I want to be able to, from ANY internet-connected computer with a web browser, be able to:
1) Turn on my home computer (wake on lan)
2) Access its webserver (apache)
3) Turn it off

I got Wake on Lan working from the internet. I can successfully boot my computer from the web WOL form at http://www.depicus.com/wake-on-lan/woli.aspx as well as from computers on my local network.

Apache is configured the way I want it, of course.

The problem I'm experiencing, really, is turning it off again when I'm done. I'd also welcome any tips about how to make the whole operation more secure.

ALEX:/home/alex/Music# uname -a
Linux ALEX 2.6.15-1-k7 #2 Mon Mar 6 15:42:39 UTC 2006 i686 GNU/Linux

Machine is AMD64 but I can't run a 64-bit kernel because of flashplugin, openoffice, etc. and I don't want to bother with a chroot.

Running a vanilla install of Debian Etch, x.org 6.9

Server is Apache/2.0.55 (Debian) PHP/5.1.2-1 Server Port 80

NIC: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+

Internet running through DI-604 configured to allow UDP packets on port 9 to my computer for Wake-on-Lan to work.

Could anyone help me? Please remember the only thing the accessing computer can have is a web browser (So no SHH or anything that won't work on Windows!) Thanks bunches.

Oh, DI-604 is a router; I should have specified.

You can install tightvnc or any other vnc package and access your server via web browser using the java feature, normally available via port 5800, but you can set that yourself.

If you need any more help with regards to vnc, you know where to find us........

Edit - I glanced through your post and noticed that you asked about making it more secure, etc. One of the issues with free vnc is that security is weak in that you're limited to a challenge/response setup ie, username + 8 letter pw. The windows' UltraVnc package (and, perhaps others) can utilize a dsm encryption plugin which enhances security, but I haven't seen something similar for Linux.

So without ssh, there's only so much you can do with vnc from a security standpoint.

That being said, I'm sure with all the intelligence in the *nix community, there are some heavy duty security solutions. The first thing that comes to mind is ensuring that your Apache server is in a chroot jail. This protects everything outside of the essential Apache filesystem and is *virtually* impenetrable.


cheers,