What would be the simplest way to view and take control over the internet?

Question

Hi All:
Can some one tell me what would be the best and simplest way to connect from my laptop to another laptop through the internet?
I have DYNdns running on the second laptop and have a host name assigned to that system for it to update the IP since the system uses different internet connections. The services that I would like to be able to have are the viewing and controlling of the system. I've read some where in this NG that if I have a copy of ARD admin. installed on that system also, it would be one way to do it... can some one verify this and please let me know if there are any specific settings I need to have on either one of the systems.
I can connect to the second laptop while in my home network with no problem and perform all tasks. when trying to connect through the internet.. the system shows offline .
Both systems are identical in hardware an software, Intel 2.16, 2G's RAM, OS X ver 10.5.2 all up to date and ARD 3.2
Yes, I'm new to ARD and yes I'm searching the NG and the net. but I figure it doesn't hurt to ask since time is limited.
All help greatly appreciated ..
TIA
Oscar A.

Answer 1

To be able to connect to a workstation from outside it's network, the ports that ARD uses must be open on both ends of the connection. ARD uses ports 3283 and 5900 so those must be open.
If your workstations get their addresses from an NAT device rather than being "real", the ports also need to be forwarded in the router to the workstation's internal IP address. ARD uses port 3283 for the reporting and updating function, so if your Macs are getting their IP addresses through NAT, since you can only forward a port to a single workstation, you can only get reports, push package/files to etc. for a single workstation.
ARD uses the VNC protocol for observation and control, though, and there are a range of IP addresses for that protocol, starting with 5900. ARD uses 5900 by default, so that port would be forwarded to the first workstation. You would, I believe, need to install VNC servers on the systems (since the ARD client cannot listen on any port other than 5900 while VNC servers can be set for other ports such as 5901, 5902, etc. You would then forward 5901 to the second workstation (and on to 5902, 5903, etc.). You can then use the following information:
Remote Desktop 2: How to specify a port number for a VNC client
to connect.
The only other options are: 1) to run the ARD administrator on a workstation on the network, and then take control of that system from outside, either via VNC or another copy of ARD, or 2) set up a virtual private network (VPN) so that when you connect from outside, your admin system is officially part of the local network.
Hope this helps.