Feature: authenticated (and encrypted?) connection

[nikolaqm]

Thank you @casabre for fantastic package!

I have a suggestion for a feature, for which I am considering to invest some time to contribute. But I would like to align first with you in case you have any thoughts and ideas.

In context of giving only selected network users access to an instrument, it would be good to be able to filter and allow only certain connections. And if network is not secure (e.g. internet) it would be good if we can encrypt connection.

Simplest would be to levarage ZMQ Curve authentication and encryption support.

We could pass server (and optionally client) secret via additional arguments separated by : in pyvisa.ResourceManager("IP:PORT:server_secret:client_secret@proxy") and add corresponding modification in ZQM connection code when these are provided.

WDYT? Any objections, suggestions?

[casabre]

@nikolaqm, thanks for reaching out to me. I never had the use case of public networks in mind but this approach sounds reasonable to me, securing the connection at all.

Unfortunately, I am currently quite busy at my day job. Thus, I can just offer to consult rather than putting hands on 😉. Additionally, I never used ZMQ curve. So, feel free to open a PR and we review it together.

Your proposed arguments structure looks good. Maybe using a / for separating the credentials in order to avoid breaking the current implementation? Something like IP:PORT/server_screct:client_secret@proxy. Then, a regex could do the job, I would suppose.

Thanks & best regards