Back To My Mac quick question

[Apocrathia]

I've mroogled and googled around for this and haven't really found a definite yes or no, so hopefully i can get an answer here for sure.
does back to my mac require you to have a public IP? I know how all of the port forwarding crap works etc, i understand people having problems with the nat redirection and upnp not working. however if back to my mac needs a public Ip, then that's what most people are having trouble with. I can easily setup an autossh bash script to tunnel the required ports to a public IP.
I'm about 500 miles away from my mac mini server right now, and totally forgot to start a job i had setup before i left. back to my mac is turned on but I'm not having much luck with it. I can ssh (remote management), vnc (screensharing), and afp into the computer all day long from within my network. and both of the macs i'm trying to use are logged into mobileme (they've been fighting over widgets all day, which is starting to get on my nerves. i'm about to have to reset the widget data on the mobile me server again).
if back to my mac requires a public ip, that's what my problem is. the mac mini doesn't have a public ip (ie; the router it's connected to doesn't have a public ip). I have a public ip where i am now though, so i'm sure my mini at home can see me.
I'm about to be finding another use for my linux box. if i have to sit it somewhere and run a vpn/ssh tunnel so that I can use back to my mac and everything in back assed way, then i'll go that route.

 

[BroadcastDoc]

The computer doesn't need a public IP for it to work. I'm looking at mine right now, and I'm on my network in my office, while my Mac is at home behind my router.

You absolutely need a router that handles UPnP and NAT correctly (with a public IP) for it to work however. For example:

Mac -> UPnP/NAT Router -> Internet

*NOT*

Mac -> UPnP/NAT Router -> Router/Firewall -> Internet

 

[Apocrathia]

in other words, the host machine needs a public IP (well, the router in front of the host. I have the whole nat/upnp thing taken care of on my end). i live in an apartment complex where the internet is already distributed in the complex. nobody has a public IP (although I've been trying to get them to give me one). i just get a 10.*.*.* address as my router's wan, it's behind another firewall/router. which would be my problem. so I'll probably have to forward the required ports over autossh to a machine outside somewhere with a public IP.
my isp where i live is completely retarded and i'm unable to get anyone else. I don't have a phone line, the cable is provided by the same people, and it's not like i can mount a hugesnet dish (or that i'd want their trash) outside my window. I honestly think comcast would be better. I'll have to figure something out.

 

[macgrl]

would dyndns.com help. This is what I use to give my router a static public ip address as my ip won't give me one and the ip address changes sometimes.

Don't know if this is something that you are looking for but thought I would mention it

 

[BroadcastDoc]

Yeah, I think in your situation BTTM won't work. I'd suggest going the DynDNS route and running VNC. You could also use LogMeIn which has a decent Mac client.

Unfortunately the port forwarding thing doesn't seem to work well with BTTM. Most people haven't had any luck with that.

 

[JGruber]

I'm trying to get the Back to Mac enabled, I have it enabled on my Mac at work. When I get home, I'll enable it on my Mac there. To access my Mac at home, from my Mac at work, do I need to just enter my IP address, and I'll be able to see it? Or do I need to have my router at work configured in UPnP as well?

 

[Macsterguy]

Snow Leopard is going to address BTMM issues too...

 

[Apocrathia]

Yeah, I think in your situation BTTM won't work. I'd suggest going the DynDNS route and running VNC. You could also use LogMeIn which has a decent Mac client.

Unfortunately the port forwarding thing doesn't seem to work well with BTTM. Most people haven't had any luck with that.

While that would normally be a good idea, and work perfectly, my isp has me behind a firewall and without a public IP. dyndns is useless without a public IP.

 

[BroadcastDoc]

The free version of LogMeIn has a decent Mac client.

http://www.logmein.com

 

[Richdmoore]

Snow Leopard is going to address BTMM issues too...

Could you elaborate? I have used the back to my mac, sometimes it works well, other times it tends to freeze.

(I am using a hackintosh as the remote computer to log into my real macbook, so it may be just an issue with either a clogged hotel internet, the lousy netbook processor on the remote end, or mobile me in general, no way to tell.)