Remote Support Access without Port Forwarding

Hi.

Any clever people know of ways to easily remote support Asterisk installs without having difficulty of Port Forwarding on routers?

I’d like to be able to supply Asterisk systems that can readily be supported when plugged into a LAN with Internet access.

Is something like TeamViewer for Linux an option?
I know it’s more X windows than CLI.

Is there a CLI alternative?
I’ve heard a little about SSH tunneling but not sure if it needs an intermediary machine or provides what I need directly.

With the advent of cheap powerful CPU’s with onboard graphics is X windows and TeamViewer now a viable option?

Really trying to avoid having to try and tell customers how to forward ports on their routers if possible. An ‘idiot proof’ solution perhaps.

Additionally, curious if anyone has comments or preference on AsteriskNow vs FreePBX Distro?
As best as I can tell -
AsteriskNow CentOS 5.5, Asterisk 1.7.1, FreePBX 2.7
FreePBX Distro CentOS 5.2, Asterisk 1.8.2, FreePBX 2.9

I know most people here are likely users of AsteriskNOW but if you have any tangible comments of differences between the two I’d like to know.

Regards
Sean

The SSH tunneling option is probably the best one, honestly. We’ve used it as a support mechanism for years when customers aren’t able to poke a hole in their firewalls. It does require that we run a target server that the customers can connect to, but that’s a pretty cheap requirement with the flexibility it gives us on the customer service/support side.

[quote=“malcolmd”]
It does require that we run a target server that the customers can connect to, b…[/quote]

If I wanted a crash course in what you mean here, where would you recommend I find it?

Have a look at Neorouter: neorouter.com/. It runs on a whole host of platforms including Linux and I know of at least one Asterisk distro where this can be installed as an addon to allow remote access/support.

If you install this on each Asterisk system and you have your own Neorouter “concentrator” then all of your supported system can simply link into the concentrator system. This can be any pretty cheap system. Using the ISO mentioned in this article nerdvittles.com/?p=827 you can build a VPN in a Flash server version quickly.