Remote Computer Management - dynamic IP problem

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Level 1

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Remote Computer Management - dynamic IP problem

Hi There,

I'm new to ARD and networking so bear with me,

The Problem: Our company has a number of remote clients that we need to be able to control and service on a regular basis. None of them are located in the local network, and they reside in various clients of ours on any kind of network you can imagine (Firewalls, Dynamic IP's, etc.).

In the past we've used HamachiX and Logmein (but HamachiX is now discontinued) as our solution to keeping track of these elusive computers, and I've tried unsuccessfully to port us over to ARD to manage these systems. ARD seems to work great until the ip changes.

What are some options for us to track these dynamic ip's and do we need any 3rd party software installed either on the Admin computer or Remote clients to make this work?

We would need everything to be Snow Leopard compatible in the near future as well.

Thanks for any advice!

D

iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Sep 21, 2009 12:47 PM

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Answer 1

5thwall

Level 1

20 points

Sep 22, 2009 10:04 AM in response to Barkstudios

Set each computer up with its own unique domain at DynDns.com. Each computer will need to run their auto-updating daemon which updates the dynamic IP on DynDns server. You shouldn't need to change your current port-forwarding setup.

There's tons of info on DynDns out there, so it shouldn't be difficult setting it up.

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Answer 2

Sep 22, 2009 10:17 AM in response to 5thwall

A dynamic dns wouldn't necessarily work all the time, as the appropriate ports would not be open and forwarded on whatever router the clients are behind, therfore a connection would not be possible.

The best bet is to setup a VPN to your office, that way all clients could connect, and you could see them on your network and admin them just as they were in the office.

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Answer 3

Sep 22, 2009 11:43 AM in response to Templeton Peck

Thanks for the info,

I did try to use Dyndns before but it seemed to work only about half the time.

Any suggestions on which VPN's to use?

Like I mentioned before - HamachiX was working quite well for us, but with is discontinuation we have to get something else for the future:

I've checked out and downloaded Remobo, is that a decent one? (I like the price)

Also I take it with VPN they will all have startup scripts to auto login on a power cycle? This is pretty essential to us as the clients don't have access to the boxes themselves (except to restart it)

Cheers

Dan

Message was edited by: Bark Studios

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Answer 4

Sep 22, 2009 12:47 PM in response to Bark Studios

Like I mentioned before - HamachiX was working quite well for us, but with is discontinuation we have to get something else for the future:

Over on the Hamachi forums, there's a new client called Hamachi Sidekick that seems to be going quite well. Check it out here:

https://forums.hamachi.cc/viewtopic.php?t=19928

Any suggestions on which VPN's to use?

We use a Cisco VPN, but any one should do. There's one included with Mac OS X Server if you're running that. VPNs use industry standard protocols, so it shouldn't matter which one you use.

I take it with VPN they will all have startup scripts to auto login on a power cycle?

To auto-login, I set some of clients to do so using Shimo at shimoapp.com

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Answer 5

Sep 24, 2009 10:42 AM in response to Templeton Peck

Just so I'm totally clear here:

We can use a central computer to use VPN to be able to get the ip or dns of our offsite computers.

Then use ARD to manage those clients and update software, run maintenance, etc.

Thanks for all the help

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Answer 6

Sep 24, 2009 1:24 PM in response to Bark Studios

We can use a central computer to use VPN

Yes, but it would be more secure to use a router with a configurable VPN or a dedicated VPN network appliance.

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