Selfhosted

63012 readers

1691 users here now

A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.

Rules:

Detailed Rules Post

Be civil.
No spam.
Posts are to be related to self-hosting.
Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or readme if you're providing a link.
Submission headline should match the article title.
No trolling.
Promotion posts require active participation, with an account that is at least 30 days old. F/LOSS without a paywall has exceptions, with requirements. See the rules link for details. Tags [CBH] or [AIP] are required, see the links in Rule 8 for details.
AI-related discussions and AI-involved promotional posts have additional requirements for tagging, as noted in Rule 7 and the AI & Promotional Post Expanded Rules post, and find example disclosures here.

Resources:

selfh.st Newsletter and index of selfhosted software and apps
awesome-selfhosted software
awesome-sysadmin resources
Self-Hosted Podcast from Jupiter Broadcasting

Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.

Questions? DM the mods!

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

curbstickle@anarchist.nexus

curbstickle_lw@lemmy.world

I’m looking for the best remote access solution that works for me (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 days ago by SanPe_@lemmy.world to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world

29 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hello,

I stopped using TeamViewer a very long time ago. Since then, I’ve been using DWService and I’m quite happy with it. I like the fact that I can access to the terminal without launching any graphical component on the machine (which is handy for my headless servers, and allows me not to open SSH port). I also like the fact that it works even if my VPN server is down, as I can access remote servers that aren’t accessible via the web when they’re no longer reachable through my VPN.

However, there are a few issues that are bothering me more and more. I’ve switched my mum’s computer to Fedora and, whilst it worked perfectly under Windows, remote control is very buggy under fedora because the connection isn’t great. Furthermore, it’s impossible to access the screen if the computer isn’t unlocked.

So, I’d really like to find a solution that meets my criteria:

Accessible via a web browser
Ideally open-source
Free
Ideally self-hostable, but I’m worried that if, for example, my reverse proxy or VPN crashes, I won’t be able to access my machines to debug them?
Allows access to servers without a monitor
Allows access to computers running Fedora without the need for prior unlocking

Thanks!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Cerothen@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

For remote access I use two solutions that both have the features your looking for.

The first one which I have used for longer than I can remember is MeshCentral https://github.com/Ylianst/MeshCentral

This one works great, is web based, let's you access a shell, or you can make port tunnels been agents, access RDP or vnc in the web UI, the file system etc.

it's a really great one stop shop that more than covers what you're looking for.

The second is RustDesk https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk with the betterdesk server and web UI https://github.com/UNITRONIX/BetterDesk

This one scratched my TeamViewer itch and weekend pretty well. It's newer than MeshCentral and not as easy to setup however on top of the web client it's got apps which in my opinion provide a better experience for remote desktop access than MeshCentrals novnc client especially around copy paste.

All in all, of your looking for something ultra easy I recommend MeshCentral, it's minor quirks around novnc are so easy to overlook since it just works so well.

If you want a modern TeamViewer then go with RustDesk/betterdesk but it's newer and needs some extra work to get going.

All these projects are open source, free, self hostable, has headless file and terminal access, and have web clients.

For using Linux on any remote solution you pretty much have to run the desktop on x11 instead of Wayland. I don't know if any software has found a great Wayland solution yet.

[–] CodandChips@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago

Rustdesk seconded here, I found it fairly straightforward to setup on Mint. I previously had used TeamViewer and AnyDesk