vnc setup like gotomypc.com?

[Sean Kamath]

On Aug 4, 2007, at 7:31 AM, Bruce Pennypacker wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> As the techie in my extended family I end up fielding a lot of  
> support calls
> from different family members.  I was thinking it'd be nice to be  
> able to
> remotely access their machines from home if the need arises and in  
> general
> VNC would be perfect for this. My only concern is poking holes  
> necessary to
> enable this since it would involve dealing with different routers &
> firewalls, DHCP, etc.  I was thinking that a service similar to
> gotomypc.comwould make more sense.  Both they and I would connect to a
> proxy server of
> some sort that would establish the vnc connection from my machine  
> to their
> machine.  I have a linux box with a static IP that I can set up as  
> a proxy
> but I'm not familiar with any tools to do what I envision.  Are  
> there any
> tools available like this?  Some sort of app that I can install on  
> a linux
> server that one person could log in as a "server" and one as a  
> "client" to
> establish a vnc connection between the two?
>
> I know how to set up NAT routes, dynamic hostnames, etc. but I  
> really don't
> want to go that way.  I'm specifically interested in whether or not  
> such an
> application as I described exists.

Open a port on *your* router, then forward that port to your machine  
you use VNC to control their machines.  Have them start vnc and  
connect to a "listening client" and point to your machine (if  
necessary, a dyndns hostname).

Then you never need to configure their routers/nat/firewall, and it  
always "just works".

For a while, I dropped shortcuts or whatever they're called on PCs  
(pifs?), that did winvnc4.exe -connect "my ipaddr", labeled them "get  
help" and would tell my mother "click on get help". :-)

Sean