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bjf123
We Want... A Shrubbery
Premium Member
join:2000-02-11
Hamilton, OH

bjf123

Premium Member

Screen Sharing and Remote Access

We have a few iMacs in the office that have a second user account on them that someone uses to connect remotely to access our ERP system. Whoever got this originally set up is no longer around and we'd like to add it to another system for another user. The one user doing it now simply starts Screen Sharing on his computer and selects the computer to connect to, which appears with our public IP address and then a port number like xxx.xxx.xxx.xx:xxxxx. I'm not sure what to do to configure either system. I think I just need to enable screen sharing on the user account for the iMac in the office. No idea what needs to be done on the remote computer, which could be either a Mac or a Windows laptop. Any ideas?
Daemon
Premium Member
join:2003-06-29
Washington, DC

Daemon

Premium Member

Here is a relatively good tutorial: »osxdaily.com/2012/10/10/ ··· ng-os-x/

The iMac is probably showing up on the connecting computer not via network auto discovery but because the client saves the list of computers it has previously connected to. On a Mac, you can hit the "+" button to the right of the address field in the connect to server dialog to save the name of the server you typed in.

You can control which users can connect remotely in the Sharing system preferences pane. By default, all administrators can connect. It's easy to set it up so all user can connect, or you can add users or groups manually to the whitelist.

bjf123
We Want... A Shrubbery
Premium Member
join:2000-02-11
Hamilton, OH

bjf123

Premium Member

That tutorial is showing how to connect to another Mac that's still on the same network. In our case, the computer wanting to connect in is outside our network, but is doing so via our public IP and a specific port number. That's what I'm not sure about configuring.

BellBoy
Steven Paul Jobs 1955-2011
Premium Member
join:2001-02-20
Los Angeles, CA

BellBoy to bjf123

Premium Member

to bjf123
One of the easier ways that I've found is to just use iChat/Messages. You can trigger screen sharing from there. If there's any issues with that, you'll have to make sure the proper ports are open in both routers to allow the traffic through.

Thinkdiff
MVM,
join:2001-08-07
Bronx, NY

Thinkdiff to bjf123

MVM,

to bjf123
Is this a small business? Do you have control over your internet router?

You'll have to create port forwarding rules in your router from some port, say 5910, to the Mac's LAN IP address and port 5900 (Screen Sharing).

Then the remote user could connect to it by using Screen Sharing and entering yourpublicip:5910.

Alternatively, if you are running Mavericks on the existing Mac, you should be able to have multiple users login simultaneously, each with their own desktop. No need to have multiple Macs for multiple users.

bjf123
We Want... A Shrubbery
Premium Member
join:2000-02-11
Hamilton, OH

bjf123

Premium Member

Depends on how you define small business. We've got about about 25 Mac workstations running Snow Leopard, Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks. We can't upgrade everyone to Mavericks due to a key piece of software some of our users need that is not yet compatible with it. The one person that I know is connecting using screen sharing is using a strange port number to connect. We do have an outside consulting company that helps with some things, but I don't think they were involved in that setup.

buckingham
Doylstown Pa
Premium Member
join:2005-07-17
Buckingham, PA

buckingham to Thinkdiff

Premium Member

to Thinkdiff
Thinkdiff is correct...the port mapping has to be done at the router/firewall so that incoming requests to connect behind the firewall go to where they need to get to.

Thinkdiff
MVM,
join:2001-08-07
Bronx, NY

Thinkdiff to bjf123

MVM,

to bjf123
You need to be talking to the person that handles configuring your router or firewall, unless you want to get into complicated tunneling/VPN setups to get around it.

Another possibility (if your networks supports UPnP/NAT-PMP) is using Back To My Mac with an iCloud account. However, I suspect this may not be supported on your network.

If you don't mind the remote user taking full control over the Mac, other remote sharing solutions may work, such as Teamviewer or GoToMyPC. AFAIK, these programs have mechanisms to bypass NAT without opening ports.

bjf123
We Want... A Shrubbery
Premium Member
join:2000-02-11
Hamilton, OH

bjf123

Premium Member

We do have one user who connects to our receptionist's iMac using GoToMyPC, but you're right, they get full control over the Mac, so they only do it in the afternoons when she's not here. I'll have to get with our outside tech support company to get the right port and internal IP.