Industrial remote access and data logging: how they work together

You may need to investigate a fault, monitor an installation or give a maintenance partner access. That takes more than a connection. You need to decide who can access each location, see who has connected and make the right measurements available. Whether you build machines or manage buildings, water installations or energy systems, the foundations are the same.

Operational technology, or OT, covers the systems that monitor and control physical processes, including controllers, operator panels and industrial computers. Define what you need to do remotely: check status, diagnose a fault, change settings or maintain software. Identify the data you need to collect as well.

Access does not make every remote action appropriate. Agree which activities require someone on site, approval or additional safety measures.

A ServiceGate router and the Remote Portal let you configure access to a location. Users connect to locations they are authorised to access. With a VPN connection, your computer can communicate directly with equipment at that location. You use the necessary engineering software or start your own VNC or RDP session, provided the equipment and network configuration support it.

Alternatively, configure VNC, RDP, HTTP and HTTPS remote access services in the portal to provide access to an operator environment or web interface. The right approach depends on the equipment, the task and your access policy.

In the Remote Portal, you create and manage users, user groups and locations. You assign routers to locations and determine which users or groups can access them. Templates help you reuse settings. You can also find connection information and the router's firmware version.

Include this in your management process: who grants access, who reviews permissions and when is access revoked?

The portal lets you see who has connected to which locations. This supports the review and accountability of remote access.

A connection record is not a complete record of every action performed on a machine. If you need auditable connections, define the evidence you require, where it will be kept and who may view it. Check retention requirements, export options and any logging needed in the controller itself. Available capabilities must be verified for your chosen setup.

All ServiceGate routers support remote access as well as data logging and monitoring. Available measurements depend on your equipment, interfaces and configuration. In the portal, choose a suitable protocol, such as Modbus, Step7, OPC UA or SNMP, and specify the data to retrieve or receive.

The configuration is sent to the router, which automatically forwards the data to the configured service. You can use it for dashboards, alarms and events. Start with measurements that answer a specific question about temperature, energy consumption or the state of an installation.

Configure data logging centrally in the Remote Portal, not in each router’s local interface. Templates let you reuse settings across routers; check the data points, permissions and destination for each location. Looking for an industrial router for both remote access and monitoring? Choose according to the required interfaces, internet connection and application, rather than assuming data logging requires a separate router.

Distinguish between measurement data you want to store locally and logs of connections or security events. They serve different purposes and may be held on different systems.

Must measurements remain available if the internet connection fails? Include local storage, buffer capacity, timestamps, retention and subsequent data forwarding in your requirements. Do not assume every router, configuration or service provides the same capabilities. We help select the hardware, software and any custom development your application needs.

A ServiceGate can provide access to a dedicated segment in the customer's OT environment. Its profile can be configured for each customer or location, including firewall rules and, where required, internet access behind the router. One possible starting point is to deny traffic in both directions by default and allow only the necessary connections.

Segmentation does not replace security updates. Machine and controller software in an isolated segment still needs maintenance. Address access management, firewall policy, updates and local safety procedures together.

Remote Engineer has developed solutions for access to and insight into controllers since 2008. Routers, controllers, the Remote Portal, the IIoT platform and the app provide the foundation. Need a custom application, a different protocol or additional local processing? We can explore a tailored solution with you.

Discuss your application. Tell us which controllers you use, who needs access and what data you want to collect. We will help determine what you need.

Want to apply this approach to your installations? Explore our industrial remote access solution for control systems: ServiceGate, central access management and the choice between VPN and portal services.

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