configure linksys router for apple back to my mac access

Configure Linksys Router For Apple Back To My Access Mac Works Just

Configure Linksys Router For Apple Back To My Access Mac Works Just

One part of it handles automatic port mapping, and Back to My Mac works just fine with it. (The only difference Apple says that if youre using UPnP, updates about which BtMM-enabled Macs are available can take up to 15 minutes; theyre nearly instant with NAT-PMP.).

When Leopards Back to My Mac feature was first announced, it sounded great: A simple way to connect two Macs over the Internet to securely share screens and exchange files.

Sometimes, Back to My Mac really does work the way Apple says it should: you enable Back to My Mac on the two Macs you want to connect, the connection works seamlessly, and you see the other systems in the Finders sidebar under the Shared section.

But frequently, getting the service to function can be maddening.

Part of the problem is that Back to My Mac (BtMM, for short) has four critical requirements, without any one of which it wont work.

First, BtMM requires that your router have its own publicly reachable IP address.

This turns out to be one of the hardest requirements to meet.

A publicly accessible IP address is one that any computer on the Internet can reach, not just machines within a local area network (LAN).

Unfortunately, many Internet service providers (ISPs) assign only private addresses.

Computers using private addresses can make requests to the larger world, such as a Web browser requesting a Web page, but theyre generally unreachable from the outside injust as if they were behind a firewall.

This keeps interlopers from easily accessing your computers, but youre also blocked when you want to reach your machines remotely.

Finding out whether or not your router has a publicly reachable IP address can be tricky.

If your ISP assigned you an address for your router that must be entered manually, and it doesnt start with 10, 192, or 174, its likely a public IP address.

If your routers address is assigned by DHCP, launch AirPort Utility, select your router, click Manual Setup, and then click on the Internet icon to find the address assigned next to IP Address; again, if it doesnt start with 10, 192, or 174, its probably public.

Failing those two steps, the only reliable way to find out is to check with your ISP.

If you dont have a publicly reachable IP address, you can request one.

If your computer has its own publicly reachable IP address, your router doesnt factor into the equation, and BtMM will work just fine.

Ports are like individually numbered cubbyholes within an IP address assigned to a computer or other device, such as your router.

A port is to an IP address as an apartment number is to an apartment building.) Back to My Mac needs to be able to ask your router to open up a port on the routers public IP address side.

The BtMM system on one computer passes those port numbers via MobileMe to any other BtMM system so that any two BtMM-enabled computers using your MobileMe account can communicate with each other.

Network Address Translation-Port Mapping Protocol (NAT-PMP) is found only in Apple AirPort base stations released in 2003 or later.

To check if its turned on, fire up AirPort Utility (Applications:Utilities), select your base station, and click on the Manual Setup button at the bottom.

If it isnt, check it and then click on Update in the lower right.

Clicking on Update restarts the router, disconnecting all users for up to a minute.).

The other, more widely used form of automatic port mapping is called Universal Plug and Play (UPnP).

This standard is used for a variety of purposes to allow multimedia and gaming across networks.

One part of it handles automatic port mapping, and Back to My Mac works just fine with it.

Configure Linksys Router For Apple Back To My Mac Access