On 11/17/11 4:58 AM, A. Chase Turner wrote: > I am seeking a $100 turnkey micro hardware appliance to plug into a LAN hub > (behind a consumer-level cable modem) whose only purpose in life is to send > heartbeat (and simple quality of service metrics) to a pre-configured central > aggregation service on the WAN. > > Key requirement is the micro hardware appliance will be installed by > non-technical elderly end-users -- so, it must be pre-configured and > literally plug and play without need for the person installing the appliance > to open a web browser to configure. And it must be a secure, good-reputation > stand-alone hardware appliance ... because the heartbeat cannot / must not be > a service installed on the end-user's computer where it becomes a support > burden (e.g., did the end-user turn off their computer? Is their antivirus > software blocking the outgoing heartbeat? That the end-user needs to enter a > username/password/destination to enable the heartbeat, etc) >
Mikrotik RouterBoards are low cost and robust. It can be scripted to do things like call a specific URL every X minutes. Some models have just a single Ethernet port as well (they're designed to be used as a wireless AP/CPE with an add-in mini PCI card) for even less confusion about plugging it in. ~Seth
