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Is there any chance someone in the know could write a simple guide to setting up RPii so that I can access the z-way UI over the internet. I want to be able to control my heating while I am away, but haven't worked out a simple way to do this yet with just the Pi powered on.

Many thanks
Simon

You should first configure remote access at http://rpi:8084.
It will allow you to connect securely to your RPi with https://find.z-wave.me service.

Hello,

If you want to be extra safe, I'd recommend setting up a VPN to access your home, and allowing RPi access only through that.

It does take some work and technical know-how, however, and is not simple. The way I did it was by getting a router that supports DD-WRT with OpenVPN. DD-WRT is an open source firmware that has builds that work with many wifi routers. www.dd-wrt.com is the site and it has a compatibility chart (http://dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices). Note that in order to have OpenVPN, you need a router that has 8MB of flash memory (this is where the firmware is stored). Routers that only have 4MB of flash memory can take dd-wrt firmware, but only builds that do not have OpenVPN.

Once you have this, you set up OpenVPN on the router, and then install the OpenVPN client on the computers or devices that you want to allow access. OpenVPN configuration is, unfortunately, fairly complicated.

IMO, if you have home security connected to your device, you should really use VPN and not allow the RPi direct access to the Internet. But you can gauge the risk for yourself. Chances are pretty low that someone who wants to break into your house will have the technical knowledge and/or desire to expend the effort to hack it.