IP Address Block

I wish to provide a remote backup service for my parents, but wish to block it to as restricted a range of IP addresses as possible.

my parents are on plusnet with a dynamic IP

What I was hoping to ask a plusnet rep, in this circumstance would they remain on the same IP block if or when their IP address changes, or do I need to start looking for the other IP blocks that plusnet uses.

Plusnet have multiple ranges of address blocks for their dynamic pool. You cannot assume they will get a new IP within the same block.

What package are they on? On some packages you can request a static IP which would solve your problem.

Damn, not what I wanted to hear.

Will talk to them about getting a static IP address.

Thanks for the quick response.

This thread covers how to access it when they have a dynamic IP address and may help
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,81308

Alas, as grateful as I am for your help, that information does not solve my problem.

I do not wish to gain remote access to their network from mine. I wish to offer remote access to my network from theirs, and for security reasons restrict the IP addresses that are allowed to attempt to connect to my network.

I am aware of dynamic DNS services, and have an account with no-ip.org.

I thank you for the time and effort you have taken to respond to my query.

I have several solutions available, the simplest would be to lock down access by IP address.

If that means asking my father to request a static IP I may do that.

Why not use VPN?

One of the options I am considering,

However as I need to set up the connection automatically via batch script, I am reluctant to over complicate things.

rasdial works fine in bat

Yes, but I need to configure the VPN, and hope my mother doesn't click it an an inopportune time and break her internet, or worse use up all my bandwidth.

And it still doesn't remove the need to restrict access to as small a footprint as possible.

(currently using key based ssh to a box that only allows the one restricted user to access it from the internet, and only then when doing so to run a command that works over ssh, in this case rsync)

Ok, but using certificate-based auth would avoid the ip problem altogether.