Hi all,
In response to all the requests for tunnel connections, the AREDN team has created an cloud-based tunnel server to create a large/global mesh network. We have been testing this server with a limited number of clients over the last few weeks with good success.
It is now time to take the testing to the next level.
(I'm only posting here in the forums for now to limit the number of requests initially.)
We are looking for additional testers who would like to connect.
There are a few requirements/notes that you should be aware of.
By connecting to this service, you agree to these basic Terms of Service:
- Tunnel clients must be running the latest released version of AREDN (or a higher nighly build)
- No non-AREDN nodes should be directly connected to the tunnel server (RPi's, PI-HSMM, BBHN, etc., although they can be "behind" the client) (ie. no custom builds, no HSMM-Pi, no BBHN clients)
- While we will do our best to keep the tunnel service up and running, there is no service-level agreement (SLA).
- In the event of an actual emergency, AREDN Inc. reserves the right to limit connections to the tunnel server in order to prioritize EMCOMM traffic in affected areas.
This effort, and all of the AREDN Inc. project, is largely funded by a few people.
Bandwidth and resources are not free, so, please consider supporting AREDN Inc. with a recurring monthly donation of $5, $10, or $20.
If you would like to help test this service, please email me at k5dlq@arednmesh.org with the following information:
- Your AREDN Node name that you want to use to connect to the server
- The primary reason why you want to connect to the tunnel server
- Your device type (ie. Ubiquiti Rocket M5, Mikrotik hAP AC Lite, etc.)
- The version of AREDN that you have loaded on the above device
- How many nodes are currently showing in your mesh status page
While we cannot promise EVERYONE a connection at this time, we will do our best to accommodate each request. I will do my best to respond within 24 hours.
If accepted into this phase of testing, we will email you back with your network IP address, your password, and the server address where you will connect.
Thank you,
Darryl - K5DLQ
This is amazing news! I know this is early but I was curious on a few things?:
*1) Will the cloud nodes elevate the 10 connections to a node that standard nodes are restricted to?
*2) will this be made public for those of us that have server access ourselves? By creating a constellation of cloud nodes we can minimize a single point of failure. Of course the cost would be absorbed by the individual point in the constellation and would have to be strictly coordinated by the AREDN team.
Again I realize these questions may be months or more out I am just excited by the possibilities of this! I can see this as a huge evolution of the project.
There is no hard limit on the number of connections the cloud server. It is running in a custom built Linux-based Docker container.
we have not yet discussed distributing it yet. Want to get more miles on it before we start discussing that.
Thanks to all who have responded. We have enough testers at this time. Stay tuned for expanded testing.
K5DLQ - Darryl
Hi Darryl,
here at my side all seems to work fine. I think this feature can help managing the growth oh arednmesh network.
Maybe this feature usable in future to manage local (e.g. italians) networks?
73 de Leo IZ5FSA
Anything that can be done to offload Tunnels to a server will be a great addition to AREDN. Porting to the PC environment locally or perhaps eve a Raspberry Pi could be very useful and likely add some functionality not currently available.
Thanks gentlemen for the effort.
Jim
W8ERW