Remotely

A remote control and remote scripting solution, built with .NET Core, SignalR Core, and WebRTC.

Website: https://remotely.one
Multi-Tenant Demo Server: https://app.remotely.one

Notice: Work on Remotely will be temporarily stopped.

Recently, I've been overwhelmed with questions and support requests, and Remotely is taking up almost all of my free time. It's been especially taxing with everything that's going in the world right now. I'm taking a break for a while to spend more time with my family.

Client Prerequisites:

• Endpoint devices require the .NET Core runtime to be installed.
  • For Windows, the Desktop Runtime is required.
  • Download Link: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet-core/current/runtime
    • The installer will automatically download and install the runtime if missing.

Build Instructions (Windows 10)

The following steps will configure your Windows 10 machine for building the Remotely server and clients.

• Install Visual Studio 2019.
  • Link: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/
  • You only need the below Individual Components:
    • .NET Core SDK (latest version).
    • MSBuild (which auto-selects Roslyn compilers).
    • NuGet targets and build tasks.
    • .NET Framework 4.6.2 SDK.
    • .NET Framework 4.6.2 targeting pack.
• Install the latest .NET Core SDK.
  • Link: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download
• Clone the git repository and open the solution in Visual Studio.
• Run Publish.ps1 in the Utilities folder in source control.
  • Example: powershell -f [path]\Publish.ps1 -outdir C:\inetpub\remotely -rid win10-x64 -hostname https://mysite.mydomain.com
  • The output folder will now contain the server, with the clients in the Downloads folder.
  • The above hostname will be hardcoded in the screen-sharing desktop apps, but can be changed via the options menu.
• When debugging, the agent will use a pre-defined device ID and connect to https://localhost:5001.
• In development environment, the server will assign all connecting agents to the first organization.
• The above two allow you to debug the agent and server together, and see your device in the list.

Hosting a Server (Windows)

• Build the Remotely server and clients using the above steps.
• Create a site in IIS that will run Remotely.
• Run Install-RemotelyServer.ps1 (as an administrator), which is in the Utilities folder in source control and on the Releases page.
  • Alternatively, you can build from source and copy the server files to the site folder.
• Download and install the .NET Core Runtime (not the SDK) with the Hosting Bundle.
  • Link: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet-core/current/runtime
  • This includes the Hosting Bundle for Windows, which allows you to run ASP.NET Core in IIS.
  • Important: If you installed .NET Core Runtime before installing all the required IIS features, you may need to run a repair on the .NET Core Runtime installation.
• Change values in appsettings.json for your environment.
• By default, SQLite is used for the database.
  • The "Remotely.db" database file is automatically created in the root folder of your site.
  • You can browse and modify the contents using DB Browser for SQLite.
• If the site will be public-facing, configure your bindings in IIS.
• An SSL certificate for HTTPS is recommended. You can install one for free using Let's Encrypt.
  • Resources: https://letsencrypt.org/, https://certifytheweb.com/
• Documentation for hosting in IIS can be found here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/host-and-deploy/iis/index?view=aspnetcore-3.1

Hosting a Server (Ubuntu)

• Ubuntu 18.04 and 19.04 have been tested.
• Run Remotely_Server_Setup.sh (with sudo), which is in the Utilities folder in source control.
  • The script is designed to install Remotely and Nginx on the same server, running Ubuntu 18.04 or 19.04. You'll need to manually set up other configurations.
  • A helpful user supplied an example Apache configuration, which can be found in the Utilities folder.
  • The script will prompt for the "App root" location, which is the above directory where the server files are located.
  • The script installs the .NET Core runtime, as well as other dependencies.
  • Certbot is used in this script and will install an SSL certificate for your site. Your server needs to have a public domain name that is accessible from the internet for this to work.
    • More information: https://letsencrypt.org/, https://certbot.eff.org/
  • Alternatively, you can build from source (using RuntimeIdentifier "linux-x64" for the server) and copy the server files to the site folder.
• Change values in appsettings.json for your environment.
• Documentation for hosting behind Nginx can be found here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/host-and-deploy/linux-nginx?view=aspnetcore-3.1

Logging

• On clients, logs are kept in %temp%\Remotely_Logs.log.
  • For the Agent running as a Windows service, this maps to C:\Windows\Temp\Remotely_Logs.log.
• On the server, some event information is explicitly written to the EventLogs table in the database.
• Built-in ASP.NET Core logs are written to the console (stdout). You can redirect this to a file if desired.
  • In IIS, this can be done in the web.config file by setting stdoutLogEnabled to true.
• On Windows Servers, the above logs can also be written to the Windows Event Log.
  • This is enabled in appsettings.json by setting EnableWindowsEventLog to true.
• You can configure logging levels and other settings in appsetttings.json.
  • More information: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/fundamentals/logging/?view=aspnetcore-3.1

Remote Control Requirements

• Windows: Only the latest version of Windows 10 is tested. Windows 7 and 8.1 should work, though performance will be reduced on Windows 7.
  • Requires .NET Core Desktop Runtime.
  • Windows 2016/2019 should work as well, but isn't tested regularly.
• Linux: Only Ubuntu 18.04+ is tested.

Session Recording

• You can turn on session recording in appsettings.json.
• The following requirements must be met for it to work:
  • On Linux, libgdiplus and libc6-dev must be installed (sudo apt-get install libgdiplus libc6-dev).
  • The process running the app must have access to create and modify a folder name "Recordings" in the site's root content folder.
  • FFmpeg must be executable from the process running the Remotely server.
    • Link: https://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html

Remote Control on Mobile

Ideally, you'd be doing remote control from an actual computer or laptop. However, I've tried to make the remote control at least somewhat usable from a mobile device. Here are the controls:

• Left-click: Single tap
• Right-click: Tap and hold
• Click-and-drag: Tap and hold with one finger, tap and release a second finger (without pinch-zooming)
  • The click-and-drag operation will begin where finger one is held.

Configuration

The following settings are available in appsettings.json.

Note: To retain your settings between upgrades, copy your settings to appsettings.Production.json, which will supersede the original.

• DefaultPrompt: The default prompt string you'll see for each line on the console.
• DBProvider: Determines which of the three connection strings (at the top) will be used. The appropriate DB provider for the database type is automatically loaded in code.
• MaxOrganizationCount: By default, one organization can exist on the server, which is created automatically when the first account is registered. Afterward, self-registration will be disabled.
  • Set this to -1 or increase it to a specific number to allow multi-tenancy.
• RecordRemoteControlSessions: Whether or not to record remote control sessions.
• RedirectToHttps: Whether ASP.NET Core will redirect all traffic from HTTP to HTTPS. This is independent of Nginx and IIS configurations that do the same.
• UseHsts: Whether ASP.NET Core will use HTTP Strict Transport Security.
• DataRetentionInDays: How long event logs and remote command logs will be kept.
• RemoteControlSessionLimit: How many concurrent remote control sessions are allowed per organization.
• RemoteControlRequiresAuthentication: Whether the remote control page requires authentication to establish a connection.
• Require2FA: Require users to set up 2FA before they can use the main app.
• AllowApiLogin: Whether to allow logging in via the API controller. API access tokens are recommended over this approach.
• TrustedCorsOrigins: For cross-origin API requests via JavaScript. The websites listed in this array with be allowed to make requests to the API. This does not grant authentication, which is still required on most endpoints.
• KnownProxies: If your Nginx server is on a different machine and is forwarding requests to the Remotely server, you will need to add the IP of the Nginx server to this array.
• Smpt*: SMTP settings for auto-generated system emails (such as registration and password reset).
• Theme: The color theme to use for the site. Values are "Light" or "Dark". This can also be configured per-user in Account - Options.
• UseWebRtc: Attempt to create a peer-to-peer connection via WebRTC for screen sharing.
  • Only works on Windows agents.
  • Session recording will not work if a WebRTC connection is made.

.NET Core Deployments

• .NET Core has two methods of deployment: framework-dependent and self-contained.
  • Framework-dependent deployments require the .NET Core runtime to be installed on the target computers. It must be the same version that was used to build the app.
  • Self-contained deployments include a copy of the runtime, so you don't need to install it on the target computers. As a result, the total file size is much larger.
• .NET Core uses runtime identifiers that are targeted when building.
  • Link: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/rid-catalog

Shortcut Keys

There are a few shortcut keys available when using the console.

• / : Slash will open the autocomplete for selecting the current command mode. The names are configurable in the Account - Options page.
• Up/Down: Use arrow up/down to cycle through input history.
• Ctrl + Up/Down: Scroll the console output window.
• Ctrl + Q: Clear the output window.
• Esc: Close the autocomplete window.

API and Integrations

Remotely has a basic API, which can be browsed at https://app.remotely.one/swagger (or your own server instance). Most endpoints require authentication via an API access token, which can be created by going to Account - API Access.

When accessing the API from the browser on another website, you'll need to set up CORS in appsettings by adding the website origin URL to the TrustedCorsOrigins array. If you're not familiar with how CORS works, I recommend reading up on it before proceeding. For example, if I wanted to create a login form on https://lucency.co that logged into the Remotely API, I'd need to add "https://lucency.co" to the TrustedCorsOrigins.

The API key and secret must be added to the request's Authorization header in the following format: [ApiKey]:[ApiSecret]

Below is an example API request:

POST https://localhost:5001/API/Scripting/ExecuteCommand/PSCore/f2b0a595-5ea8-471b-975f-12e70e0f3497 HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: 31fb288d-af97-4ce1-ae7b-ceebb98281ac:HLkrKaZGExYvozSPvcACZw9awKkhHnNK
User-Agent: PostmanRuntime/7.22.0
Accept: */*
Cache-Control: no-cache
Host: localhost:5001
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, br
Content-Length: 12
Connection: close

Get-Location

Alerts

The Alerts API gives you the ability to add monitoring and alerting functionality to your device endpoints. This feature is intended to add basic RMM-type functionality without diverging too far from Remotely's primary purpose.

Alerts can be set up to show a notification on the Remotely website, send an email, and/or perform a separate API request.

To use Alerts, you'd first need to make an API token (or multiple tokens) for your devices to use. Then create a scheduled task or some other recurring script to do the work. Below is an example of how to use PowerShell to create a Scheduled Job that checks the disk space on a daily schedule.

$Trigger = New-JobTrigger -Daily -At "5 AM"
$Option = New-ScheduledJobOption -RequireNetwork

Register-ScheduledJob -ScriptBlock {
    $OsDrive = Get-PSDrive -Name C
    $FreeSpace = $OsDrive.Free / ($OsDrive.Used + $OsDrive.Free)
    if ($FreeSpace -lt .1) {
        Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://localhost:5001/api/Alerts/Create/" -Method Post -Headers @{ 
            Authorization="3e9d8273-1dc1-4303-bd50-7a133e36b9b7:S+82XKZdvg278pSFHWtUklqHENuO5IhH"
        } -Body @"
            {
                "AlertDeviceID": "f2b0a595-5ea8-471b-975f-12e70e0f3497",
                "AlertMessage": "Low hard drive space. Free Space: $([Math]::Round($FreeSpace * 100))%",
                "ApiRequestBody": null,
                "ApiRequestHeaders": null,
                "ApiRequestMethod": null,
                "ApiRequestUrl": null,
                "EmailBody": "Low hard drive space for device Maker.",
                "EmailSubject": "Hard Drive Space Alert",
                "EmailTo": "[email protected]",
                "ShouldAlert": true,
                "ShouldEmail": true,
                "ShouldSendApiRequest": false
            }
"@ -ContentType "application/json"
    }
} -Name "Check OS Drive Space" -Trigger $Trigger -ScheduledJobOption $Option