Remoter Forums

I have used Remoter VNC to access two different OSX Macs on my LAN for quite some time. They were hooked up to a DSL wireless router.

I recently switched to cable and they just supply a modem, not a router. So I purchased a D-Link DIR-601 and installed. Remoter VNC no longer works. I switched back to the DSL router and checked that the Remoter VNC still operates.

I cannot find anywhere where to activate port 5900 for the LAN in the D-Link. I do not want port 5900 open for WAN as I do not want hackers trying to get in via that port, nor do I use it outside the LAN.

When I try to connect, nothing happens for quite a while, then I get the message: [name of computer] Disconnected. Host: [Computer] Port: 5900 Unable to Connect to Server. This usually indicates the computer is not reachable in the current network. Like when trying to access a private server directly

Remoter VNC Version 3.8.1, iPad 2. LAN to LAN, Direct.

iOS 5 The Macs run 10.6 and 10.4. Both worked with this Remoter VNC with DSL Router Westell Model 327W, but cannot connect with the D-Link DIR-601 hardware A1 with 1.02NA firmware, the latest version for this hardware, which was updated yesterday.

Interestingly, I was able to connect to the 10.6 OSX Mac by changing the setup to Bonjour from Manual. But no luck in getting to the 10.4 OSX. That Mac is also connected using DHCP, but for some reason, does not show up in the network list on the D-Link browswer (it did earlier today). That 10.4 Mac is connected to the internet and has a IP address, but does not show up on the list of Dynamic DHCP clients.

The other odd thing, is that there are other missing DHCP clients on that list, that were there earlier. I will reboot the router.

Both computers now show up on the D-Link DHCP clients list. However, I can connect to the OSX 10.6 Mac, but no luck connecting to the OSX 10.4 Mac.

I was able to connect to both computers using Manual VNC Hostname using the older router.

Now, with the D-Link router, I cannot connect to either using Manual, but can connect to the OSX 10.6 Mac using Bonjour with the D-Link router. I cannot connect to the OSX 10.4 using Bonjour or Manual settings with the D-Link router.
Both are on the same LAN. Interestingly, the 10.6 is connected wirelessly, while the inoperative 10.4 is connected via Ethernet.

This is probably a name resolution issue. Your old router must have kept a table of computer hostnames, and their associated IPs. Remoter took advantage of this.
If the new router isn't, then you either have to use another name resolution method (bonjour/netbios if available). Or use the direct IP address (this may mean you should update your computers to use a static IP instead of DHCP, so that Remoter can always find them).

Hope this helps,
Raf.

raf wrote:This is probably a name resolution issue. Your old router must have kept a table of computer hostnames, and their associated IPs. Remoter took advantage of this.
If the new router isn't, then you either have to use another name resolution method (bonjour/netbios if available). Or use the direct IP address (this may mean you should update your computers to use a static IP instead of DHCP, so that Remoter can always find them).

Hope this helps,
Raf.

Problem solved.

The D-Link does have a list of dynamically assigned IP addresses and the name of each Mac. Sometimes this seemed to work with connecting VNC to the 10.6 Mac, but never to the 10.4 Mac. I also found that dropbox was not always working / updating on the 10.4, even though the 10.4 connected to the Internet. So I have gone back to giving them each a fixed IP address within the computer and the router. I then went in and edited the Remoter VNC, removed the name and substituted the IP address. It looks like that has fixed the problem.

I am surprised that even though the D-Link provided the table with the Mac's name and IP address, this somehow did not work with Remoter VNC. I am not certain where the problem is. But using a fixed IP address solves the problem. This same table of name and IP address appeared on the Westell DSL router and worked well with VNC even if the IP addresses were dynamically assigned.

Unfortunately, there appears to be no way for the D-Link to display those connected where the IP address is fixed. I have several other items connected (DVR, BD player, wireless Internet radio, camera) that are connected with a fixed IP address and I cannot find a list of those in the router. Apparently the only way I can find those is to change to dynamically assigned IP and the D-Link will find them, then assign that fixed IP address - a sort of useless activity. I end up with an updated list of fixed IP addresses, but there is no confirmation that those are actually connected to the D-Link router. This is a shortcoming of the D-Link software.

Maybe LanScan could help you with this? (It only shows connected devices that are on!)
https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/lanscan ... l=en&mt=12