Making an indirect connection to Remote Assistance

It is sometimes awkward to connect a Platinum systemA "Platinum system" is any system running the Platinum operating system. This includes stand-alone acquisition systems such as EAMs and NAMs, DAS units such as the Affinity and DM24SxEAM and digital instruments with built-in acquisition systems such as the 3TDE, 40TDE or 5TDE., such as an EAM or 40TDE instrument, to the Internet for remote assistance. For example: in some cases, the only available Internet access is via WiFi so, if the Platinum system does not have a WiFi interface, direct connection becomes impossible. In these cases, a PC or laptop can be used as a gateway, allowing the Platinum system to contact the Güralp remote-assistance server indirectly, via the PC.

For a full overview of the theory behind this technique, please see the Indirect Remote Assistance page. If you are using a Linux PC as a gateway, that page includes a link back here for detailed instructions. If your gateway PC runs Windows, please see the Indirect Remote Assistance - Windows instructions page for detailed instructions.

Configuration indirect Remote Assistance for Linux users

PuTTY is available for Linux so you can, if you choose, follow the windows instructions exactly. Linux systems are, however, almost always shipped with a command-line ssh program and, if you are comfortable working on the command line, you may find the approach below to be simpler.

To configure a Linux PC to act as an intermediary for a remote-assistance connection:

1. Key ctrl + alt + t to open a terminal window.

2. In the terminal window, type

   ssh -R*:8080:212.110.190.11:80 root@ip.address.of.Platinum-system

   replacing ip.address.of.Platinum-system with the actual I.P. address of the Platinum system.

   In the first argument to the ssh command here, we have used an IP address - 212.110.190.11 - rather than a DNS name. This is in order to to remove a potential source of problems. If you are confident that your PC has a functioning name-resolution system, you can use
   
   

   -R*:8080:remote‑assist.guralp.com:80

   in place of

   -R*:8080:203.0.113.13:80

   This provides a degree of future-proofing, guarding against a change in the address of the Güralp remote-assistance server.

3. If you have not used ssh to connect to this Platinum system before, you will see a message like:

   The authenticity of host 'suprt-eam (10.10.0.2)' can't be established. ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:lhh5mklJV+ZjIwpqdhtPqSU/Gf9V8D3upfNdT8z2FtU. Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

   Type the word yes and key enter to continue.

4. You are now prompted for the root password of the Platinum system. Log in as normal and leave the session open while you continue the procedure.

5. Leaving the terminal window open, switch to your browser and visit the web interface of your Platinum system.

6. Log in as root, using your normal password:

   

7. Select Tools → Troubleshooting from the main menu:

   

8. Click to open the Remote Assistance page:

   

9. Enter your reference number, which will have been given to you by support staff, into the Reference box and click the blue arrow next to Connection log to expand the window and show the log messages:

   

10. Click the blue arrow next to Advanced options to expand the window and show additional configuration options.

    In the Server box, enter 127.0.0.1:8080 and click :

    This tells the remote assistance service to connect to the loopback address which is being forwarded via the PC to the real remote-assistance server.

11. Click and watch while the progress of the connection is monitored and printed to the screen.

    Because we have specified a server, the system will only try to connect via the specified server (rather than in the eight different ways that it normally tries) so, if the first attempt does not succeed, double-check the configuration for errors.

12. Once the system is connected, a display like the following is seen:

    Once you have verified that the Status: has changed to Connected, please advise Güralp support staff: they can now log in and help you with your problem.

    The first time the system connects, a warning is printed in red as shown above. This is normal but it should not appear during the second or any subsequent connection.

The Platinum system should now connect to the remote assistance server using the Linux PC as a port-forwarding gateway.

Troubleshooting

If the system tries to connect repeatedly but you do not see the connected message, check the connection log for any error messages. The most common errors are: