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I have a physically remote thing. It's on someone else's network so I can't get a static IP address for it. What is the best way to track its IP address?

I can imagine just publishing a "heartbeat" that includes the IP address to some service that will store it for me. If there is some sort of software problem on my thing's end, I could potentially lose it forever in this setup.

Is there a more robust way to keep track of the thing's IP address?

Helmar
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ericksonla
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1 Answers1

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Your thing probably doesn't have a unique IP address in this context, unless it uses IPv6. It will have an address in a private space, such as 10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255 or 192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255, this will be behind a NAT gateway (which has the ISP assigned public address).

Your thing can probably initiate outbound connections to a server (which can include a 2-way communication), but ultimately, your thing needs to 'phone home' in order for your server to communicate with it. Your thing's IP address shouldn't need to be something you care about, unless one thing needs to talk directly to another. If you need it's IP address, your target's router will need to port forward for you.

Sean Houlihane
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