PC folders accessible using smbmate from internet?

[TheHOOL]

Hello CLIE PEOPLE!!! is there a way i can access my shared folders using smbmate over the internet? I'm able to do it only when I am home connected to my home LAN. ...is there a way i can access them from ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD?? I think I have the configure the ports ony my router or sumthin...not sure.

[tHEdARKhORiZON]

I think it will depend on your ISP. Due to various backdoors available through Windows network shares, most ISPs block those ports and will not let you connect from the outside.

[TheHOOL]

I think i figured it out. OK..

All you gotta do is
1)Figure out your IP address. Both from Isp and LAN.

2)Which ever computer you wish to access...make your DMZ Host to your LAN IP for that computer. Should be configured in your router...usually 192.168.1.1

3)Open SmbMate and when you create/edit your connection...just type in your ISP address and make sure everything else is correct...such as server name, user name..etc.~

..so wherever I go...I can grab any file off my computer when i need. yay. =)

[bertopl]

Originally posted by TheHOOL
I think i figured it out. OK..

All you gotta do is
1)Figure out your IP address. Both from Isp and LAN.

2)Which ever computer you wish to access...make your DMZ Host to your LAN IP for that computer. Should be configured in your router...usually 192.168.1.1

3)Open SmbMate and when you create/edit your connection...just type in your ISP address and make sure everything else is correct...such as server name, user name..etc.~

..so wherever I go...I can grab any file off my computer when i need. yay. =)

this definitely works, I used to just open the ports on my router that smbmate uses instead of using the dmz host like you described. I don't believe that either way, however, is particularly secure. I still use smbmate over the internet, but only in conjunction with mergic vpn. I'm in no way a security / vpn expert, but from what I understand, it is more secure to route this type of internet traffic through mergic's encrypted vpn tunnel.

[amoon]

To save me a search what port does it use?

[tHEdARKhORiZON]

Originally posted by amoon
To save me a search what port does it use? In Windows 2000/XP, it uses port 445 only. If the client uses NBT (I don't know if it does, never used SMBMate before), you'll need port 139 also.

[amoon]

Originally posted by bertopl


this definitely works, I used to just open the ports on my router that smbmate uses instead of using the dmz host like you described. I don't believe that either way, however, is particularly secure. I still use smbmate over the internet, but only in conjunction with mergic vpn. I'm in no way a security / vpn expert, but from what I understand, it is more secure to route this type of internet traffic through mergic's encrypted vpn tunnel.

 

Thanks for the ports i'll try it tonight.

I'm hereing more about these VPN networks, how would you use these say at the airport jacked into the Wi-Fi as i thought you needed a "Client" running on your base machine and the "Remote" running on the PC that your connecting with?

[bertopl]

Originally posted by amoon


 

Thanks for the ports i'll try it tonight.

I'm hereing more about these VPN networks, how would you use these say at the airport jacked into the Wi-Fi as i thought you needed a "Client" running on your base machine and the "Remote" running on the PC that your connecting with?

mergic vpn is the "client" on the pda side. I use this to connect to a windows 2000 pro box. you can set up a vpn "server" on windows 2000 out of the box, the capability is built into the operating system.

[macstibs]

Opening any port 135-139 and 445 to the internet is LITERALLY the stupidest move in the book. 90% of the worms today attack those ports and either gain information or enter the system. Putting a machine on your network into the DMZ should only occur AFTER it has been thouroughly "hardened" against attack by rogue machines on the internet. If you need access to your fileshares over the internet, you should DEFINITELY use a VPN. Mergic sells one I believe. Windows (2000/XP) can be configured to accept incoming VPN connections.

You'll want to "tunnel" SMBMate or other SMB browser over the VPN connection. IIRC the port needed and the one to open on your router is 1723, but you'll want to double-check that.

[tnhh]

Originally posted by macstibs
Opening any port 135-139 and 445 to the internet is LITERALLY the stupidest move in the book.

I would just like to reiterate this. Do NOT open the SMB/CIFS ports to the outside world.

I haven't been able to find any VPN software for my TH55 that works with our Cisco VPN at work though... :(

[AzlBigKid]

Using SMBmate to access files across the internet is horribly insecure. The UX will be fine but the SMB/CIFS machine at the other end is wide open to all sorts of attacks. I totally agree with tnhh. Use Mergic VPN to encypt your connection and use SMBMate through the tunnel. If you can't go for this, a better option would be to us FTP.

[AzlBigKid]

Using SMBmate to access files across the internet is horribly insecure. The UX will be fine but the SMB/CIFS machine at the other end is wide open to all sorts of attacks. I totally agree with tnhh. Use Mergic VPN to encypt your connection and use SMBMate through the tunnel. If you can't go for this, a better option would be to us FTP.

[D-Man54]

Not sure about the security aspects of this idea but what about PalmVNC? http://palmvnc2.free.fr/ This allows you access to your entire PC as though you were sitting there right in fron of it. I've been using it for about the past month or so and am thoroughly impressed with it!

Palm VNC allows you to configure the ports used for communication (5900 by default) so if you just forward that port and 5901 in your router you're good to go.

Hope this helps!

[polimedia]

Well I have the solution, not really the cheapest one but it works very well.
Needing to acces my workstation I use SMBMate over WIFI, but I agree that opening dangerous ports is stupid, so I have since a few years a superb piece of SW: Remotely Anywhere (http://www.remotelyanywhere.com) this is not a palm VNC, it is complete solution for accessing you computer from virtually any PC, using Java or with a PDA a mobile version of the interface, you can access via WAP, I mean actually I think this the most complete desktop control SW I ever tried, of course I forgot to mention, you can personalize the listening port and works over HTTPS. The downside is the price, from 90 to 120 $, but I think it is really worth. In the past I bought Winhand, very nice software, but can you really drive a PC with high res screen with a PDA over GPRS?? I think it is more a toy than a tool. With R Anywhere, I often need to stop o process or a service and I can do it over GPRS using Netfront and it is really fast.
Just one tip in case u decide to give it a try, you need to use a different bowser ID string to see the mobile interface, I picked the one used by Netfront 3.0 (don't know why the latest version is compared to IE).

[TheHOOL]

...im at a home pc and i dont have much interesting files in my pc. I dont think it matters if i expose my pc to the internet.... why would anyone want to attck mine?? would be a waste of their time/talent... lolZ~ Maybe im being igonorant~ =)

[polimedia]

yes a bit, usually attacks are done thru a simple port scan, AFAIK you might be held responsable in case they use your computer to hack another one, like a government one. They could exploit your PC to mask their one, of course your responsability has to be discovered, proved and laws change from country to country.
But in general I learned that hackers do not exploit PCs because they are important, I would say it is more because of their vulnerability. Of course I am no expert, just use it for work, so I am very carefull, and BTW we already had in the past more attacks, some of which were successfull (when we thought nobody cared about us) not to mention worms.

[tHEdARKhORiZON]

Just make sure you password protect each user on your machine and that you're staying up to date with Windows Update. And most ISPs block the ports needed for SMB anyways due to all the backdoors connected with it.

[cosFFM]

Does anyone use MergicVPN to connect to Windows XP? Although I have setup Windows XP to allow incoming VPN transfers, I am not succeeding to connect.

[amoon]

I would also be very interested in the setup as i have tried without sucess.

[cosFFM]

Yes, it's not that easy. I've been reading about it for the last hour and I am not even sure I can make it work with my setup at home. Port forwarding, enabling some ports, others not, allow incoming vpn connections at your router, etc.

My router can not be configured to do any of these things it seems ;)

[TheHOOL]

Which router?

[cosFFM]

Originally posted by TheHOOL
Which router?

Sitecom DC-202 - Broadband xDSL / Cable Router 4S - maybe two years old. I have never upgraded the firmware though.

Sitecom has recently shut down the support forums on their site (great move..) and I am not to eager to do the upgrade without proper instructions.

The last couple of weeks I am having problems (dropping the connection every couple of minutes) with the router anyway, so I might upgrade to something new.

[amoon]

And i have a D-Link 614+ with a ADSL DSL-302G Modem.

[Mafia]

Use VPN networks!! It works great you can also use it to hotsync to your home computer from internet... ( every were you go via GPRS, INET or whenever you will be able to hotsync ).

You will need :

1.- WINDOWS XP or 2000(NT)
2.- MERGIC VPN

( WINGATE VPN must be an option too ).

[cosFFM]

Well, I have a problem with Mergic VPN and my cellular provider, because the data connection is behind NAT (?!), I need an NAT VPN client.

Bummer!