How do you access your BluIris ?

[BobHarry]

Hi,

I ran Bi for 10 years on my only desktop that i worked on. It worked out great. I had plenty of ram and CPU resources. It was nice because it was on the pc i was working on. And using the web browser on my laptop was fine but less flexible.

I sold that house 2 years ago and am renting while i design my next house I will break ground on in Febuary or March and trying to figure out how to set Bi up.

I do not want to leave my main pc on 24/7 as I did before even though it is a beast with a 13900KS.

So if i build a dedicated pc for Bi do i just use the web browser to access it on my main computer? and keep a monitor on the bi pc for configuring ? or do i access my from my primary pc through the network ?

Thing is I would rather not have my main/work pc on any more networks than needed as to limit vulnerabilities not to mention all the windows services that are needed for networking pc's is absurd and I want to keep my primary pc clean since my work is very critical.

thanks

 

[wittaj]

Many of us have our BI computer headless and then RDP into it, so you don't even need a monitor.

I access the BI computer more thru RDP than I do the web browser when on another computer in the house.

Or you could use the web browser to access your BI computer.

If I cam just doing quick look arounds I use the web browser, but if I want to do anything else I simply RDP into the BI computer.

 

[BobHarry]

Many of us have our BI computer headless and then RDP into it, so you don't even need a monitor.

I access the BI computer more thru RDP than I do the web browser when on another computer in the house.

Or you could use the web browser to access your BI computer.

If I cam just doing quick look arounds I use the web browser, but if I want to do anything else I simply RDP into the BI computer.

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, that is what i thought. And that seems the cleanest way to do it. So my dedicated Bi pc can be in a secure network closet.

I suppose i need to relook at ways of RDP as times have changed and maybe it is less intrusive as it seemed years ago where i had to turn on more than a handful of services I otherwise would not need running ( or maybe not) and I am sure I can turn RDP on and off if need be.

I will head down this path for sure.

 

[Broachoski]

Windows RDP using PRO versions is the only way to go in my opinion. I find that Tight/Real VNC, Chrome remote Teamviewer and Splashtop all work but are just "not like being there"

 

[BobHarry]

Windows RDP using PRO versions is the only way to go in my opinion. I find that Tight/Real VNC, Chrome remote Teamviewer and Splashtop all work but are just "not like being there"

Thanks, Yeah I am working on it now with 2 of my windows 10 pro machines. Yeah i think using windows RDC is probably the way. they discuss options for other clients here

 

[Kameraad]

Or use one or more hdmi extenders to send the image of your BI pc through the house. I have rx extenders on all my tv's in the house, just change the input and i have all my cameras right there. I also use home assistant (home automation software) to change the input when somebody walks up the driveway, its really nice imo.

 

[BobHarry]

Or use one or more hdmi extenders to send the image of your BI pc through the house. I have rx extenders on all my tv's in the house, just change the input and i have all my cameras right there. I also use home assistant (home automation software) to change the input when somebody walks up the driveway, its really nice imo.

That is a good idea. Although after getting fed up with my Roku, Fire tv and apple tv I am doing all my tv'ing through windows 10 machines. It has been a great use for my old machines and I can do a lot more through windows and Firefox in eliminating ads and what not with Ublock scripts, plus i can do all kinds of internet stuff while i watch something. Before when I was using Fire tv i sideloaded Bi on it but that was a pain. Now that i use windows I can just keep a link for the browser page of my Bi. no changing input etc. I do want to have a dedicated tablet on my front door that is 24/7 stream of my doorbell cam. i suppose if i can do a wireless hdmi from my Bi server that could be the way?

 

[khx73]

If you use RDP, don't forget to change the "Video during Remote Desktop" option in BI. I think it defaults to 5-sec update. Assuming you have a fast internal LAN connection.. you'll likely want to set Unrestricted.

 

[The Automation Guy]

I have my BI machine (which is a dedicated machine) in a central "closet" that also holds my A/V gear, networking gear (including my firewall device) and a few computers running my automation system, digital phone system, TV DVR system, and a few other things. I have a KVM switch and I monitor where I can choose any of these devices if I need to go in and update, change settings, etc.

Obviously it is rare that I would access BI in this way. I also have a tablet sitting in the den that shows the BI camera page by default. However normally we use our phones to "check the cameras" if we need to. I also use a VPN to connect to my local network while I am away from the house.

 

[BobHarry]

I have my BI machine (which is a dedicated machine) in a central "closet" that also holds my A/V gear, networking gear (including my firewall device) and another computer running my automation system, digital phone system, and a few other things. I have a KVM switch and I monitor where I can choose any of these devices if I need to go in and update, change settings, etc.

Obviously it is rare that I would access BI in this way. I also have a tablet sitting in the den that shows the BI camera page by default. However normally we use our phones to "check the cameras" if we need to. I also use a VPN to connect to my local network while I am away from the house.

thank you, i will have to consider how i might use a KVM

So with the KVM is it that you would be at your desk and the KVM would basically connect your monitor and keyboard to your Bi server in the closet ?

 

[The Automation Guy]

thank you, i will have to consider how i might use a KVM

So with the KVM is it that you would be at your desk and the KVM would basically connect your monitor and keyboard to your Bi server in the closet ?

While they do make some "remote KVM" solutions, I do not use them. I have a physical monitor, keyboard and mouse in the closest and the KVM switch allows me to choose between any of my computers/sources that are also located in the closet. When I need to do some maintenance, I physically go to the closet and perform the tasks there.

Obviously you could also use Remote Desktop or another solution as well. However having the physical I/O in the closet allows me to troubleshoot issues with the computers when a RDP connection might not be working, etc. I know I can always go to the closet and have direct access to the machines when I need it. It honestly is not inconvenient to go to the closet to do these tasks, especially as infrequently as the occur. It's only my house after all, not a multi-site facility.

 

[BobHarry]

While they do make some "remote KVM" solutions, I do not use them. I have a physical monitor, keyboard and mouse in the closest and the KVM switch allows me to choose between any of my computers/sources. When I need to do some maintenance, I physically go to the closet and perform the tasks there.

Obviously you could also use Remote Desktop or another solution as well. However having the physical I/O in the closet allows me to troubleshoot issues with the computers when a RDP connection might not be working, etc. I know I can always go to the closet and have direct access to the machines when I need it. It honestly is not inconvenient to go to the closet to do these tasks, especially as infrequently as the occur. It's only my house after all, not a multi-site facility.

yes, i think i would definitely have a monitor and keyboard/mouse in the closet to work on the machine but do most access through RDP. I hooked 2 win10 desktops up yesterday through RDP and it worked great, especially since I have 4 large monitors at my primary desktop i can have 1 dedicated to Bi to configure etc. It seemed really fast and responsive as well, but i did not try any resource intensive programs.

 

[TheSwede]

Use RDP for adjusting/change but for monitoring use the webbserver UI3

as mention before change RDP update freq when rdp’ing and also the ”view” framerate to save CPU.

thats how i view my machines by phone/ipad/laptop/desktop.
The UI3 is powerful and smart.

 

[kaltertod]

Site to Site IPSEC for management and viewing, BI app for remote viewing, DynDNS for dynamic global ip, Cameras on own vlan, with no direct internet access to keep them from phoning home.