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What's my IP?
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Mac Elite
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Aug 23, 2003, 10:59 AM
 
I have an ADSL Modem combined Ethernet hub.

It works fine, and allows me to have my little home network, file sharing, and to have each Mac connect to the internet.

My IP is dynamic, and my ISP settings are stored in the modem.

However, I'm too stupid to figure out how to access my computer remotely, either via file-sharing, Appleshare, or a Carracho server...

(I need some database files sent to me, and the damn thing has grown bigger than my mailbox at 72MB ...)

Can anyone heyulp?

Thanks!
     
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Aug 23, 2003, 11:31 AM
 
The answer to the "What is my IP?" can be had at WhatIsMyIP.com .

However, chances are your fancy ADSL modem is also acting as a Router with NAT (network address translation), so to get an inbound connection you'd need to configure it for "port mapping" so FTP connections (ports 21-22) were relayed to a specific Mac on your local network. How to do that depands on you ADSL modem (e.g., with a LinkSys it's on the Port Map web page; with an Airport Base Station the Port Mapping tab of the Airport Admin Utility...) You'll need to consult the modem manual (or at least give the model number in case someone else has the same model and knows how.)
     
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Aug 23, 2003, 01:02 PM
 
www.whatsmyip.org also gives IP address and other handy stuff. Very useful.
     
Mac Elite
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Aug 23, 2003, 01:27 PM
 
Originally posted by car1son:
The answer to the "What is my IP?" can be had at WhatIsMyIP.com .

...
You'll need to consult the modem manual (or at least give the model number in case someone else has the same model and knows how.)
Thanks. It's a Connexant 'Mega Speed' ;-)

http://www.farina1.com/megaspeed/

I feared it might be something as scary as 'port forwarding...'
     
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Aug 23, 2003, 01:32 PM
 
Originally posted by PeterClark2002:
www.whatsmyip.org also gives IP address and other handy stuff. Very useful.
Yes, that's a cool site, but where is 'the other stuff'?
     
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Aug 24, 2003, 06:07 AM
 
Originally posted by booboo:
Yes, that's a cool site, but where is 'the other stuff'?
http://www.whatsmyip.org/more.php

     
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Aug 24, 2003, 03:41 PM
 
(You know, what you want to do would be a lot easier with a common drop-box server - e.g. an iDisk or Yahoo! BriefCase.)

It looks like that ADSL Router indeed uses Network Address Translation (NAT) services in the ADSL Router (which is generally a good thing for sharing a home network.) With the default configuration, you are apparently using DHCP to assign an IP address to each Mac or PC in your home as it connects to the ADSL Router. This means each time your Mac wakes up to boots it can get a different IP address (seen only on your local network - the Router presents an entirely different IP Address to the outside WAN/internet, which is the one WhatIsMyIP.com shows you.)

Your ADSL Router is helping you share your internet service among all the Macs and PCs it's connected to by translating the local IP addresses of each Mac/PC to the external IP address assigned by your ISP. (To see this distinction, go to the Network System Preference pane, and look at your Mac's current IP address on the TCP/IP tab and compare that to the address WhatIsMyIP.com sees. All the Macs and PCs on your local network are known by that same external (WAN) IP address on the internet, but each has its own unique IP address on the local network.) The ADSL Router performs this Network Address Translation by keeping track of every connection your Mac (or PC) opens. It swaps the IP address for each connection so traffic is always routed to the correct Mac or PC.

The complexity arises when some external internet site tries to connect to your Mac (such as happens when running an FTP or web server on the Mac, gaming, or file sharing). When the ADSL Router receives the connection request from the internet, it doesn’t know which Mac or PC on the local network to pass the connection on to; so it gets dropped.

To rectify that, you need to tell the ADSL Router which Mac gets each incoming connection, based on the connection's port number. You'll need to assign the Mac that will support FTP server a static IP address (so you have the same IP address all the time) and then tell the ADSL Router to pass arriving connections for the FTP ports on to the static IP address you assigned the Mac with the FTP server.

(Caution: Keep in mind in all the following I just scanned your manual and have never used this Router. I filled in my own assumptions. Obviously I haven't walked through this for your modem or ISP. Your results may vary.)

Open the Network System Preference on your OS X Mac.

On the "Location" pull-down, select "Edit Locations...". Then select your current Location name and click "Duplicate". Edit only the duplicate entry and it will be really easy to switch back to the old Location configuration if things don't work out.

On the TCP/IP tab, change the "Configure:" from "Using DHCP" to "Manually". Set your IP address to something unique and outside the range the ADSL Router is dynamical assigning, e.g. 10.0.0.100 (I picked this address because per the manual the default range of DHCP-assigned IP addresses allocated by the ADSL Router is in the range 10.0.0.3 to 10.0.0.14, in the DHCP section of LAN Configuration web page, manual section 5.3. This address should be outside the range of those addresses assigned by the ADSL Router's DHCP server) set the subnet mask to 255.255.255.0, and the Router to 10.0.0.2 (That's the default address the ADSL Router offers on the local network, according to the manual.) Enter at least one DNS (Name server) address your ISP provides. Click Apply, Disconnect and re-Connect your Internet Connection, wait a minute, and make sure your connection to the internet still works. (If not, switch back to the old Location to restore your previous settings.)

Then configure the ADSL Router: (Remember I'm suggesting this from a scan of the manual only, not actual experience). Launch your browser and visit the ADSL router Admin with the URL http://10.0.0.2 (per 5.1 on the manual); enter the userID and password.

Click LAN under Configuration (left side), (per 5.3 of manual). Under DHCP server examine the values for "User-defined Start Address" and "User define End Address". The manual says the defaults are 10.0.0.3 - 10.0.0.14. (The address you assigned to the Mac, 10.0.0.100, should be outside this range.)

Set the port mappings. Click "Virtual Server" under Configuration. (per 5.5 of the manual): Fill in the line with the next available "ID" number (e.g., 2) and set both public and private port to 20, pick the TCP box, enter 10.0.0.100 (the Mac's IP address) as the Host IP Address, the click "Add this setting." Repeat for port 21: Fill in the line with the next available "ID" number (e.g., 3) and set both public and private port to 21, pick the TCP box, enter the same the Host IP Address, the click "Add this setting" again.

If I read the manual right and made the right assumptions, your ADSL Router should now relay incoming connections for an FTP Server to the Mac. (I didn't see anything about needing to reset the modem for the changes to take effect.)

Now you need to turn on FTP Services on the Mac.

ALL YOUR Mac's ACCOUNTS SHOULD HAVE GOOD, HARD-TO-GUESS, NON-DICTIONARY PASSWORDS. Your FTP server is going to be visible to everyone on the internet. There are unscrupulous and malicious people out there who randomly probe around looking for FTP servers and try to guess account passwords to get into your system. Don't leave your system wide open to them, or you'll become a server for any number of unethical and illegal activities.

Now on the Mac you can turn on FTP Access (Sharing pane of System Preferences), Services tab. When you click Start for that, it should automatically open ports 20-21 in your Firewall, but it doesn't hurt to check the Firewall tab to make sure FTP Access is checked as an exception there.

An external system should be able to connect via FTP to your system using the IP address given by WhatIsMyIP.com. (A system in your home would use the static IP address 10.0.0.100, which wouldn't test the router config.) The FTP userID and password will be the ID and password of any user account account on your system. If the person connecting isn't you, I suggest loggin on as Admin and using the Accounts System Preferences to make a new, non-admin user account for that person, giving it a good password, and telling them what it is.

Hope that helps.
     
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Aug 25, 2003, 07:47 AM
 
Thanks for that most comprehensive reply. I think I'll be able to figure it out from that. Thanks again.
     
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Aug 25, 2003, 12:19 PM
 
According to the forum server, it's 81.128.8.63.

tooki
     
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Aug 25, 2003, 07:34 PM
 
Any place to find an IP address from a domain name?
Al PowerBook 17" ~ Leopard ~ iPhone-3G-8Gb
     
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Aug 25, 2003, 08:14 PM
 
Originally posted by stevesnj:
Any place to find an IP address from a domain name?
If you mean the IP that a domain resolves to, you can just ping the domain to get the IP.
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