Remote Access Help ME!!! 2

[UCAtech]

I've never worked with remote access before.

Here's my problem:

My grandfather has a computer he frequently needs help with, like arranging Icons, toolbars and simple things like that. I am looking for a way to set up remote access to his computer because spending an hour of my time explaining over the phone how to move a toolbar in MS Word is a little too time consuming. I know of a couple internet sites that provide remote access to a PC, but I'd rather not broadcast his computer over an internet site.

So here are the specs:
PC to be accessed (grandpas PC):
900Mhz, 40GB HD, 512MB RAM, WIN XP Home
He dials up to the internet and is assigned an IP from his ISP. His IP is a local IP assigned by the ISP's router and I cannot ping it since it is behind a Router. example: 216.z.x.y

PC doing the accessing (my pc)
2Ghz, 40 GB HD, 256MB RAM, WIN XP Home
I am going through a router to my ISP. He cannot ping my IP because I am behind a router as well. example: 192.168.1.102

If needed I can also try accessing his computer from my linux box.

If it is any help I have the ip of the linux server/router he connects to. example: 66.z.x.y I can ping this and telnet into it, but I do not have a username or password.

Here is something I have not triedI am sure It won't work though)
Instant Messaging programs have a Send File Function
The two computers are directly connected during a file send.
I am directly connected to his computer when I send a File, so maybe I can netstat to find his broadcasting Ip and try and connect to him that way.

If anyone has any advice, help, comments, or websites I can go to, I would appreciate any of it. Spending 5 hours to set up remote access would be well worth spending an hour a week explaining that his internet explorer icon was moved and he will have to find it

Ben Boyd
Technical Writer/Programer/Student
opspeedydude@hotmail.com
Linuxbox Server Stats: 700mhz, 192 MB RAM, 120 GB HD, Red Hat 8.0
Windows Stats: 2.0 Ghz, 256MB RAM, 40GB HD, Windows XP Home

 

[jcck2003]

I think first issue you got to resolve is make sure PC/Linux box from your side talks to his PC or no solution can help you do this,

if you can find a way to get to his PC, there are something you can do if both side is using XP, it has what's call the remote desktop

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/rdclientdl.asp

also if you can get him to run netmeeting, that will also have the remote desktop sharing feature

for the linux, there is a freeware I know can do remote desktop, call the TightVNC, its a free version of PCAnywhere that has Linux version available

check out

http://www.tightvnc.com/download.html

hope this helps grandpa
jcck2003

 

[John Lewis]

Should be able to get this running. Won't say it will be easy, but nothing presented should be a real roadblock.

First, 216.xxx.xxx.xxx is a routable public IP. Dialup ISPs often block a lot of inbound traffic including ICMP (pings), so that is more likely the reason you are not able to hit his box directly. I think you can get past that.

jcck has presented two viable solutions, Remote Desktop and VNC. If you will always access his machine from your XP machine, and you don't have any other machines that you will need to connect to, remote desktop is the way to go. I use TightVNC, it allows me to connect to and from many different platforms, I can use my linux box to administer any current version of Windows, unix, linux and even Mac OS X. Regardless of which you choose, you will need to create a core connection between his machine and yours before you can use the remote connection.

A VPN connection will allow you to do this, no problem. Again, some dialup ISPs block the protocol that is needed for the VPN to function, but this is becoming less of an issue as more people require it to connect to their work. Most still block the port required on an inbound connection, so the connection will likely need to be initiated from the remote end. No more difficult than making the initial connection to the ISP.

First, you will need a VPN server. Your XP box will do fine, the linux box would offer more features but would require a lot more configuration on your part. Based upon your original post, I would guess that the router is handling NAT. If the linux box is doing the NAT, or if you have thought of moving NAT to the linux box and using it as a firewall, the linux box would probably be the best choice long term.

Nice instructions for XP VPN server setup at

http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking/xp_vpn_server.htm

Ignore the last bit of information, labeled 20. Somewhat incorrect. You will need to forward port 1723 to the server and allow PPTP passthrough. This is also called protocol 47 (not port 47 as stated). You can also ignore the references there to ports 500 and 50-51 as well as the reference to ipsec.

VPN client at

http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking/xp_vpn.htm

No problems with that one.

I won't go into the linux version at this time, but I would be happy to if you think you might want to go that way, just post back.

If you need futher direction, and I would be surprised if you didn't, first question would be what are you doing with the linux box, and what is handling NAT for you? Just in case -- NAT is network address translation. It takes your private network (192.168.xxx.xxx) and translates it to the IP assigned to you by your ISP, allowing more than one machine to share your public IP.

How happy are you with linux -- do you know how to compile a kernel, install packages, etc, would be the next bit.

On another note, realized one other thing that I really like about the VNC route -- you can restrict it to being used across the VPN connection. I'm not sure remote desktop doesn't allow this, but I'm not sure how.

Lot to digest there, feel free to post back anything that needs to be clarified a bit.

 

[UCAtech]

Thanks for the help from both of you, I will give it a look either tonight or tomorrow and post results and any presenting questions...

And as for Linux, I've just started messing around with it. I figured knowing it and databases wouldn't be bad, so I put Oracle on it (my mom is a DBA, so i get it free) and I have a little database that I run reports off of through the network. I am also starting to make a web page with php using that database, but I'm thinking about moving to Java. It's basically something to do in my free time away from class and studying.
I can compile kernals and install packages and stuff like that. I just got a systems admin book that I'm going to go through.

And as for the NAT question. I have no clue what is handling it. That's the first time I've heard of NAT and I've been looking at a lot of network and internet stuff the last couple weeks.

Again, thank you very much for the input, I'll reply later with results. thanks.

Ben Boyd
Technical Writer/Programer/Student
opspeedydude@hotmail.com
Linuxbox Server Stats: 700mhz, 192 MB RAM, 120 GB HD, Red Hat 8.0
Windows Stats: 2.0 Ghz, 256MB RAM, 40GB HD, Windows XP Home

 

[John Lewis]

If you have no idea what is handling your NAT, most likely your router is taking care of it. Not a problem. Find the docs for it and check into the port forwarding section.

Wouldn't try the linux side just yet, although you may want to at some point. Windows should be able to take care of your needs and get you up quickly.

 

[UCAtech]

Ok, and with this remote desktop with XP, I have the client, but from what I've read the server (which would be on my grandpa's computer) only comes with XP PRO. Is this true?

Ben Boyd
Technical Writer/Programer/Student
opspeedydude@hotmail.com
Linuxbox Server Stats: 700mhz, 192 MB RAM, 120 GB HD, Red Hat 8.0
Windows Stats: 2.0 Ghz, 256MB RAM, 40GB HD, Windows XP Home

 

[lobo20]

Yes...you can only remote desktop to a XP Pro computer unfortunately. VNC doesn't work too well with XP unless you turn of fast-user switching and remote administration.

I believe the easiest thing for you to do is "Remote Assistance". This is done through your grandfather emailing you an invitation and you accepting it. Rem. Assist can also be done through MSN Messenger.

Of course, you can always upgrade....

Good luck