Using Channels away from home

Channels DVR Server
#1

So sadly, my stepfather passed away and my mother is now living alone. I want her to be able to access my Channels instance that I'm hosting at home that way, she can have some background noise and TV, and hopefully, take her mind off of everything going on.

I just have a really, really simple question. I have my port 8089 forwarded out, I logged in two Onn 4K Plus boxed at her house to my Channels DVR account set up away from home using my forum credentials. I was just wondering how long that connection lasts for before it needs to be reauthenticated, or is it fairly durable and will it last just until she logs out one day? Hopefully not.

I know in the past when I've set up my Plex for her, it's just worked as long as she's used it for. I've never set up Channels for a close family member in such a situation, so I just am curious how it would work in that sort of environment. Everything was streaming great for her and was working really well, and it really made her happy, especially given the tough circumstances. I'm just curious if it's a durable solution or if I should be looking more into setting up Tailscale. I just need it simple for her, and I know Tailscale could get a little confusing on the Android boxes, especially if the VPN gets shut off.

#2

If she uses it regularly it will stay authorized at least a month plus. If it is not used for a few weeks it will prompt to login again. This is my experience with an Apple TV and I would guess android would be the same. I would run with away from home login first and if it prompts to frequently go to Tailscale.

#3

I'm sorry to learn of your stepfathers passing. Opening port 8089 to the internet is a security risk as it's unknown what vulnerabilities exist. You are much better off using a VPN. Tailscail is pretty easy to set up yet It can cause some strange issues though your mom's setup is probably too simple to face them. It's probably plug and play for your application.

#4

I'm a big fan of Tailscale, but be aware that it is not persistent on Android, in the sense that it needs to be re-enabled after any restart.

2 Likes
#5

Ah that would be a huge problem for her. Better off re-authenticating every now and then.

1 Like
#6

I have an infosec background and an IDS on my network. It's fine. Thanks for the concern.

#7

Also use 2FA in case some hacker cracks your login info

1 Like
#8

Of course lol. Everything has 2FA and like 100 char+ random passwords.

1 Like
#9

I'm sorry to know of your family's loss. You have my condolances.

I have used Tailscale on my remote Android boxes without any problems for quite some time.

I have managed this issue by adding an app to automatically launch Tailscale on startup/reboot.

1 Like
#10

Thanks John!
What app do you use?

#11

That's an excellent question. Right off the top of my head... I have no idea. It was quite a while ago since I set it up. It's truly a "set it and forget it" situation. I'll be at the remote location tomorrow, and can check for you.

I'll agree with @Rice , If you're using the remote connection often, it stays connected fairly well. I do find that I occasionally have to reconnect upon arriving after an extended absence.

#12

I actually figured it out. It was just a couple of adb commands.

I rebooted the box a few times and it reconnected right away.

1 Like
#13

Do you need to know the IP address to send the ADB commands? If so, you may want to set a static IP.

#14

No, you just send them once.
They seem to persist across reboots.

adb shell appops set com.tailscale.ipn ACTIVATE_VPN allow
adb shell settings put secure always_on_vpn_app com.tailscale.ipn
adb shell settings put secure always_on_vpn_lockdown 0
adb shell settings get secure always_on_vpn_app

then reboot

1 Like
#15

glad you found it. I have a couple osprey's at my dad's, and setup persistent tailscale and channels. he really only uses the channels part during football season for local channels, otherwise he just uses dtv. he only ever has 1 on at a time so it only eats up 1 of the away streams.

1 Like
#16

Yeah, persistent Tailscale over ADB on the Onn 4K boxes seemed to work pretty well.

#17

Be sure to disable expiry on her clients, in Tailscale.

2 Likes
#18

Thank you so much. Already done!!