Help › Set up › B7
Allow access only from trusted networks
Console and device control only from the company network or via VPN — with lists of allowed networks for the relay and per access.
Preview this guide has not yet been clicked through on a real device. Button names and steps come from the program but may differ in details.
- For
- Account administrator · Own-relay operator
- Applies to
- Cloud · Own relay
- Right in the console
- System administrator (relay list); administrator of the access (lists of the access)
- Control from
- Browser
- from version
- 20261010.40
What it is for
You decide from which networks someone may open the console and control your devices — for example only from the company network and via your VPN. There are three lists:
| List | Where | Binds |
|---|---|---|
| Console of the relay | Settings → Admin access → Trusted networks | every request to the console, including the sign-in page and API tokens (own relay only) |
| Console of the access | Edit tenant → tab Security | administrators and other accounts bound to this access |
| Viewers of the access | same place | connecting, waking and restarting devices of the access — from the program, browser, console, by quick code |
An empty list means: no restriction.
What you need
- The addresses of your networks in CIDR notation, for example
203.0.113.0/24or2001:db8::/48. - For the lists of an access: an account as administrator of the access. In the console an access is called a tenant.
- For the relay list: your own relay and an account as system administrator.
How to do it
Lists of an access
- Tenants → double-click the access (Edit tenant) → tab Security.
- At the top it says Your address as the relay sees it:. Insert my address adds it to the list.
- In Console: administrators of this access and Viewers: connect, wake up, restart enter one network per line.
- Save networks.
Relay list (own relay)
- Settings → Admin access → section Trusted networks.
- Enter networks, one per line — your own first (Insert my address).
- Save networks.
How you know it worked
- After saving: “Trusted networks saved.”
- From outside, the console shows: “The console cannot be reached from your address — it is outside the trusted networks. …”
- A viewer from outside gets: “This device can only be controlled from the trusted networks of its access — your address is not one of them. …” The BrowserDesk program shows this sentence in German: „Dieses Gerät lässt sich nur aus den vertrauten Netzen seines Zugangs steuern — …“
- Every refusal is recorded in the audit log.
Good to know
- You cannot lock yourself out: if your current address is not in the new list, the console does not save and tells you so.
- Behind a reverse proxy the lists do not work. The relay only sees the proxy's address. If Your address as the relay sees it: shows
127.0.0.1or the proxy's address, run the relay without the proxy (B9). - IPv4 always with four parts.
10or10.1are not understood as networks. Bits after the prefix are cut off (10.1.2.3/8becomes10.0.0.0/8). - Running sessions stay when you save; the list applies from the next connection. Open console sign-ins stop working from the next request.
- Not covered: the sign-in in the program and under “My devices” itself. A viewer list only exists per access, not for the whole relay.
- Specific computers instead of networks: tab Governance policy → Control only from the device's own tenant → Only computers of the tenant (B6). Both can be combined: first the network is checked, then the computer.
- System administrators are only bound by the relay list, not by the list of an access.
If it does not work
| You see | Meaning and fix |
|---|---|
| “Your current address is not in the list — you would lock yourself out. …” | Your network is missing. Insert my address, then Save networks. |
| “Your address is unknown — with this list you would be locked out. …” | The relay does not know your address. Nothing was saved. |
| Locked out as administrator of an access | The system administrator empties the list in the console. In the Cloud: info@browserdesk.de. |
| Own relay, console unreachable from anywhere | Emergency exit on the server, as the service's user: BrowserDesk.Relay --set-setting trustednets.system --clear (on Windows BrowserDesk.Relay.exe in the relay's program folder). To empty an access: --set-setting trustednets:<access> --clear. Takes effect within 15 seconds. If your relay has a BD_KEYRING_KEY, the call must have it in its environment, otherwise it aborts (B9). |
| Everyone is locked out, or everyone gets in | The relay is behind a proxy (see above). |
| Viewer: “This device can only be controlled from the trusted networks of its access — …” | Connect from the company network or via VPN, or ask the administrator to allow the network (D9). |