hertenberger.co.za

The new kid on the block:

Over the weekend, I finally managed to get remote access to katana working via the Internet. The procedure is surprisingly simple to implement and may be reproduced for your own benefit at virtually no cost. Of course, the target system needs to be powered on and connected via a broadband or similar connection. There is little difference whether your home system’s operating is Linux, Windows or Mac OS, provided your router has a dynamic DNS function. If there is no dynamic DNS function built into the router, software utilities may be used to achieve the same effect.

I have a Fedora system connected to an iBurst modem via a Netgear wireless router. The idea is to initially provide ftp and ssh from anywhere to the Fedora system, provided that an Internet connection is available. Though the uplink speed on iBurst is atrocious at best, tests I’ve performed indicate a reasonable experience – overall, I was pleasantly surprised.

The problem with most ISP‘s is that fixed IP addresses are never assigned to your connecting router unless a fair bit of cash is paid to them for the privilege. A fixed IP address may seem to be the only way you’ll ever find your home system on the wide Interweb, since the ISP changes the IP address assigned to your router on purpose at certain intervals. To combat that, a dynamic DNS service is required, and a number of these services are available. The dynamic DNS service provides a fixed host name to which the current IP address assigned by your ISP is linked. When the IP address changes, a short period of time may elapse until the router or software utility you are using contacts the service to update the IP address assigned to the host name. Since your access to the system takes place using the host name, there’s no need to know the IP address at any specific point in time.

First off, go to the DynDNS site and register a domain name. Registration is free and the host name will be reserved for you provided that some form of network activity takes place for that host name in a certain time period. Once registered as a user, the setup process for a new host name is quick and easy. DynDNS allows you to select a prefix and provides a multitude of suffixes that are appended to that host name.

All you are required to enter is the prefix for the host name, then select a suffix from the list of available names. The simple form automatically detects the originating IP address.

Hey presto! With the host name registered, the next step is to provide the mapping of the present IP address to that host name on a regular basis.

That’s something we’ll cover in part two.