Remote control

Remote control

The desktop program can control a rookparcel-nox on another computer: a NAS, a home server, a PC in another room. The window looks and works as usual, but the torrents, downloads and engine are on the server. This page covers connecting with File > Connect to Remote... or --remote, what works in a remote window, and how the connection is protected.

The alternative is the Web UI in a browser, which needs nothing installed. A remote window gives you the full desktop program instead: its dialogs, keyboard shortcuts and detail tabs.

What you need

• A rookparcel-nox running with its Web UI on, for example rookparcel-nox run --webui 0.0.0.0:8443 --webui-https (Running rookparcel-nox). The remote window uses the Web UI's port and login.
• The Web UI's user name and password.
• The same Rookparcel version on both sides. A server that speaks another version refuses the connection with "the server refused the connection (HTTP 426): this server speaks remote protocol ...".

A remote window connects to rookparcel-nox. The Windows program's own Web UI (Preferences > Web UI) is for browsers.

Connecting

1. In the Windows program choose File > Connect to Remote.... A second Rookparcel window starts beside your own and shows the Connect to Remote dialog. (Or start rookparcel.exe --remote, which opens only the remote window.)

2. Fill in:

   Field	What to enter
   Host:	The server's name or IP address.
   Port:	The Web UI's port (8080 is proposed).
   User name:	The Web UI's user name (admin is proposed).
   Password:	The Web UI's password.
   Use HTTPS	Ticked by default. Leave it ticked when the server runs with --webui-https or its own certificate.

3. Click Connect.

4. The first time, a server with a self-signed certificate (the one --webui-https makes) is shown by its fingerprint:

   ... presents a certificate that this computer does not trust (a self-signed one, as rookparcel-nox --webui-https makes).

   Compare the long number with the certificate SHA-256 line nox printed when it started (in its terminal, log or journal). If they match, click Yes. Rookparcel remembers the certificate for that server and does not ask again.

5. The window opens with the server's torrents. Its title bar shows the server's host:port.

The dialog remembers the host, port, user name and the HTTPS choice for next time. The password is never stored; you type it at each connection.

In the GTK program (Linux, BSD) it is the same: File > Connect to Remote..., or rookparcel-gtk --remote. The macOS app has File > Connect to Remote... too. Each remote window is a program of its own, so you can have your local window and several servers open at once.

Without HTTPS

If you untick Use HTTPS and the host is another computer, Rookparcel asks first:

... is another computer, and without HTTPS your user name, password and every command cross the network unencrypted: anyone on it can read or change them.

Answer No and turn HTTPS on at the server instead (--webui-https), unless the network between the two is entirely yours. A connection to the same computer (localhost, 127.0.0.1) is not asked about.

What works in a remote window

Nearly everything works as in a local window, acting on the server:

• Adding torrents: .torrent files from this computer are sent to the server; magnet links too.
• Start, stop, pause, force start, remove (also with the data, deleted on the server), recheck, queue order, labels, speed limits, trackers, file priorities, renaming, Torrent Properties.
• The detail tabs, with the server's peers, pieces, files and speed graph.
• Preferences: the engine's settings (connection, bandwidth, BitTorrent, queueing and the like) are the server's. What you change there is applied on the server and kept there.

What is different:

	In a remote window
Folders	Folders are on the server. Folder pickers for torrents are off; Set Download Location... asks for a server folder as text. New downloads go to the server's default folder.
Open Containing Folder	Off: the folder is on the server.
Creating torrents	A torrent you create here cannot be seeded by the server, since the files are on this computer.
IP filter	The server's own IP filter applies; the window's is not sent.
Preferences > Web UI	A remote window cannot serve the Web UI: "A remote window cannot serve the Web UI; use the local window's Preferences."
Labels, RSS feeds, window settings	Kept on this computer, separately for each server (see below).
Scheduler, RSS Downloader, seeding goal, .torrent folders	The window's own run while it is open and act on the server's torrents, in addition to anything nox does itself.

The server keeps downloading after you close the window.

Losing the connection

When the connection drops, Rookparcel says so once:

The connection to ... was lost: ... The list shows the torrents as they were. Close this window and use File > Connect to Remote... to connect again.

The title bar then ends in "(disconnected)". Commands go nowhere from then on. Close the window and connect again.

When connecting fails

Message	What to check
"Enter the server's host name or address, and its port (1 to 65535)."	The host is empty or the port is not a number in range.
"Cannot connect to ...: wrong user name or password"	The Web UI login. Too many wrong tries lock the address out for a while (Web UI).
"... Is it a rookparcel-nox with its Web UI on this port (--webui)?"	Something else answered on that port.
"... If the server's Web UI uses HTTPS (--webui-https), tick Use HTTPS."	The server speaks HTTPS but Use HTTPS was off.
"Cannot reach ... over HTTPS: ..."	Use HTTPS is on, but the server does not speak HTTPS, or cannot be reached at all.
"The certificate of ... is not the one you accepted before: ..."	The server's certificate changed. If you replaced it, or nox renewed its own, connect again to check the new one. Otherwise someone may be in between: do not go on.
"... (HTTP 400): ..." naming the Host header	The server refuses the host name you typed. Use its IP address, or add the name to the server's Preferences > Web UI > Server domains (Web UI).
"... (HTTP 426): this server speaks remote protocol ..."	The two programs are different versions. Update the older one (Updating Rookparcel).

The firewall on the server must let the Web UI's port in.

Where the remote window keeps its files

	Windows	GTK (Linux, BSD)
Connection details and accepted certificates	remote.ini beside rookparcel.ini in the settings folder	remote.ini in ~/.config/rookparcel/gtk
The window's settings, labels and RSS feeds per server	remote\<host>_<port> in the settings folder	~/.config/rookparcel/gtk/remote/<host>_<port>

These never mix with your local window's settings. See Where Rookparcel keeps its files.

Security

• The remote window logs in with the Web UI's login, so everything on Web UI security applies: a long password, HTTPS across a network.
• Wrong passwords count towards the same lock-out as the Web UI's login form.
• Setting a new Web UI password disconnects every remote window.
• A certificate that changes after you accepted it is refused with a warning; Rookparcel asks again at the next attempt.
• The password is never written to disk on this computer.

See also

• Running rookparcel-nox: starting the server, HTTPS options and services.
• Web UI: the same server in a browser.
• The technical description: WEBUI.md, Remote mode.