Beginner VNC User - About to have a baby!

[Adrian Umpleby]

> 	Regarding your remote-access question: you can't do it
> (with VNC) without the support of your company's IT staff. Sorry.
> You have to admit it'd question the integrity of your company's
> IT policy if "ordinary" users could arbitrarily install VNC and
> access their PC's externally. :) Also, please know that while
> SSH can secure VNC traffic and improve the authentication of the
> connection, it doesn't help at all with "breeching" the firewall
> defenses of your company.

SSH most certainly can help with this!!

I have an ADSL router at home with no 'holes' in it (i.e. I have no port 
forwards through it to computers inside my NAT), yet I regularly connect 
to my two laptops from outside (using VNC onto port 5900, and 
straight-forward SSH onto port 22, of any machine I choose).

The key is to use a *remote* port forward, initiated beforehand using 
SSH (client) from the machine(s) within the NAT/firewall, onto an 
external machine which is running an SSH server (-you don't even need an 
SSH server on your own machine). Then, later on when outside the 
NAT/firewall, you point the viewer to the appropriate port on the 
external machine instead of trying to contact your own machine. The 
remote port forward which is set up on that external machine then sends 
all data back to your machine residing behind the apparently 
impenetrable NAT/firewall.

This requires *no* support from 'company IT staff', and no configuration 
of ports on your/their router/NAT/firewall.

If anyone needs more details, let me know...

Bye!

Adrian