Remote.It Connection methods
remote.it supports two methods of connection:
- Peer to Peer (P2P)
- Proxy
Peer to Peer connections are supported in the Desktop App, CLI and Mobile applications. The Remote.It web portal (app.remote.it) can only support Proxy connections.
Peer to Peer Connections
Why should you use a P2P connection with remote.it?
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Persistent connections. Many people want to have a repeatable address for their remote.it Services in order to be able to bookmark them in various applications. P2P connections create a persistent and repeatable connection address with a url and port on your client computer.
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Once a P2P connection is configured and established on your client computer, you just use the connection url and Remote.It will reconnect on demand.
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No timeouts. Our proxy servers limit connection time so that our computer resources don't get tied up. P2P connections do not use our proxy servers and there is no time limit imposed.
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Faster data throughput. Some applications such as SSH can work acceptably with low bandwidth. Others, such as VNC and video streaming, benefit from a P2P connection as the data does not have to pass through our servers on the way to your computer.
Proxy Connections
Cloud proxy connections are the simplest to set up and test with because you only need to install Remote.It on the target device (the device you want to connect to). However there are limitations compared to a direct P2P connection.
Connections made with app.remote.it (Web Portal) are always Proxy connections since you are not using a direct connection.
Proxy connection expiration
Proxy connections, which are made when you connect using the web portal or graphQL API endpoint, are not permanent. As long as an active tunnel is maintained, the proxy address will remain active for up to 8 hours. How an active tunnel is maintained depends on the type of service you are using.
SSH Establishing and keeping an SSH session open to the endpoint maintains an active tunnel, even if you are not typing. If you disconnect the SSH client, the proxy will expire in another 15 minutes.
SCP Doing file transfers via SCP command line only keeps the tunnel active for the duration of the file transfer. You may do multiple SCP commands using the same proxy URL and port, as long as they are less than 15 minutes apart. The proxy will time out 15 minutes after the end of the last transfer if no further commands are executed inside that window.
VNC and RDP For VNC and RDP, as long as the VNC or RDP client is connected to the server, the tunnel is open, even if you aren’t doing anything.
Web servers If you connect to a web page, simply keeping the web page visible is not sufficient to maintain the tunnel. You’ll have to navigate around or refresh the browser. Web connection proxies expire 15 min after the last web request is issued. The proxy will timeout 15 minutes after the last web request if no further web requests are executed inside that window.
Other service types The behavior of other service types will depend on whether an active client-server maintains a TCP connection. If a TCP connection remains open, the proxy connection will remain active for about 8 hours. If not, the proxy connection will expire about 15 minutes after the last TCP connection closes.