Administrating from afar... Please help.

Question

Hello, I am going to be giving an old iMac to a family member who is not very tech savvy, I know they are going to have issues (mostly dumb questions that are easy to fix), so I have installed Remote Desktop on my Mac and have it set up to work with the iMac. Everything works fine on my local network where we all have static internal IP addresses and Remote Desktop can scan for the computer. But when I give him this computer, it will no longer be on our network and will have an always changing external IP address. So how do I set up Remote Desktop to always be able to connect to this iMac? I assume I would have to do something with a DNS service, but what? Anyone want to give me some steps in setting this up?
--Thanks so much!

Answer 1

Benjamin,
I do this for my mom who resides in SC while I live in Montana. That is pretty "afar," too. <G> But it works well.
You did not say what kind of iMac you are giving your family member. If it is one of the old fruit colored jobs and does not run Tiger you may have some Version issues if you run ARD 3.x at home and there's only has 2.x etc. Other's can speak to that since I do not have that problem. Matter of fact, a simple search on this support site will give you loads of info on those compatibility issues.
If they do not enjoy a static ip address, you have several choices. I use ipmenu by Loopware. You may download it here: http://www.loopware.com/ipmenu/download.php . Install it on their computer, and, in the program preferences, I advise you to activate the icon in the command bar as well as to √ the box for email notification when the ip address changes. Once checked you put your email address in the box. This way, if and when their ip address changes, you get a nice email from loopware with the new ip address. Also, if they were to call and tell you need help, but you cannot connect, you can have them click on the command icon at the top of their computer screen and tell you their IP address. It will list their External ip address and any DHCP assigned address. You will need the external address to put into ARD. Finally, to control computers across the internet you will have to make sure their router pass commands thru the following ports:
5900 TCP Observe and Control
5900 UDP Send screen, share screen
3283 TCP Reporting
3283 UDP Everything else
22 TCP Encrypted file transfer, observe, and control (via SSH tunnel)
For full control using all the ARD features port forwarding will have to be activated on your router and theres, otherwise, when you connect, you will see VNC on and only be able to observe their computer and control their mouse. ARD, however, has loads of other features but they will not work if all these ports are not open on both ends of the internet tunnel.
Goodluck,
NPSRangerDoc