NOTE: This is an advanced topic. Not for most people 😅

Why remote access is useful:

1. Troubleshoot AV issues

a. for the Mandarin service aunties and uncles

b. for deeper technical issues (esoteric but true example - someone upgraded OBS or Bitfocus Companion by a mjor version which broke some default configuration, preventing it to scan USB devices / thus the Stream Deck is non-functional)

1. Do IT maintenance in your own time

… all without needing to be physically at church!

What is needed to achieve this:

NOTE: If you've NEVER set this up a software-defined mesh virtual private network (SDN VPN) before, be prepared to spend some weeks on this to get your head around it. But it's worthwhile. 😉

You need to put a VPN 'node' somewhere on your church network. Either on the router itself, or a box attached to the LAN.

• We have our own OpenWrt router
  • e.g. NanoPi R2S / Orange Pi R1 Plus LTS (they're same same)

Next is to choose a VPN technology:

Tailscale

• pros: easier to set up for single user use

ZeroTier

• pros: more flexibility with sharing access between multiple people/user accounts
• cons: more paywall for max 25 device limit on free plan

Wireguard

• pros: the open-source base of Tailscale, not tied to Tailscale's auth system
• cons: most work to set up (it's all manual)

and forget OpenVPN - that's a thing of the past!

Turn on in BIOS for cold booting, and Windows device manager > ethernet controller to enable wake from sleep

MeshCentral is handy to manage all your computers (including across Sunday school rooms, office, etc). Requires deployment to cloud.