Offsite Spare Preparation in Remote Lab
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Instead of overnighting preconfigured Netgate 4100 devices I would like to take advantage of having a location to potentially keep a "spare" 4100 online behind an existing 4100 router in that destination city that can be configured remotely and save on shipping downtime. Each of the existing Netgate appliances in this city that would be potentially (re)placed by this spare has its own unique configuration utilizing the Auto Config Backup service provided by Netgate in addition to manual backups held. They each have a single dynamic public IP, at least two available interfaces and remote access via both OpenVPN and Tailscale.
My thought is to set one of the routers in that city up with an interface (LAN4) getting a dhcp address from the spare's LAN through which I could access the spare's web configurator or ssh port. I have also considered using a Raspberry connected to the spare's console port but am not excited about maintaining a remote Raspberry.
The spare's WAN could get its internet connection from the router's LAN using DHCP or I could use another interface on the router dedicated to the spare's WAN connection. Using this I should be able to restore any config to the spare device for an assistant in that city to move to its building after configuration.
Naturally, I plan on testing this before setting it up remotely but I wanted a sanity check or alternative suggestions before doing so where simplicity is the primary goal.
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@arri said in Offsite Spare Preparation in Remote Lab:
I have also considered using a Raspberry connected to the spare's console port but am not excited about maintaining a remote Raspberry.
You could also just connect the console to the USB port on the other 4100 and access it that way. I do that here.
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@stephenw10 Perfect example of why I checked here first!
