The Raspberry Pi has earned its place as one of the most important gems in the DIY world, but there are still some tasks that remain quite complicated to pull off, and remote access is among them. Logging into your Pi over a local network isn't much of a hassle, but when you need to rely on the Internet, you have to configure several things before you can declare the connection secure. Fortunately, there are solutions like Dataplicity that reduce the whole process to a single command line and a few clicks.
The Remote Access Struggle
Imagine you want to remotely access your Raspberry Pi over the weekend. The place you're heading to has a solid Internet connection, and your laptop should be more than enough to log into the mini computer. But depending on the method you choose, you'll have a to-do list: static IP addresses, port forwarding on your router, SSH, VPN, services like DynDNS... tedious no matter how you look at it. Many users have gotten used to this dance, but deep down we all think there should be an easier way to access a Raspberry Pi using the network of networks as a bridge. That said, let's make room for Dataplicity.
In essence, Dataplicity is a kind of VPN that lets you access your Raspberry Pi with a web browser. The first step is to register an email on the service's official page. Dataplicity will send you an email with the command line you need to write on the Raspberry Pi to add the agent and enable the tunnel. Dataplicity doesn't require SSH or port opening, is compatible with NAT, and most importantly, it doesn't run as root, so you'll need to enter the appropriate credentials whenever you need elevated privileges. Dataplicity can also reboot your Raspberry Pi and report available disk space, while its latest trick is "wormhole" mode, a mini web server that creates temporary pages.
If you need to manage more than one Raspberry Pi, Dataplicity lets you configure multiple units under the same account. And if you're curious about the agent's code, you can find it on GitHub. Dataplicity is free, and I expect it to stay that way for a long time.
