HELP!! home network with external access

inside my parents house, there is broadband internet, netgear router, PCs, a mac, and a ps3. i have a mac at MY house. what i want to do is setup some sort of network so that any pc/mac/ps3 can access files,media, printers, etc. In addition to this,i want to be able to "dial in/ log in" from across the internet and thru the router connection at my house or from someones laptop.

my understanding of how this stuff works isn't zero but, i'm not exactly sure of everything i need 2 do in order 2 get this working the way i want....

also would BOTH routers need ports forwarded, or jus the parents router with the network?

btw, the host machine thats on all the time would be an XP machine, unless theres someway to host a network somewhere on the internet or something... but that sounds like a whole nother ball of wax

plenty of input would be GREAT! TIA

-Toby

 

ok i am registered there now, i knew i needed a static ip i jus wasn't sure how to accomplish it. thanx for that link!

ok, there is only ONE router. the second would be from MY house. (i live out of state, and come to visit) i want to tap into any computers on the network i wish to create, from there. but any computers there, i want to access each other.mostly for printer access and media purposes.

no, no firewall in use

what is the next step? is there certain software i should be using? obviously this project needs to be cross platform compatible

 

remote desktop is definately desired. but we need to be able to copy/transfer files, and print as well. i was looking at hamachi since its cross platform, free, and looks pretty easy to use. maybe im making vnc more complicated than it really is.

any software you recommend?

 

i took your suggestion and set it up. ports 5800 and 5900; i assume now i need to go into the router and forward them?

once thats done any computer accessing the router should be visible? or does uvnc need 2 be installed on ALL ?

btw thanx for your time and patience with all this. i know i'm asking alot of questions

 

so would the server need to be installed on each computer for 2 way access?

in other words. lets say pc1 has uvnc server. pc2 could access files on pc1 but not pc3. pc1 could access files on all 3. right? we want to have each pc be able to freely access any other pc in the network. (i use pc here as a generic term, as there will be 1 mac and then of course i will be using the mac at my home out of state to access the network....)

 

ok coolcool.

so far i have gotten two windows macines to talk to each other. the mac isn't home right now.


is there a way to setup uvnc to come on whenever the computer is turned on and preferably run invisibly?

does uvnc come in a mac version?

can my dyndns settings be tested from inside the home network?

 

thanx, i did it on one but wasn't sure if that was its function. ill have to try osxvnc when i get a chance with the mac or see if one of my frie3nds wants 2 try. once again thanx for all the help its really appreciated. i couldnt find much in the way of tutorials or anything.

once i find a location ill try and see if i can access from across the internet. im not sure if i have the dyndns stuff setup right or not. basically all i need 2 do is type in the dns name i was given and itwill connect from there? if i use a web browser, the java function of uvnc should kick in right? i doubt i'll need it but it might come in handy someday

 

everything worked great, including the http/java function. i even figured out how to forward different ports on different servers so i could access seperate computers.

one thing i'm not sure how to do is get the computers to recognize the other drives. for example, lets say i have a music folder on pc1, but i'm on pc2 and i want to use itunes, winamp, wmp etc to listen to the music in that folder WITHOUT doing a file transfer, how do i direct the program to that computer and drive?

i hope i haven't misguided myself and shouldve been setting up a VPN instead...

 

the more ive been reading since i posted, the more i've come to the same conclusion.however, as of right now i'm talking within the shared router environment. the native windows/mac home network features always seem to have glitches, especially when it comes to recognizing other computers or of different varietys. that is the biggest reason for wanting something else to map the drives and set up the network.

once again i'm not sure where the next step is. i know mac has seems to have something built in. or at least for access. during my search i found remobo http://www.remobo.com

but i'm not sure if its the best option. so once again, lol, what do you recommend?

 

nah, they have a netgear router. so i guess i'll need to find another solution for the VPN. i will keep trying to research, unless you have any other suggestions for VPN software, or i can find something more utilitarian, i'll jus try the above mentioned remobo. its just something about it, it seems, well, "kiddie". Like its more eye candy than normal VPN functionality.