole approach to doing things), mention how things are connected, in what order, which IPs are dynamic and which are static (if you don't know you need to find out), do you have any static DNS names which you can use for your external/internal IPs, any special requirements, post a diragram if possibly if you're having trouble explaining things clearly (a diagram is usually easier) yu can use a place like photobucket to host the images if you don't have your own web space, but there are many other free image hosters, choose one you like

about different firewalls thou, it depends where they are, and/or what they're firewalling
external firewalls will need to be configured differently to the firewalls on each host (PC)

but first disable port 1043 being forwarded to any host while we get the basics sorted, it's too much of an easy security target, as suggested use a port higher up in the range that'll be hard to guess (a random one preferably, not 60,000, because again, too obvious)

Not too clear on all this network/port stuff - makes my head hurt...

have a read of the TCP/IP Guide, there's lots to know in networking, and what you're wanting to do requires a fair bit of knowledge to do, but i'll give you a hand, i'm just saying it's always better to know about a subject you're trying to deal with

And what's BOINCview? Not heard of that - is this a way of monitoring remote machines too?

it's just an alternative (better) manager for the client, that can do a lot more, and makes manging multiple hosts much much easier, i suggest anyone who has more than 1, or maybe 2 hosts tries it, makes life easier

first off i suggest you learn how to get boincview working with a host that's inside your LAN, before diving into accessing hosts on remote networks, but if you follow the guide it should be easy enough even if you don't understand why you're doing the things it says (but i can explain if you wish)



in general this is quite an adventurous thing you're wanting to do if you're only just getting to grips with networking, but i'd be willing to guide you thru it if you have trouble with the background reading and are unable to manage it yourself, networking is a complicated world lol

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Check the WIKI

http://boinc-wiki.ath.cx/index.php?title=How_To_Control_BOINC_On_Remote_Computers

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And the beat goes on
Sonny and Cher

BOINC Wiki

Both files must be in the Boinc directory of each computer. If you have a software firewall it must have open ports 1043 and 31416 since Boinc manager communicates to Boinc via these ports across the LAN.

It problem must be in one of these areas. One or both configuration files contents are not correct or the ports are blocked. Double check the contents of the files and the names of the files.

remote_hosts.cfg = Computer network name or IP of the computer used to control the others.
gui_rpc_auth.cfg = Password assigned to the remote computer.

This system does work because there are MANY crunchers using this system including myself.

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Boinc....Boinc....Boinc....Boinc....

I tried both without the password file and with one, both times it said remote control not allowed

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I tried adding the file remote_hosts.cfg on 2 machines that are on my local network but even after adding the ip address and name of the computer and restarting the remote pc it still says remote control not allowed....im not sure im doing anything wrong

Did you put a password in the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file?

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Boinc....Boinc....Boinc....Boinc....

I tried adding the file remote_hosts.cfg on 2 machines that are on my local network but even after adding the ip address and name of the computer and restarting the remote pc it still says remote control not allowed....im not sure im doing anything wrong

You will still get this message on the computer you are using to *control* the remote computers, but you should not get the message on the ones that you put the files on. If you are seeing this message on the computer that is to be used to control the other computers this just means that it itself is not capable of being controlled remotely. It doesn't mean that it is not capable of *controlling* other computers.

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Jim

Some people plan their life out and look back at the wealth they've had.
Others live life day by day and look back at the wealth of experiences and enjoyment they've had.

I tried adding the file remote_hosts.cfg on 2 machines that are on my local network but even after adding the ip address and name of the computer and restarting the remote pc it still says remote control not allowed....im not sure im doing anything wrong

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Thanks for that!

Both sets of computers are behind wireless routers, with firewalls. According to the Wiki, I just need to open ports 1043 and 31416 on the remote router. One of the routers has two clients behind it. How would I go about accessing both PCs if, for example, the ports on the router are only forwarded to one of the PCs?

If I just open the ports on the remote firewall, and then request BOINC Manager to open the remote IP, which client will it connect to as they will both have the same external WAN IP, just different local LAN ones.

Not too clear on all this network/port stuff - makes my head hurt ...

And what's BOINCview? Not heard of that - is this a way of monitoring remote machines too?

Cheers,

Steve.

Boincview can be found at this url: http://boincview.amanheis.de/
I have 6 systems [ 3 WinXp and 3 Linux ] monitored using boincview. Works very well for me. [ All of my systems are on a local LAN, so I don't have an addressing problem :-) ]

I think that you can use the hostname to connect to a remote pc, which would let the router deal with the internal address.

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Thanks for that!

Both sets of computers are behind wireless routers, with firewalls. According to the Wiki, I just need to open ports 1043 and 31416 on the remote router. One of the routers has two clients behind it. How would I go about accessing both PCs if, for example, the ports on the router are only forwarded to one of the PCs?

If I just open the ports on the remote firewall, and then request BOINC Manager to open the remote IP, which client will it connect to as they will both have the same external WAN IP, just different local LAN ones.

Not too clear on all this network/port stuff - makes my head hurt ...

And what's BOINCview? Not heard of that - is this a way of monitoring remote machines too?

Cheers,

Steve.

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Create a file in the boinc folder on the remote pc, remote_hosts.cfg containing the IP address of the local pc.

IE, my local pc is 192.168.0.4, so my remote_hosts.cfg file has that IP address in it.

Stop and restart the boinc client [ on the remote pc ].

Then you can use the boinc manager, or boincview, to observe and control the remote pc from the local pc.

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Yes it is possible. I don't know exactly what is involved since you need to set up password files on the different hosts, but basically after you get password files set up you can open a dialog under the "file" menu and type in the ip address of the computer you want to control. See the boinc wiki (link in my sig) for information on setting up the password files.

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Jim

Some people plan their life out and look back at the wealth they've had.
Others live life day by day and look back at the wealth of experiences and enjoyment they've had.

Hi folks! I've noticed in the message tab in BOINC at startup that there's an entry about Remote Control.

15/03/2006 12:35:20||Remote control not allowed; using loopback address

Any idea if this can be changed and whether it would allow me to remotely manage client's running at a different location to me?

I've looked through the preferences but can't see it mentioned anywhere.

Your help is appreciated.

Steve.

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