Remote Network Access

Hello Everyone. I am new to the Forum as a "poster" but have utilized your expertise many times before.

I am trying to find out the best way to manage a new network and to access my office server (supped up mac mini) from home with my laptop. The laptop is also used in the office. I want to be able to access files on the server in my office from home on my MB. I plan on using the mini with screen sharing on the local network.

Here is what I have:
Mac G5 1.8 tower with 10.5.6
MacBook 2.2 with 10.5.6 (this would be the machine I take home from my office)
Mac Mini 1.83 with 10.5.6 (with TB hard drive hard wired internally)
Comcast SMC cable modem
Belkin Wireless N Router and D-Link Gigabit switch
Panasonic Wireless Network Camera

I do not have a static IP but have heard that Comcast users tend to keep the same IP address for long periods of time. During the set-up process of my wireless security camera, I was able to obtain login info to my Comcast modem.

I would like to attempt making this work without any paid services.

Any help or suggestions would be warmly welcomed! THANKS!

Now, what might make the whole thing easier is to set it up where you can VPN into your work network from home then access the server and other systems like you were another computer on the network.

You can setup your osx server to be a vpn server, then setup your router to pass through vpn traffic to your server.

This site has some info on setting up a the vpn server and client:

Maclive.net:: Setup Mac OS X VPN Server for Mac & XP Clients

in terms of the port forwarding, you will have to forward different ports depending on the type of vpn you setup - if you use L2TP w/ IPSEC, you will need to forward (if I remember correctly) UDP ports 500 and 1701 and PPTP type vpn you need to forward TCP 1723 and GRE packets. Most routers will allow you to do forwarding, and many SOHO routers will have predefined setups for forwarding VPN traffic.


As a thought on your IP issue - since there is a chance it can change depending on how comcast does their leasing of IP's, assuming you are using some sort of router - the router may support DDNS where you can register a domain name and have an external service associate the appropriate IP to a given name (the since the router would be alerted to the ip change, it would communicate with the DDNS host servers to update the new ip address) and use a name instead of IP to remote access your network.

Hope that helps or at least offers an alternative!

Nethfel. Great idea. Can I still set up the VPN server if I do not have OSX server software? I can follow all that you say but do not have the confidence or time to experiment. I have a friend that is an IT manager and want to give him the best info since it is above my head already....

Nethfel. Great idea. Can I still set up the VPN server if I do not have OSX server software? I can follow all that you say but do not have the confidence or time to experiment. I have a friend that is an IT manager and want to give him the best info since it is above my head already....

LouieTheLug said:

Nethfel. Great idea. Can I still set up the VPN server if I do not have OSX server software? I can follow all that you say but do not have the confidence or time to experiment. I have a friend that is an IT manager and want to give him the best info since it is above my head already....

Click to expand...

Hmm, I had honestly thought your "supped up mac mini" was running OSX server for some reason. You DO have some options tho -

* Download iVPN for Mac - GUI for the VPN server in Mac OS X. MacUpdate Mac Servers Software Downloads - a tool to setup a vpn server on OSX (non-server) - flaw is it is a PPTP version of a VPN server which is significantly less secure the L2TP and IPSEC

* There's a tool called Hamachi that I think can do what you are looking for, but I don't know much about it beyond its basic features.

* There's a tool called Teamviewer that is kind of a like a remote desktop tool, it won't be as flexible as vpn'ing in but it would allow you to have desktop access to a system on your internal network and do your work that way. It does allow file transfers/copy but it won't work like you're just another computer on the network.

* you can replace your wifi router with one that has the ability to act as a VPN server rather then just a passthrough (which if I got the version manual of the belkin you have, I believe yours is passthrough capable only). It might cost a bit more, but it might make certain aspects of life a bit nicer. You might need to change around your thinking and get a N AP and a wired router/firewall/switch as I'm not sure what VPN gateway capable routers also offer wireless N. If all you need is G, then you're covered. Here are some VPN routers you can look into: D-Link VPNs/Firewalls

* You can replace the OS on one of your systems with OSX server rather then just leopard. If that mac mini box is acting as a server and not a workstation then it couldn't hurt. Plus, if you don't need more then 10 simultaneous users on the server, you can get the 10 user license version rather then the unlimited license version (personally, I have the older 10.4 server on a G4 mac mini and I really like it for what I use it for).

Hope this helps.