Setup Mocha VNC Lite with DynDns.org for remote access??

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
I am trying to remotely connect to my Macintosh while outside of my home network via my iPhone, using the newly released Mocha VNC Lite app released on the App Store last week...I can't seem to figure out what I am doing wrong and why I cannot get the connection to work properly, and I was hoping someone could give me a hand in figuring out what the problem might be...



I am trying to connect to my Leopard 10.5.4 desktop computer, on which I've enabled Remote Management in the Sharing System Preference Pane (not "Screen Sharing" for more technical reasons), and in the 'Computer Settings' options for Remote Management, I've entered in my chosen VNC password. +**Though I am not sure whether or not "Allow Access For All Users" has to be checked instead of what I currently have, which is "Only These Users..."+



I also have a paid account with dyndns.org with whom I've signed up for a Dynamic Domain Name Service.



I have also tried configuring my airport extreme to forward the necessary ports to my local desktop machine a couple different ways - I've tried using a random port between 30,000-50,000; and I've tried using the suggested port 5900, which is the default suggested by Mocha VNC Lite....I forwarded the ports mentioned to a static LAN IP address I've setup for computer...



...and for testing purposes, I have Leopard's firewall configured to "Allow All Incoming Connections"



Using VNC Lite, I entered in my Dynamic Domain Name into the 'VNC Server IP Address field (having tried a variety of alternate ways of doing so, such as - domainname.kicks-ass.net -- http://domainname.kicks-ass.net -- https://domainname.kicks-ass.net -- vnc://domainname.kicks-ass.net - vnc://domainname.kicks-ass.net:LAN-IP - etc.) ...and yes, name.kicks-ass.net is really one of the domain names they offer



In the VNC Server Port field I've entered in the port that I chose to forward in my airport extreme settings.



Finally I have "Mac OS Server" turned on, "Save Password" turned on, and "32-bit color mode" turned on...



Nothing I've been able to come up with has worked!!



Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated... Thanks!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    physguyphysguy Posts: 920member
    Couple of questions:



    1) Can you connect from a Leopard mac within your home network? (testing that Screen Sharing is working)



    2) Can you connect from a Leopard mac outside your network with vnc://domainname.kicks-ass.net? (This should work if port 5900 UDP and TCP are forwarded in the router. This works for me. I don't know if both UDP and TCP forwarding are required but I do it in any case)



    BTW I get 66.94.25.120 for this domain. Is that correct?
  • Reply 2 of 7
    m021478m021478 Posts: 71member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by physguy View Post


    Couple of questions:



    Quote:

    1) Can you connect from a Leopard mac within your home network? (testing that Screen Sharing is working)



    Yes...no problems at all using VNC Lite on my local network



    2) Can you connect from a Leopard mac outside your network with vnc://domainname.kicks-ass.net? (This should work if port 5900 UDP and TCP are forwarded in the router. This works for me. I don't know if both UDP and TCP forwarding are required but I do it in any case)



    Haven't tried to do that yet, but I will the next chance I get, and I'll keep you posted...



    BTW I get 66.94.25.120 for this domain. Is that correct?



    What domain are you referring to...are you talking about the "domainname.kicks-ass.net" I mentioned above? If so, I would have assume that other would have picked up on the fact that the "domainname" portion of the email address was a placeholder signifying that one's actual domain name would be inserted here....If you meant otherwise, then do tell...



    Anyone have any ideas that might save me the trouble of testing with my Laptop first?



    Thanks!
  • Reply 3 of 7
    physguyphysguy Posts: 920member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by m021478 View Post


    What domain are you referring to...are you talking about the "domainname.kicks-ass.net" I mentioned above? If so, I would have assume that other would have picked up on the fact that the "domainname" portion of the email address was a placeholder signifying that one's actual domain name would be inserted here....If you meant otherwise, then do tell...



    Anyone have any ideas that might save me the trouble of testing with my Laptop first?



    Thanks!



    FYI domainname.kicks-ass.net is in use at the IP listed previously. Wasn't sure it was a placeholder or not so did nslookup on it
  • Reply 4 of 7
    m021478m021478 Posts: 71member
    that was a coincidence...it wasn't my dynamic domain name though...just a placeholder
  • Reply 5 of 7
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,310moderator
    Is your dynamic domain up to date with the IP of your home network? Some routers have a setting in them that will automatically update your domain to your current IP. To check it's working just now, you can use your actual IP.



    If you type in whatismyip into the Safari url bar, it should resolve to www.whatismyip.com and show you your external IP. You should be able to use that IP with port 5900 externally.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    m021478m021478 Posts: 71member
    I am running the DynDNS Daemon as a background process, and it updates frequently....and I've been checking repeatedly throughout the process of getting VNC Lite setup, and yes, it is currently up-to-date with my current IP address...



    Any thoughts???
  • Reply 7 of 7
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,310moderator
    So to summarize, you have the following:



    Home computer on Leopard with a static IP, firewall down and VNC sharing enabled with a password

    Your Airport router forwards your 5900 TCP and UDP ports to this static IP

    You have a domain that is updated to your external IP

    You have an iphone running Mocha VNC Lite

    and you are trying to connect externally using the domain name on VNC Lite using the password set up



    Are you using Edge/3G externally to connect or wifi? Maybe some mobile networks block the VNC protocol. They block access to certain websites at least.



    Have you tried the VNC control internally to check that all works? Using the 192.168.0.x or whatever IP over your home network.
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