Hubitat on Raspberry PI (aka - Remote access to Hubitat while traveling)

[TUllman]

@Terk

Once you have the OpenVPN server setup and hopefully DDNS setup as well on the router you just download the OpenVPN Connect client to your remote devices from https://openvpn.net and import the profile from the router to connect.

Thanks a lot -- super helpful. Exactly what I did and works brilliantly!

[TUllman]

@marktheknife

Title of the thread vs. what you ask in the OP is a bit confusing, Hubitat’s not running on a raspberry pi, or doing much else in relation to the RPi, per se, if the Pi is just a VPN server.

Yes, my initial question was based on a false assumption, i.e. that Raspberry Pi was the best / only way to achieve what I wanted to achieve. Very quickly this assumption was corrected by @pabney123, which right away opened up the scope of my question.

My router's OpenVPN and Dynamic DNS options make it a very appealing solution.

[TUllman]

@terminal3

I have the OpenVPN client on my phones so I can access my local network from anywhere.

Just out of curiosity -- what might be the reasons to want to access my local network other than Hubitat? What other 'local-only' devices do you have that might require it?

[tony.fleisher]

@TUllman

Is there any practical difference whether I go with TP-Link's Dynamic DNS or with NO-IP / DynDNS?

They have different domain names... Thats about the only difference unless one of them is down or otherwise not functioning.

@TUllman

Should I select TCP or UDP?

For the use cases you described, it probably doesn't matter. TCP is slightly more reliable, so is better for unstable connections; UDP has less overhead so you may get higher throughput under certain circumstances.

@TUllman

And lastly, what's the difference between OpenVPN and PPTP VPN?

OpenVPN is a open source secure protocol that requires a special client for connections. PPTP is a very old protocol that is supported natively on some devices/OS without a special app/client, has less computational overhead so maybe faster than OpenVPN, but is also one of the few insecure VPN protocols. Generally OpenVPN should be preferred unless there is a very specific reason to use PPTP and you are ok with the security implications.

[TUllman]

@tony.fleisher -- brilliant, all clear! Thanks a lot again. I think this essentially answers all of my questions and effectively closes this topic for me. Off to tackling other Hubitat quirks!

[terminal3]

In my case it was mainly for access to my HE system.

I do have a Arlo doorbell that I do not pay for cloud storage and use local storage only so I need it to view those recordings.

I also have a Recast for recording OTA TV and I can access my recordings on my phone from that as well. Not something I do very often but I can.

[thebearmay]

@TUllman

what might be the reasons to want to access my local network other than Hubitat?

I use it to access my streaming services as well as to do diagnostics on the network when the wife has issues when I'm away.

[erktrek]

Also in addition to streaming it's a way to provide secure access to a known good internet source in general. Less worry when travelling. Also provides direct access to most home network resources as @thebearmay alluded to. If really going crazy could theoretically spread a "local" network across multiple remote locations.

[Terk]

I use it for my Blue Iris (BI) server or sometimes to get a file from my BI server which is also a file server since it is always on for BI,..

[Madcodger]

I set up a RPi4 to run a Plex media server, and access it headless or remote via VNC, which allows you to connect up to 5 devices for free. Works great. I log into it every month or so to run updates and otherwise it just sits there and hosts our media, which we usually access via Roku. If necessary, one could use the browser on such a device to access the HE hub from within the LAN. Requires almost no power to run so you're not wasting a lot of electricity, and serves a useful purpose. Just another idea...

[stephen_nutt]

@marktheknife

would love to try out wireguard, since I just setup a unifi gateway with an L2TP VPN server, best option it offers in the web GUI.

After some googling, i did find some info re: running wireguard on unifi. But running command line stuff can get me into trouble

I am in the exact same situation. I just got an Edgerouter X a few weeks ago and finally set up the L2TP VPN a few days ago using the CLI; surprisingly it worked on 1st attempt. I want to try Wireguard instead but this is all Greek to me:

GitHub - WireGuard/wireguard-vyatta-ubnt: WireGuard for Ubiquiti Devices

[gnufsh]

I run OpenWRT firmware on my router which allows me to run a dynamic DNS client and Wireguard for VPN access.

[douglaspitman]

Any thought on VNC Server and Connect for remote access?

[Madcodger]

Re VNC: As noted in an earlier comment, I use it on a RPi set up as a Plex media server (and on another dedicated to my weather station) and it works great. Free for up to five devices.

[mavrrick58]

I have something that is a little bit outside of this conversation.

Unraid has Wireguard built into it, It also has DuckDNS and lets encrypt container options avaliable through Docker integration. It doesn't run on a Raspberry Pi though, but if you have a lower powered machine and want a home NAS this can be a nice option.

I also have my unraid server running Node Red and Home Assistant which again are provided as packaged Containers.

It also supports VM's so you can also load just a OS and then load any of these packages yourself if you don't like what is prepackaged by the community.

This is where I run my Wireguard VPN.