Tunnelling through university firewall

[SunShock]

I apologize in advance for the fact that what I want may not be possible, and for good reason. I am mainly posting to find out if I can do this.

So here's my setup: I've got a system behind a university firewall/routing system. It has a private IP on the internal network. I shall refer to this as system A. Needless to say, I cannot change any of the configuration on this router. System B is a computer at home (80 miles away) behind a standard DSL router. This I can configure to forward ports or DMZ, so access isn't really an issue here. Note that system B isn't necessarily always on, while system A generally stays on. Both are running Windows XP SP1a. A is running Pro and B is running Home, but B can be upgraded.

What I want to do: Primarily I want to be able to remotely control A from B. Secondary concern would be to access shares or servers (FTP) running on A from B.

What I've tried:
1.) Hamachi (

http://www.hamachi.cc)

- This is a wonderful idea. The issues are that it is in beta still, and there is a dependency on a third-party server.

2.) chownat (chownat.lucidx.com) - The issue here is that it is made by a single person and support/future development is shaky. Also, it requires that the server in essence initiates the connection.

To expand on the issue, I want it so that B initiates the connection and that all A has to do is listen and wait. Ideally, B could be any system anywhere (a system at a friend's house, for example), with OS constraints of course. What I basically want is a VPN or tunnel through a firewall that I can't necessarily configure. Is this possible?

 

[tazuk]

Have a look at LogMeIn.
I use the freebie version to control my home desktop from my laptop whilst at work. Home desktop is fully stealthed behind 2 firewalls (1 software, 1 hardware). Note that the freebie does not permit file transfer, but then there's always email for the smaller files.

HTH

TazUk

Blue-screening PCs since 1998

 

[SunShock]

Thanks for the tip and I will look into this software. I was actually looking more for something that would allow me to use software of my own choosing (Window Remote Desktop or VNC, perhaps) through the firewall. Also, I should clarify an issue with chownat. It is not that the server needs to initiate the connection so much as it is that A would need to know the IP address of B beforehand. Also, even without this, I could not get chownat to work through my firewall.