Notify Raspberry Pi from external server

Question

I'm trying to set up a build server so that every time it completes a build, it notifies/pings my Raspberry Pi, which will then run some scripts and do some testing stuff.

My first idea was to set up an API server on my Pi, and the server would send an HTTP POST request to my Pi. My problem is I'm on a work network and I'm unable to expose the server running on my Pi to the internet at large.

Anyone have any ideas for a different way for a server to ping a Raspberry Pi over the internet? Ideally some solution that is python scriptable.

Thanks.

Answer 1

You can subscribe to a "topic" if your build server can publish the "topic" that may be brokered externally. There are many options for the pub-sub model depending on your infrastructure. You could use a public broker or host your own co-located with your build server (that could, in the first place, receive the subscribe request from your RPi).

The RPi client can be written in Python (per your preference) with all the bells and whistles you would like but the simplest would be to leverage Node-RED (personal opinion) for a quick proof-of-concept.

Kind regards.

Answer 2

A tricky one, but my first idea is to invert the Observer pattern. It would be less efficient, but has the advantage of being possible in this situation.

Your server could host the API and when called return either it has updated or not. Then have the pi poll every minute or so.

I know, its not pretty, but it would work.