ARD to remote Mac - How to get IP Address?

Hi Phil -

A useful website is www.whatismyip.com. There are other more technical ways of getting this info, but this should be easy for her.

Is your Mom connected to a router/firewall or directly to the Comcast cable modem? If she is not connected directly to the cable modem, an additional step of router 'port forwarding' will be required.

Hope this helps-
Eric


MacBook Pro, iMac Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Set up a free DynDNS account for her and install the free DNSupdate client which will automatically take care of updating the IP number.

You can then easily find her Mac with the chosen name which you enter into ARD.

MacLemon

Hi there,

May seem like a silly question, but do you need to install the DNSupdate to the other person's computer to which you are trying to get the IP info from? I've signed up for www.dysDNS.com, assigned a host name, but when the other computer changes IPs (which is everyday sigh), it doesn't update me as it states it's supposed to do. Can someone shed some light on this please? Thanks.

I use IPMenu
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/14221

Install it on your mom's iMac and set preferences to email you when the IP changes. I've noticed if no email account is active in Mail.app, IPMenu fails to send out notifications although those notifcations are sent from IPMenu and not the email account in Mail. Perhaps it uses the smtp server address i'm not sure.

Whose IP is dynamic? So you have one single guess left where to install your dynDNS software. 🙂


Of course it is the target machine. It is the only one that can easily find out it's own IP.
MacLemon

I haven't purchased ARD (yet) so this might be a simplistic question...

With DynDNS on the client's Mac, I'll be able to easily ascertain her IP address when neeed.

But if I get her set up with DynDNS, can I configure ARD to look for her Mac via a domain name rather than via IP address? That is, will ARD resove the IP address itsself, transparently? That would be most convenient!

Thanks!

-- Jim

Yes. When you enter the "setup" information for the computer you have the option of entering either an IP address or a hostname. If you enter the hostname, ARD will "prefer" that value and the resolution will happen naturally.

I use a program called Wimp. You set it up on the computer you want the IP from and it will send an e-mail to you whenever the IP changes. It defaults to 1 hour but I changed it to 1 minute. Nothing happens if the IP doesn't change.

Look on macupdate for it.

I just set my mom up. She's 78. I'd be happy to help if you want to catch me. Drop me a note at bmacton@mac.com