I have Cox Cable as my ISP. Cox says they use DHCP and can not provide one, however, reading the Lion Server set-up instructions, it says to make sure you have a static ip address for your vpn (vpn is my main use).
iMac & Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.5)
If Cox won't give you a static address, there's nothing you can do about that, except perhaps to upgrade to business-class service. However, you don't need a static address just for VPN. Sign up with a dynamic DNS provider such as dyndns.org. You'll need to install a client to keep the record updated, or your router might have one built in.
Thanks for the prompt reply but let me expand a bit. First, I've owned Macs forever and I'm familiar with them but this is my first experience with using/setting up a server. I travel overseas half of every month and need a vpn back to my home computer.
My Cox Modem is connected to my Apple Time Capsule which creates my local network. Since I didn't give you this information to begin with, does that change the reply above? Do I still need a dynamic DNS provider like dyndns.org and does their free version suffice for my needs? Or can I set up Time Capsule to support a vpn?
Sorry for the simplistic response but this server set-up is confusing me a little.
Thanks
You need a way to find the external IP address of your gateway from anywhere. That's what dynamic DNS provides. As for whether the free service would meet your needs, you'd have to decide that for yourself from the information on the DynDNS site. There are other dynamic DNS providers as well.
How do I set up a static IP with Cox Cable?
