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I have many hosts behind home modems that I need to send commands to.

I know that it is possible to configure port forwarding on the modems and access to them through the specified port but it will put me in a lot of trouble(IP tracking of all hosts, configuring many types of modems to make them do port forwarding)

knowing that I have a server with a static public IP address, is there an alternative to make my hosts contact the server so I can send commands to them?

I also have the possibility to develop the a script that does this but it don't think that's a reliable/secure solution?

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Have the computers you manage connect to a VPN server. Setup your VPN server to dynamically update a DNS entry for each client, or provide a static IP. You do not need to adjust any or the default routes, you would just be using this VPN to provide a management interface on each system.

This is very easily using something like OpenVPN.

Another thing you could, and probably should do is look at setting up a configuration management tool like puppet/chef/etc. So instead of 'sending commands', the configuration management agent would be pulling the information from your central system.

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  • doesn't a VPN require a port to be forwarded?
    – barlop
    Jun 6, 2015 at 20:23
  • Depends on the particular technology in use, and how your setup your VPN topology. But it certainly isn't required in many situations. I have boxes I give to customer that will work on any network as long as the network doesn't block one of the following for outbound (udp/1194, udp/53, tcp/80, tcp/443, or tcp/53). The OpenVPN client on my boxes are configured to try each port.
    – Zoredache
    Jun 7, 2015 at 8:22
  • What about the OpenVPN server you use? which one is it(if any) that doesn't require a port to be forwarded?
    – barlop
    Jun 7, 2015 at 13:13
  • My OpenVPN server is on a system with a public address. No forwards are filters required...
    – Zoredache
    Jun 7, 2015 at 19:52
  • Makes sense. I guess though if he wants a VPS (I understand that to be a virtual machine running a server) then if his VM is behind virtual NAT he'd need the hypervisor to do port forwarding Virtualbox calls that port forwarding too too. i.imgur.com/zyQCjaC.png
    – barlop
    Jun 7, 2015 at 20:32

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