Armchair Philosophy

HOW TO: Access your Mac from anywhere

on 02/11/2007 1:23 PM

This is Part 1 of a series of articles about setting up services on your Mac that you can access over the internet.

Have you ever wanted to get a file from your Mac, but it's at home and you're at work?  How about listening to your iTunes Library when you're at a friends house, or better yet starting a small online radio station your friends can tune into?

This article will walk through the steps of pointing a domain name to your Mac at home, whether you have a single Mac or a home network full of 'em, and access your files remotely.  This is only recommended for those people on a high-speed connection, at least DSL or Cable - a dial up connection probably won't work well for most people.  Future articles will include discussions about setting up an online radio station, and controlling your computer remotely.


Step 1 - Find an Available Domain Name

In order to connect to your Mac, you'll need to know its address on the internet.  All computers are assigned an IP address while online, but almost all ISPs will assign you a "dynamic" IP, which will change often and with no notice, as opposed to a "static" IP, which never changes.  If you're lucky enough (or pay extra) to have a static IP, then this tutorial is not for you.  For those who have Cable or DSL, you'll need a domain name to point to your home Mac to get around this problem.

Domain names are registered through a domain name registrar company.  You can use any company you like, but for this example I'll be using GoDaddy, where new domains currently cost $8.95/year.  The domain name I'll be using for this example is MyMacAtHome.com.

On the GoDaddy homepage, search for the domain name you'd like to register.  If it's available, you'll see something like this:



If you find an available domain name that you like, hit the big orange "Continue" button.


Step 2 - Create Your GoDaddy Account
GoDaddy will now ask you to complete "Domain Registration Information", which includes your name, email, etc. This will setup your GoDaddy account.  Hit "Continue" when you're finished.

If you already have an account with GoDaddy, you can login here and skip this step.


Step 3 - ZoneEdit and DNS
The next step in the GoDaddy checkout process, "Registration and Checkout Options", is important because we'll be updating some of the settings of this new domain name - namely, the Nameservers.  Before we can complete this step, though, we need to setup an account with a free DNS service.  I'll be using ZoneEdit.

The DNS record we're about to setup will tell computers on the 'net where to look for the computer that the domain name is supposed to point to.  Once someone types in "MyMacAtHome.com", GoDaddy will ask ZoneEdit for the IP address of my Mac, so the request can be sent where it's supposed to go.

On the ZoneEdit homepage, click "Free Signup".  Fill out the information, make sure "Select Service Option" is set to "Free Trial", and hit "Sign Up Now" to setup your account.  You'll need to check your email to retrieve your generated username and password.  Then click the link in the email to login.

Once logged in, you'll be presented with a link to "Add Zones".  Click this, and enter your domain name in the text box on the next screen, like below:



Then click "Add Zone".

The next page is very important, as ZoneEdit will now provide the name server addresses you need to enter at GoDaddy.com.  The information below is part of the example - be sure you use the information ZoneEdit provides YOU, not the information below:



Now, return to GoDaddy, and click the link that says "click here to set nameservers", illustrated below:



(note: if you took a long time to complete the ZoneEdit signup, GoDaddy may have timed out, at which point you'll need to search again for your domain and get back to the screen illustrated above)

Once you click the "nameservers" link, boxes will pop up in which you can enter the information from ZoneEdit, as follows:



Other options on this page include "Registration length", which can be as low as 1 year, and "Quick Checkout", which skips a lot of extra offers from GoDaddy during the checkout process.  Change both of these, then click "Continue".

Finish the checkout process with GoDaddy.


Step 4 - DNSUpdate

So, to recap - GoDaddy will have the record of the domain name we want to use.  It will then ask ZoneEdit for the IP address of our computer, so requests to our domain name goes to the intended destination. 

But how does ZoneEdit know what our IP address is, especially if it's dynamic and will change often?

Enter DNSUpdate (click to download the latest version) - a small, nifty program that runs on your Mac and notifies ZoneEdit if and when your IP address changes.  This way, requests to our domain name will always go to our home Mac, even if our IP address has changed.

Once you download the program using the link above, drag it into your Applications folder, or wherever else you'd like to keep it.  Then, start the program.  Once the program begins to load, it will ask you to install a daemon that will activate DNSUpdate when you computer starts up.  Click Install and wait for the install to complete.

(note: for this to work correctly, make sure you setup DNSUpdate on a computer that's always on.  You can't update your IP, or connect remotely, when your Mac is powered off.)

Once the program is loaded, you will see a window like this:



First, hit the "Add User" button.  The following window will pop up:



Simply add your account information from ZoneEdit, and then change the drop down menu to the "ZoneEdit.com" option.  Hit "Add" when complete.  Once your new user shows up in the main window of DNSUpdate, make sure to click the "active" box, which will allow DNSUpdate to talk to ZoneEdit.

Now, you need to add information about your domain name.  With your user highlighted, click the "Add Host" button.  The following window will pop up:



Enter your domain name in the "Hostname" field.  If you have a single computer and no network, leave the drop down menu on "Default Interface".  If you have a home network with a router, you'll need to change the drop down to "External", so it reports your external IP address, not your home network IP.

Hit "Add" when complete.

If everything is setup correctly, you should now see your user, and your host, and both will have a status of "OK".  If you like, you can return to ZoneEdit.com, click "Edit Zones", and double check that your account is setup correctly.  The address you see in the field "IP Address" should match the IP address of your internet connection.  To find your IP address, you can use the website ShowMyIP.com to view it.

(note: it may take some time for your new domain to propagate across the internet - sometimes it's instant, other times in can take a day or two.  If you have DNSUpdate setup correctly, and have set the correct nameservers with GoDaddy, and your domain name isn't working, it may take some time for it to "kick in".)


Step 5 - File Sharing

Now that you can access your computer remotely, you need to setup some useful services so you have something to do once you connect.  For all those times you forgot to grab an important document before you left the house, we'll setup remote file sharing.

Fire up your System Preferences and hit the "Sharing" button.  Under the "Services" tab, there is a list of services you can run on your Mac, the first of which is "Personal File Sharing".  Click the checkbox next to Personal File Sharing to start this service.



To access your files remotely from a computer away from home, do the following:

  • In the Finder, go to the "Go" menu, and select "Connect to Server" (or hit Command-K from the Finder).
  • In the box that pops up, type in the following:  afp://yourdomainname.com
    where yourdomainname.com is the domain you registered.
  • Hit the "+" sign to save this address as a favorite.
  • Hit "Connect"
  • When prompted, enter your username and password for the account on your remote Mac, and select the drive you'd like to mount.
If you are running a firewall, check to make sure it allows traffic on Port 548 & 427.

Also, if you're running a home network through a router, you'll need to setup Port Forwarding on ports 548 & 427 and forward that traffic to the Mac you want to connect to remotely.  See your router manual for instructions.

Conclusion

That's it!  Now you can access your home computer using your custom domain name, and add, edit and delete files from your home computer.  Check back soon for additional articles that use your new remote-accessible Mac to setup an online radio station, and to control your computer remotely.

 

 

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