I still don’t understand how this CHIA client thing works.
We can log into our emails from any computer at any place just by knowing our username and password. Likewise we can log into our online banking by using our user/card# and password.
Now my concern is when i am away from home and my computer at home is farming.
How can i log into my Chia client and check my farm status or switch pools? I tried using my 24 words on another computer with Chia client installed but it wouldn’t show my farm!!! It started syncing all over again (guess it would take a week to sync).
I mean shouldn’t I be able to just log in and see what’s going on.
Another concern i have is what happens if my windows completely crashed, unable to boot. What would i then do after installing a new windows… How would i log back into my CHIA account?
Like i said knowing all the 24 words and all the keys… How could one recover and reconnect to chia network. Assuming plots on hard drives are all intact.
The GUI is more like a stand-alone application on your computer. It isn’t cloud-based, and isn’t accessible over the internet. Details about your farm aren’t stored on servers in the cloud, they’re on your own personal computer, and generally speaking inaccessible from anywhere else. You could technically wait for the sync to finish and you would have access to your wallet, and pool information, which you can then manage remotely.
There are ways to make the GUI available over the internet, but that’s a terrible idea, seeing as the GUI has no secure log-in system. It would practically make your account available to anyone who knows your IP while you’re logged in, or if you forget to log out. Generally speaking, it wasn’t what the system was designed for.
You mean if you were away from home? Then your farm will be down until you can physically reboot your computer.
For me, if I was away from home, and my system suffered an unexpected power loss, I have it set up so that when it powers up, it automatically starts the services on boot. I’m not sure how you would do this on windows as I am running my farm on Ubuntu Linux on a Raspberry Pi.
The 24-word mnemonic gets you back to your account and encryption keys you used to make your plots. So even if your PC suffered a catastrophic failure and you needed to re-install windows, you can use the 24-word mnemonic to access your account, and start a new farm with the plots you already made, by downloading the Chia software again and logging in with your mnemonic.
How to manage farm while away from home?
There are a couple of ways, but you’ll need to be fairly tech-savvy, or at least willing to learn.
One would be to set up a remote desktop. Software that lets you log-in to your home computer and share the screen with whatever device you’re using while away from home. However, I’m not all that familiar with that kind of software, and it is out of the scope of this forum. Here, Google and Youtube would be your best resource.
Another way, which is the method I use, is to create a secure VPN connection to my home network and SSH into my Chia Farm, then I can run commands to manage it. But I’m guessing from your questions, this might be beyond your current level of ability.
I hope this answers some of your questions, and I hope you find a solution to your liking. And if anyone else has a suggestion, an example of how they do it, speak up. This info could be useful to a lot of people.
Well any remote desktop software, things like teamviewer can work for remote acces.
BUT this also compromises your security!!! See the recent massive exploit that screwed a lot of businesses via their remote desktop software for example. (I forgot the name)
So best to do this in a very secure way, like a private vpn tunnel.
In general, you should be very happy that you cannot log onto your account from anywhere. Not being able to do this basically is one of the very core features of a blockchain.
If you could login to your account this would mean, your data is stored on someone else’s server and therefor potentially has acces to your data, either directly or by way of security breach.
You have your private key, that is the only access.
Your plots can only be farmed from the computer/network where they are stored, unless you give access to them via some alternate way (you shouldn’t unless it is your own computer.)
I use Chrome Remote Desktop. Its easy to setup in windows, a bit trickier in Linux. You install it and then you can access your machine via google chrome from anywhere. It’s a client-server based system, so there are no open ports inviting hackers to come and have a go. How secure is it? As much as the next virtual desktop system. Do I have to trust google? Yes.
Change external IP addresses from time to time, by turning off your router for 10 minutes once a week. Might help, probably not all that much.
I have been away from my server rack for 2 weeks and have plotted about three hundred plots and earned some Chia through pooling. The machines are Dell servers so I can access them via iDrac a remote control system which operates outside of the operating system, this allows virtual console (like remote dekstop from one machine to another) and so they can be remote rebooted and/or power cycled etc… if required. These machines and this functionality cost me less (they were second hand) than a decent new PC would have cost and I have enjoyed delving into some server stuff which I have recently learned. I have installed a camera to watch the rack physically, and wifi plugs so I can monitor power consumption and kill the entire thing any time I want. I have a redundant internet connection provided by a 4G router in case the primary connection (at my workplace) goes down.
As an example of how I admin this system remotely. I have been changing the final drive destination as drives fill up, every day for a few weeks. I have one machine today that I cannot currently access via chrome remote, but I can iDrac to it and when its current plotting jobs are finished I will remote reboot it.
You have had good advice on keys and mnemonics etc. Keep your key printed out somewhere safe, and from time to time shut down chia and back up your DB files. Are you backing up your /db folder? - #7 by Harris. If you had to reinstall your machine, you would just reinstall the op-system, then any security software, then chia blockchain, copy the backup of your DB files (not critical but it saves you days of syncing), enter your mnemonic and you are back. If your plots have survived, which they should have done unless it was a lightning strike that took out your equipment, point your chia GUI at them and hey presto.
As for remote access to CHIA GUI account, i wish it were not limited to local computers and were accessible over internet and especially on mobile phones on the go.
They could add 2FA features for extra protection, authentication layers such as Google Authenticator. I mean wouldn’t it be nice to open a Chia App on your mobile phone and check in to your Chia account to see which payments arrived last night and what not… Etc.
Another concern i have and am sure many share is how long SYNCING is going to take for future farmers? Mine took almost 4 days to reach height of about 570K. How long is it going to take when we are at 1.5 million?
I’m going the easy route and use Teamviewer, that way I can keep track of my farm and add some plots with Mad Max on the fly while travelling. Worked well so far
You can do this by opening up a port on your router of that particular computer IP address. But when you are logging in from outside you have to use your routers public IP address and then put that port number at the end.
Example; Go to port forwarding and open incoming and outgoing port 8006 for your chia computer ip address 192.168.1.25.
Find your routers public IP address. (Google it, they have a website to tell you the ip)
Use that address and you can log in from outside network. You type this address in your browser like this example https://76.54.62.43:8006
Keep in mind it’s not too safe to have a port open you’reopen to potential attacks
