[HezMah19]

Ok, I am looking for a way to control my Family's Mac's from afar, as it is on the Sunshine Coast, and I am on the Gold Coast...200Km's away.

My setup will be:

MacBook Pro > NETGEAR Router > Telstra Broadband Modem >> Intarwebs! >> Optus Broadband Modem > Airport Express > Power Mac G5 / iBook / iMac

Now, I cant seem to find clear instruction on how to make this work, what ports I need to open etc. and am hoping you guys can help.

Issue is, I'm living and working on the Gold Coast, whilst my parents are on the Sunshine Coast and are computer iliterate, and need me to do almost everything, and thats rather hard to do from a distance.

Apple Remote Desktop Client (Ver3) is installed on the G5, and my parents computers (an iMac G5 and an iBook).

I figured someone on AppleNova who is much more network savvy then myself would be able to help

Thanks in Advance

[chucker]

First, I wouldn't use the ARD client. It's very useful when you have the commercial Remote Desktop software, but as a free VNC client, it's not too great. OSXvnc is a lot better. (You could use both at the same time, assuming you set them to different ports, but anyways.)

Second, is the AirPort Express doubling as the router? I.e., are all machines directly connected through that, and the AirPort Express is directly connected to the modem? Does the AirPort Express handle the connecting and disconnecting, i.e. control the modem? If so, that's where you set up the port forwarding. You'll need to forward three different ones, one for each of the machines. I haven't used the AirPort Admin Utility in a long time and don't know whether it allows the external and internal port to differ for forwarding rules.

If it doesn't, i.e. if the two ports must be the same, you will want to edit OSXvnc's configuration to match the port. Then you can simply edit the port forwarding rules as follows:

(your external IP address):59001 -> (your Power Mac G5's IP address):59001
(your external IP address):59002 -> (your Power Mac G5's IP address):59002
(your external IP address):59002 -> (your Power Mac G5's IP address):59002

If the ports may differ, you can alternatively set your OSXvnc to have the same port on all three, like this:

(your external IP address):59001 -> (your Power Mac G5's IP address):5900
(your external IP address):59002 -> (your iBook's IP address):5900
(your external IP address):59002 -> (your iMac's IP address):5900

Hope that helps.

[HezMah19]

Thanks for the Speedy reply chucker

The Modem ( Simmens SpeedStream 4200 ) controls the internet login, and also has controls to allow port forwarding, so I assume that this is where the Port Forwarding option should be enabled? Or should both the Airport and the modem have PF enabled?

thanks again

[chucker]

Originally Posted by jmahe19 The Modem ( Simmens SpeedStream 4200 ) controls the internet login, and also has controls to allow port forwarding,

Ah, good thing I double-checked then.

so I assume that this is where the Port Forwarding option should be enabled? Or should both the Airport and the modem have PF enabled?

Both. At the modem, you set up symmetric forwarding, like in the first list in my previous post, so it would look like this:

(your modem):59001 -> (your AirPort Express):59001
(your modem):59002 -> (your AirPort Express):59002
(your modem):59003 -> (your AirPort Express):59003

And then at the AirPort, you do what I said previously. Either

(your AirPort Express):59001 -> (your Power Mac G5):59001
(your AirPort Express):59002 -> (your iBook):59002
(your AirPort Express):59003 -> (your iMac):59003

or, if possible in the AirPort's settings,

(your AirPort Express):59001 -> (your Power Mac G5):5900
(your AirPort Express):59002 -> (your iBook):5900
(your AirPort Express):59003 -> (your iMac):5900.

[HezMah19]

Ok, on the Modem's Port Forwarding panel, I get the following options:

Select by Service:
>Telnet
>FTP
>HTTP
>SNMP
>SMTP
>PPTP
>Domain

OR

Select Protocol:
>TCP
>UDP
>ICMP
>GRE
and TCP/UDP Port(s) [ blank ] - [ blank ]

Then the options:
Redirect selected protocol/service to this router
Redirect selected protocol/service to IP Address: [ 10.1.1.3 ]

-=-=-=-=-

Thanks again for putting up with my ignorance

[chucker]

Select by protocol, TCP, ports 59001 to 59003, redirect to the AirPort Express (if it lets you select it; otherwise use its IP address).