Connecting/networking Via internet into Airport

[birdking]

I am using an airport at home, and trying to connect to that computer from work. It was not an issue when I was directly connected to the internet, but now I am getting and error -36. I am running OS X 2.0 on both computers. Is it a firewall issue?

 

[peterjhill]

Re: Connecting/networking Via internet into Airport

Originally posted by birdking
I am using an airport at home, and trying to connect to that computer from work. It was not an issue when I was directly connected to the internet, but now I am getting and error -36. I am running OS X 2.0 on both computers. Is it a firewall issue?

How do you have the airport set up? What application are you using to get to the computer at home (ie. what are you trying to do?)

If you have set up the airport to use nat on the inside of your home network, then you will need to use the port mapping feature of the airport to connect to your home computer. OTOH, if you are just bridging your wired network to your wireless network, then you will not have to worry about anything like that.

Post some more details, and then we can help you...

 

[birdking]

The airport at home is just for Internet use and sometimes to transfer file from a iBook to iMac. While I am at work....I like to access the hard drive of the imac, to transfer files ect..The iMac is always on and connected . I am using OS X 2.0 "connect to server" feature and typing the IP address. Im not sure how to use the port mapping feature.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Sun Baked]

The only IP address the rest of the world can see is the Base Station's Public IP address.

There are two zones - public and private. The private stuff, your home network can use any IP address you want because nobody else will see them or get confused.

Works great for the computers making request on the private network. But it's a LOT confusing for a computer initiating requests on the public side, all they see is the base stations IP address - not your home network.

Unless ...

Using Port Mapping

AirPort uses Network Address Translation (NAT) to share a single IP address with the
computers that join the AirPort network. To provide Internet access to multiple computers with one IP address, NAT assigns private IP addresses to each computer on the AirPort network, then matches these addresses with port numbers. The base station creates a port-to-private IP address table entry when a computer on your AirPort (private) network sends a request for information to the Internet.

If you are running a Web, AppleShare, or FTP server on your AirPort network, other computers initiate communication with your server. Since the base station has no table entries for these requests, it has no way of directing the information to the appropriate computer on your AirPort network.

To ensure that requests are routed to your Web, AppleShare, or FTP server properly, you need to establish a permanent IP address for your server and provide inbound port mapping information to the AirPort Base Station.

 

[peterjhill]

From apple's support site:

From behind a network firewall or proxy server, some users may have difficulties mounting their iDisks. .Mac uses the AppleTalk Filing Protocol (AFP), which operates on TCP port 548. If your firewall is blocking outbound connections on this port, then you will not be able to use iDisk connecting via AFP. Unfortunately, it is not possible to configure iDisk to work through a HTTP or SOCKS proxy. As an alternative, try connecting to iDisk using the WebDAV protocol instead. WebDAV uses port 80, which is unlikely to be blocked by a firewall. WebDAV functionality is built into OS X version 10.1 or later. For previous versions of OS X or for OS 9, third-party applications are available that enable connections to WebDAV servers.

For additional information, see article 31201: iDisk: Connection Difficulties

Go to:
Applications -> Utilities -> Airport Admin Utility
Port Mapping tab
Add button
Public port = 548
Private Address = the ip address of your home computer
Private Port = 548