Acces home network from remote PC to sync files

Hi There,

I have been looking for weeks for a solution that will enable me to sync my
work PC up with my home PC (files such as Doc's, pdf's & dwg's). I already
have sync software (active sync) that allows FTP address as sync routes,
therefore I installed Bulletproff FTP server & client, so that I could use
one as an FTP server, however I cannot get them to see each other. It works
over a LAN but not over the internet.

One problem is that both computers are behind routers (Work PC on work
network with router ---- Home PC on home network with router) and I don't
know how to get to the IP's behind the router IP so that I can see the
computers from the Internet using an FTP server.
Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way!

Can anyone help me with initially the IP address problem or even a whole new
solution?

THanks in Advance,

Tim.

Stingrae wrote:
> Hi There,
>
> I have been looking for weeks for a solution that will enable me to
> sync my work PC up with my home PC (files such as Doc's, pdf's &
> dwg's). I already have sync software (active sync) that allows FTP
> address as sync routes, therefore I installed Bulletproff FTP server
> & client, so that I could use one as an FTP server, however I cannot
> get them to see each other. It works over a LAN but not over the
> internet.
> One problem is that both computers are behind routers (Work PC on work
> network with router ---- Home PC on home network with router) and I
> don't know how to get to the IP's behind the router IP so that I can
> see the computers from the Internet using an FTP server.

You would need to set up a rule on your Router to forward incoming traffic
on a particular port to your PC.

--
Alex

Sig on old laptop - new one coming soon.
www.drzoidberg.co.uk www.ebayfaq.co.uk

In message <dupdrt$bml$(E-Mail Removed)>, Stingrae
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes


>One problem is that both computers are behind routers (Work PC on work
>network with router ---- Home PC on home network with router) and I don't
>know how to get to the IP's behind the router IP so that I can see the
>computers from the Internet using an FTP server.
>Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way!

Maybe. Home networks are a potential security problem because they don't
usually have the same defences that a corporate network has. And often
they use a dynamic IP address on the router which doesn't prevent remote
access but it does complicate it.

If you have a network admin person talk to them before you set this up.
There's no point putting a lot of effort into setting up FTP access if
the sysadmin blocks it as soon as they see someone using those ports.
Most of the corporate networks that I've worked on recently have FTP
blocked by default and only enabled for specific users and machines if
they can justify it.

There are alternatives. You can email the files via Gmail and get a
nifty 2Gb offsite backup facility thrown in. If you have free web space
from your ISP then you can use that as a staging point, although this
probably requires FTP too, and isn't very secure either.

On the whole I would avoid any solution that involves setting up a
server on a home network. It's a big security risk and if any of the
data is "personal" then your employer and you could be in big trouble if
your home system is hacked.



--
Bernard Peek
London, UK. DBA, Manager, Trainer & Author.

"Stingrae" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:dupdrt$bml$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi There,
>
> I have been looking for weeks for a solution that will enable me to sync
my
> work PC up with my home PC (files such as Doc's, pdf's & dwg's). I already
> have sync software (active sync) that allows FTP address as sync routes,
> therefore I installed Bulletproff FTP server & client, so that I could use
> one as an FTP server, however I cannot get them to see each other. It
works
> over a LAN but not over the internet.
>
> One problem is that both computers are behind routers (Work PC on work
> network with router ---- Home PC on home network with router) and I don't
> know how to get to the IP's behind the router IP so that I can see the
> computers from the Internet using an FTP server.
> Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way!
>
> Can anyone help me with initially the IP address problem or even a whole
new
> solution?

www.logmein.com

Marcus

On Thu, 9 Mar 2006 14:25:01 +0000 (UTC), Stingrae
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> I have been looking for weeks for a solution that will enable me to sync my
> work PC up with my home PC (files such as Doc's, pdf's & dwg's). I already
> have sync software (active sync) that allows FTP address as sync routes,
> therefore I installed Bulletproff FTP server & client, so that I could use
> one as an FTP server, however I cannot get them to see each other. It works
> over a LAN but not over the internet.
>
> One problem is that both computers are behind routers (Work PC on work
> network with router ---- Home PC on home network with router) and I don't
> know how to get to the IP's behind the router IP so that I can see the
> computers from the Internet using an FTP server.
> Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way!
>
> Can anyone help me with initially the IP address problem or even a whole new
> solution?

SSH, OpenVPN, PPTP (if you aren't too bothered about security, but
then you were thinking of FTP, so I guess not), IPsec, L2TP/IPsec,
.......

Take your pick - setup a secure tunnel and then just use whatever sync
software you want - the tunnel will solve all your address problems
(unless you are unlucky and find that the client and server already
have IP addresses on overlapping IP address ranges). Certificate
based authentication is more secure than passwords or PSKs, but it's
dead simple to create your own Certification Authority to sign the
public/private keys.

With Windows you may well have problems with L2TP/IPsec if you have a
NAT router.

In contrast to OpenVPN, SSH only forwards specific ports but used in
conjection with SFTP and, if your sync software insists on FTP, an
FTP/SFTP gateway, it will do what you want. You can even get Java
applets for the SSH client end if you want (so you don't really need
to 'install' any software on the client machine). Both will work via
a secure-HTTP proxy if required (which is handy for 'breaking out' of
many 'secure' corporate networks).

If you haven't permission from the company's IT people to do what you
are proposing, then you are best to hack the OpenVPN / SSH client and
change the "User-Agent" string to something like Firefox - no point in
being sneaky and then giving away what you are doing in the firewall /
proxy logs.

Zebedee does something similar to SSH and might be easier to set up
than finding an SSH server (assuming the server end is Windows - if
it's *nix there will almost certainly be an SSH server installed
already) but it is less flexible.

The choices are endless ... and there are plenty of solutions which
are either (a) totally free of charge or (b) free of charge for
non-commercial use. Try Google ...

On Thu, 09 Mar 2006 20:41:32 GMT, Marcus Fox
<please-reply-via-newsgroup-th@-i-posted-to.com> wrote:

> www.logmein.com

# Access & Control Your PC from Anywhere - FREE.
# Millions of users agree: LogMeIn is the fastest, easiest, most secure
# remote access solution available - 100% FREE. If you use a computer,
# why wouldn.t you have LogMeIn?

Well the reason why I wouldn't have it is because I'd wonder why it
was free.

# Go to www.LogMeIn.com and log in with your registered email and
# password.

# On the My Computers page, click on the Target PC you wish to access
# remotely:

# When prompted, enter the Target PC's Windows username and password
# (This is the same username and password you enter when you are
# actually sitting in front of the Target PC).

Ah - so logmein has everything it needs to access your PC all by
itself. It provides the SSL certificate to secure your connection to
its own website, gets the details of your account on your PC and
suplies the end-to-end SSL certificates. Hmm ....

Why not use the free service I'm about to launch instead? All I need
is for you to install an application I'll provide free of charge on
your PC, for you to allow my application access to the Internet if
your firewall blocks it,, your IP address, and your Windows login
username and password. Don't worry, it'll be totally secure because
(a) my server is totally unhackable, (b) I'm such an honest person
that it wouldn't even cross my mind to browse your PC for any
personnal information, and (c) I promise I'd never use my application
to mount a MITM attack to intercept your online banking details.

Maybe logmein are honest, maybe they are not. Who knows, but why
would anyone want to worry - there are solutions which do the same
thing *better*, without having to trust any 3rd party.

In article <dupdrt$bml$(E-Mail Removed)>
Stingrae <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Hi There,
>
> I have been looking for weeks for a solution that will enable me to sync my
> work PC up with my home PC (files such as Doc's, pdf's & dwg's). I already
> have sync software (active sync) that allows FTP address as sync routes,
> therefore I installed Bulletproff FTP server & client, so that I could use
> one as an FTP server, however I cannot get them to see each other. It works
> over a LAN but not over the internet.
>
> One problem is that both computers are behind routers (Work PC on work
> network with router ---- Home PC on home network with router) and I don't
> know how to get to the IP's behind the router IP so that I can see the
> computers from the Internet using an FTP server.
> Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way!
>
You need to forward the relevant WAN router ports to the LAN PCs that
you want to connect.

On 09 Mar 2006 22:20, Killa wrote:

>On Thu, 09 Mar 2006 20:41 GMT, Marcus Fox wrote:
>
>> www.logmein.com

># Access & Control Your PC from Anywhere - FREE.
># Millions of users agree: LogMeIn is the fastest, easiest, most secure
># remote access solution available - 100% FREE. If you use a computer,
># why wouldn.t you have LogMeIn?

>Well the reason why I wouldn't have it is because I'd wonder why it
>was free.

They have several "paid for" (subscription, so monthly payments)
options, which offer more features (FTP, and for tech support apps)
while the free version only offers remote control, but 10 home users
having it free might be enough to land them 10 lucrative (business)
accounts worth thousands a month. Works very well, IMO.

Presumably you've never used "Free Agent" or Eudora or any other
free "home" user application (where they have a paid-for "Pro" too) ?

On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 09:55:57 +0000, anon
<us-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Presumably you've never used "Free Agent" or Eudora or any other
> free "home" user application (where they have a paid-for "Pro" too) ?

There is a difference between a software application provided free of
charge and a service (with recurring costs for the supplier) provided
free of charge. Yes, I would (and do) use free software (although
rarely anything provided as a binary), although I do take precautions
just in case it isn't quite what it seems. A free service which has
everything it needs to compromise your security, is a different
matter. I haven't read any of logmein's T&Cs, but I assume that if
logmein screws up, or is compromised, then any resulting comprominse
of your machine is entirely at your risk - and that is a risk I
personnaly would not take, particularly when there are other free
solutions around that achieve the same (or better) without exposing
your system to any such 3rd party risks. YMMV.