VNC Mocha Lite, DynDNSm, iPhone setup for accessing Mac outside network

Question

Not sure if this will help but it took some trial and error to get right. This is to help those who want to use the Mocha VNC program to remotely access their Mac from outside their own network. Hope it helps.
1. First you need to get a domain name (free) from www.dyndns.org. Simply go there and sign up for a free account and pick your domain name (such as joeblow.homeip.net)
2. Goto the Mac you want to remotely control. In System Prefs goto the "Sharing" menu. Make sure to click on the "Screen Sharing" option (no need for Remote Login/Mgmt, etc). Then click on "Computer Settings...". Check on the second option "VNC viewers may control screen with password:" Then type in a password and hit "Okay"
3. Open Airport Utility
4. First you need to ensure the Mac retains a static IP address within your network if you access the network wirelessly. Your router may change it from time to time, so just to be sure, make it static. You do this by selecting your router then 'Manual Setup'.
5. Click on the "Internet" option at the top of the setup dialog box, then select the "DHCP" tab.
6. In the "DHCP Reservations", hit the "+" sign below.
7. Type in the description, for me this is simply the name of the Mac we are setting up, you can name this whatever you like.
8. Be sure the "MAC Address" is checked and hit "Continue".
9. Type in the MAC address, you can get this from the "Network Utility" utility found in the Applications/Utility folder and in the dropdown box be sure you select "en1". You do not have to type in the ":", it will automatically be done. Then in the "IPv4 Address" box type in the IP address you want to set as static for the Mac. For me, i simply used the address my router had currently given it, 10.0.1.197, but it can be 10.0.1.19x. for most who aren't connecting to more than 10 computers this won't be a problem. Hit "Done", you have not made the IP address for the Mac static.
10. Now you have to 'port forward' a port on the router so that when a call is made from outside the network on a certain port, it is forwarded to this Mac. Click the "Advanced" icon at the top of the Airport Utility application. Then click the "Port Mapping" tab.
11. click the "+" button below.
12. In the first two boxes, type in "5900" (if you add other Macs, make it 5901, 5902, etc, etc, each Mac must have a unique "Public" UDP and TCP port). Then in the private IP address type in the IP address you just reserved for the Mac. In the two bottom "Private" port text boxes type in "5900" (this is the same for ALL Macs...for whatever reason, on the Mac, VNC only seemed to work on port 5900). When done, hit 'continue'.
13. Type in a name for this port mapping - I used "VNC - {name of computer}" and then hit "Done"
14. Click the "Update" button at the bottom right of the Airport Utility app to update your router with these new settings. That's all you need for the Mac.
15. After installing VNC Mocha Lite on your iPhone. Open up the app and hit the "Menu" button, the "Edit Connections". Select one of the empty 6 connections.
16. In the "VNC Server IP Address" type the dyndns.org name you reserved "joeblow.homeip.net".
17. In the "VNC Server Port" box type 5900 (or 5901, 5902 etc, for subsquent computers)
18. In the "VNC Password" box type in the password you created in step 2 above
19. Give it a name in the next text box, whatever you like
20. Be sure the Mac OS X server is "On" as well as all the other options.
21. That's it, you should be set.
Hopefully this helps others.

Answer 1

Thanks a million, Dave and John, for the very helpful responses and suggestions. I now understand that with OS X 10.5.2 there is a "built-in" VNC-like server, thus there is no need to run Vine Server.app; I also checked, it is NOT in the Login list (under Accounts), hence does not automatically load in the background.
One puzzlement and one question:
The Puzzlement: the Password necessary for connection seems to be my regular password to log in to my Mac as a user. Whatever password I set under System Preferences>Sharing>ScreenSharing>Computer Settings>Password seems to have absolutely no influence on my being able to login with my iPhone with the (stored on the iPhone) "regular" password. that is to say, no matter what password I set on the MAC, I am not being asked and the iPhone connects and displays the screen. Go figure! ???
The Question: how do I do a port forward on the Airport Extreme BaseStation?
Using the Airport Utility.app (vers. 7.3.2)>Manual Setup>Advanced tab>PortMapping tab I click the plus button and then I am at a loss what Service to choose (Personal File Sharing, I assume?) and what numbers/digits I need to fill into these fields. Any advice appreciated.
I will follow-up on the dyndns.org advice.
Hope that you can help.
Thanks and cheers,
Veit