RocketMan on 9/1/2010 at 23:41
Hey guys, my dad and I both have PDAs and both are running remote desktop clients. I installed mine first and it worked fine after all the tinkering I had to do to setup a static IP and port forwarding, etc, etc.
I did the same for his computer recently and what ended up happening is that now his works and mine does not. On further inspection it seems we both have the same public IP addresses now. I'm not sure how this happened as our private IPs are both static and different but now when I connect I get the login screen showing on my pda and a notice saying that my password or domain is incorrect. I'm not sure about any of that but logically, if we are both connecting using the same public IP, how does the client know which computer to target?
Does anyone know how to make it so that we have different public IPs but can still access our computers with remote desktop clients on the same network. The network is a typical router setup with 4 ports (trendnet). Thanks.
Al_B on 10/1/2010 at 00:19
If I understand what you're saying then essentially all you need to do is configure a different public port for your computer (or your dads) in the port forwarding rules. That way, you can both have the same public IP - the distinction about which computer you target is made by the port number you connect to.
You could possibly connect to the same public IP / port combination from your PDAs even when you're inside the local network. Some routers will allow it, others don't. In any event, just connect to your computer by its private IP number if you have issues.
bikerdude on 10/1/2010 at 01:19
the std port for windows remote desktop is 3389 btw
RocketMan on 10/1/2010 at 19:52
Right...3389. That's the port that I forwarded. I forwarded it twice though, once for each private IP corresponding to each of our computers.
Al_B, in the mobile RDP client I am using, the only fields are User, Pass, IP (or computer name) and Domain. I always leave domain blank and fill in the others. If IP is the same for both computers then how would the port thing come into play to distinguish targets? Not sure I understand there. Also, can you pick any arbitrary port to forward? I know nothing about ports so I thought 3389 was special or something. If I forward to a different port, what would be the next step in the setup?
Thanks.
Al_B on 10/1/2010 at 20:18
3389 is the port that your computer will listen for connections from your PDA. Leave that one alone - you don't need to change that.
On your router, you should be able to choose an external and internal port. Leave the internal port as 3389, but change one of the external ports to something other than 3389 (3390 should be fine). In your client you should be able to specify the port in the IP field with a colon separating the IP and the port.
As an example, let's say your computer has a private IP of 192.168.1.2, your dad's computer has an IP of 192.168.1.3 and your public (internet) IP is 212.227.54.9. Then you'll have rules set up on your router as:
(INTERNAL) <-> (INTERNET)
192.168.1.2, port 3389 <-> 212.227.54.9, port 3389
192.168.1.3, port 3389 <-> 212.227.54.9, port 3390
If your PDAs are inside the network then you can use 192.168.1.2:3389 and 192.168.1.3:3389 to connect to both of them. Outside your network, your PDAs can reach your computers by 212.227.54.9:3389 and 212.227.54.9:3390. The IP is the same, but because of the rules they reach different computers. Of course, where the port is 3389 you can leave that out of the IP field as it's implied by the protocol.
(Note - your public IP is not 212.227.54.9 - but I assume you can find that out or know it already).
RocketMan on 11/1/2010 at 02:24
Inline Image:
http://h1.ripway.com/RRRocketMan/personal stuff/router.JPGThis is what the fields look like in my router setup. I'm not showing the actual entries for security reasons but lets just say I tried to translate the data you put in your last email onto this and it didn't work....although that's not your fault because the pda client didn't like the colon after the ip address so there was no real way for me to tell it to use a different port. It's also possible I entered it wrong. One thing that did happen was as a result of me entering a new exception in the firewall, the priority shifted from my dad's pda to mine so now mine works and his doesn't. Same problem but reversed.
Al_B on 11/1/2010 at 07:47
In this instance you don't want to edit the firewall rules you want to use the "Virtual Server" section. Delete the firewall rules you've already got for port 3389 and add them to the virtual server section ((
http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/Trendnet/TEW-432BRP/default.htm) this guide may help). The discussion about private and public port at the bottom of that page actually talks about a similar situation - but for FTP.
RocketMan on 13/1/2010 at 07:21
You certainly are a genius. I did what you said and it works now! Suddenly the client is ok with colons now too, although it doesn't require one for the pc using port 3389 :) Here I was going to call up my ISP and ask for another public IP, which they may have charged me for.
Al_B on 13/1/2010 at 07:47
Don't know about that - once you've had to do this stuff a few times it gets easier!
Glad you got it working - and yes, since 3389 is the default port for that protocol you don't need to specify it (although there would be no harm if you did).
Just remember that obviously you now have both computers effectively exposed on the internet so you want to make sure you have decent passwords for your accounts.
