Offsite Scanning

As long as you can get access to a wireless internet site, it is possible to do. You have to do the following:

1. Create a public IP address / web site for the N-Scan web service. This usually involves some work with your internet service provider. You don't actually need a name (like nscan.rutheckerthall.org) though it helps sometimes. You do need at least a public facing IP address for the scanners to use that will take them to the N-Scan web service on your Gateway server.
2. Attach the scanners to a wireless access point at the remote location. This can be a public wireless point or a private access point that you take to the location. For example, if you are at a hotel, these typically have wireless in their conference areas. You would connect each of the scanners to the hotel's wireless network and make sure you get to the internet.
3. Update N-Scan in the Setup / Admin area for the URL value. Change this value to the IP Address or web site name created in step 1 (leave the ticketservices.asmx value at the end, just replace the internal IP address with the external address or name).

This should work. The only other thing you might need to do as part of the setup is open up your firewall to allow traffic to the N-Scan Web Service from the remote locations IP address range. This will secure the service to only allow traffic from the location you are working.

The key for any remote location where you want live scanning is the internet access. As long as you can get to the web, you can scan tickets. Theoretically, you could scan an event half way around the world as long as the response time was fast enough.

Hi David Judd,

I note the solution above for scanning on an external network is 10 years old.

Does this still stand as the best approach for this?

Many thanks,

Wow - you dug up a really old one. I think this is still basically the same if you are self hosting. Again, the issue has to do with your firewall, what traffic you allow in or not, and how you setup the web service. As long as the scanner can get to the web service, you can scan from anywhere. Having a CNAME record with a friendly name just makes the setup a bit easier in the scanner rather than having to type in an IP address. 

If you are a RAMP client, this won't work as they restrict IP's from which traffic can originate. For this situation at small venues (I'm at a client now using RAMP, not at Tessitura), I'm using a Meraki Z1 AP that concentrates traffic back to my office network through a VPN. That way, the scans look like the are originating from my office IP, which is whitelisted at RAMP. All I have to do is plug in my Z1 to the internet connection at my remote venue(s). You could do something similar as long as you can plug your own AP and the venue can be managed by a single AP. If it is a really big venue, then things get a little harder, but can still be done. In my case, my main venue is very large but not owned by us. There I have a Meraki MX80 security appliance, which also tunnels by VPN back to my office network (also a MX80) so that the scans still look like they come from my office network. Technically, at my main venue, I don't need to do this as they do have a fixed IP. But for remote printing of tickets, this is the easiest setup (my box office can send tickets to a BOCA at the venue). The venue just allows me to plug in my MX80 directly into their internet router. From there, I add my AP's around as needed so I have a separate WIFI network from the venue's network. My smaller venues typically don't have fixed IP's. Since I can't be updating the white lists at RAMP in time for scanning, the Z1 works just fine for these situations. You could do something similar even with your local network, which would avoid the need for a public facing IP or DNS name for your N-Scan Web service. You could just rely on the VPN tunneling to get into your office network.

Just a few options to consider.