Accessing WHS Remotely

[SuperDave1685]

Hello guys. I bought a little Acer Aspire X1700 to server as a file server last night. (Don't worry about the specs - its been upgraded to 8GB and has an E8400 in it - plenty enough power!)

I got Windows Home Server 2011 installed this morning here. Got it all logged in, Shares and permissions set up, etc. I set up a domain through the homeserver.com site Microsoft provides.

However, when I type that address into the URL address bar, it takes me straight to my DSL Modem's configuration page I know this isn't secure in the least! I can then click on "Access Device" and that brings me to the Windows Home Server login page where I can log in user my account I created.

From within my home network, I can Remote Desktop in using the Server box's IP of 10.0.0.23 just fine.

What I would like to accomplish though, is being able to open an Internet Address (IP or URL) that takes me straight to the Server login page. I feel very insecure with having to access the server through my router.

Is there a way I can access the server's ip (10.0.0.23) from across the Internet without having to go through my router's home page?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

You'll have to set up a static IP.

I use dyndns for my desktop and server.

 

[SuperDave1685]

that looks to be the same thing as what the Microsoft hosting does. No-ip does the same thing too. They simply route www.yourdomain.provider.com to my public IP address, which is my DSL Modem.

Is there a way I can tell the DNS server to point to an address within my network by specifying a port number for my server? Something like - "76.x.x.x:server's port"

 

[cullam3n]

You might be able to set up port forwarding on your router for port 80 (for the default, any other port for x.x.x.x:2000 for example) to the server.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

You have to use IPort

The default from Microsoft is 3389, and can be changed to any value.

 

[SuperDave1685]

Here's what I have set up so far. Can someone have a look at this and tell me if they see anything wrong or right?

 

[SuperDave1685]

Ok... I got port 3389 forwarded successfully

No my question is this - how do I setup things so that I can Remote Desktop into the Server from over the internet? I tried using my public ip as the computer name, but that didn't work

 

[cullam3n]

Ok... I got port 3389 forwarded successfully

No my question is this - how do I setup things so that I can Remote Desktop into the Server from over the internet? I tried using my public ip as the computer name, but that didn't work

Windows key + r (or start > run) and then type in mstsc will bring you to the RDP screen. The computer field will be your public IP, and your login will be computername\username (eg HOME\SuperDave1685).

If your port forward is correct, this should work.

Personally I would advise against having RDP available to the internet. I would rather have it tunneled over SSH or VPN (which are encrypted and more secure).

 

[SuperDave1685]

Thanks for the advice!

How on the world would I go about establishing a VPN?

 

[cullam3n]

Several different options. To make sure you can get a VPN to work you can do it natively in Windows clients (Vista/7) by making a PPTP connection (point-to-point tunneling protocol). It's about equivalent in security to VPN as WEP is to wireless, but it's a start, and it will take all of 2 minutes.

There are various guides around if you search "incoming connection in windows."

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...work-vpn-enable-incoming-vpn-connections.html Here is one guide here.

On WHS you can also set up a L2TP VPN, which is more secure. http://www.ryanamos.com/?p=25