Connecting to my home PC remotely

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Connecting to my home PC remotely - timing out

nem2k2

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#202006 13-Sep-2016 15:21

Hi,

I am trying to connect to my home PC from outside of my home network. I have Spark at home. I used to be able to do this over a year ago without any problems but now I cannot. I have all the port forwarding set up (VDSL router -> wireless router -> home PC)

I tried a tracert from my work to my Spark IP and it appears to be timing out of a jetstream node (the IP of which is NOT my home WAN IP)

1 XXX 0.540 ms 0.468 ms 0.440 ms
2 ge-1-1-1-240.core-1.ive.chc.unleash.net.nz (116.90.138.221) 1.436 ms * *
3 * * *
4 ae5-4020.core-0.que.akl.unleash.net.nz (116.90.129.73) 14.800 ms * *
5 * * *
6 * * *
7 tengigabitethernet1-1-0-331.wntnz-rt1.fx.net.nz (202.53.187.30) 29.971 ms 29.991 ms 29.972 ms
8 tengigabitethernet0-2-0-540.wnmur-rt1.fx.net.nz (202.53.187.237) 29.983 ms 29.906 ms 30.100 ms
9 tengige0-0-2-0-317.chrev-rt1.fx.net.nz (202.53.187.46) 29.213 ms 29.368 ms 29.529 ms
10 122-56-224-12.mobile.spark.co.nz (122.56.224.12) 31.172 ms * 122-56-224-12.mobile.spark.co.nz (122.56.224.12) 30.831 ms
11 125-237-160-1.jetstream.xtra.co.nz (125.237.160.1) 34.135 ms 31.568 ms 30.606 ms
12 * * *
13 * * *
14 * * *
15 * * *
16 * * *
17 * * *
18 * * *
19 * * *
20 * * *
21 * * *
22 * * *
23 * * *
24 * * *
25 * * *
26 * * *
27 * * *
28 * * *
29 * * *
30 * * *

I tried contacting Spark and got put through to their "Broadband Expert" (in India?!) who told me that they "do not support port forwarding or VPN so I should contact my IT support"...

This sounds like baloney to me. Does anyone have any advice as to whether this looks like a problem on my end or Spark's end?

Cheers

ghettomaster

387 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 130

#1628631 13-Sep-2016 15:25

Ok first we need a bit more information.

1. What sort of remote access are you trying to use? RDP? VPN? Other?

2. You mention you are using two routers. Is this double NAT or is the wireless router just running as an access point?

3. Where is that tracert from / to? What were you hoping to discover with it?

yitz

2238 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 594

#1628633 13-Sep-2016 15:30

It seems at first you need to verify whether your port forwarding and firewall set up is still configured as you expect.

Modem/router configuration can be reset by (automatic) firmware upgrades, operating system firewalls can be reset when connected to different networks/profiles.

nem2k2

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1628636 13-Sep-2016 15:33

ghettomaster:

1. What sort of remote access are you trying to use? RDP? VPN? Other?

2. You mention you are using two routers. Is this double NAT or is the wireless router just running as an access point?

3. Where is that tracert from / to? What were you hoping to discover with it?

Hey, thank you for the quick reply.

1. I am trying to RDP on a custom port

2. It is double NAT. I port forward from the VDSL router to my wireless router, and then from my wireless router to my home PC. All connections are ethernet (no wireless)

3. The tracert is from my work to my Spark WAN IP. I am trying to see where the connection is dropping. If it is my VDSL router I would expect to see my WAN IP at the last step there, but instead it appears to be a Spark server somewhere

ghettomaster

387 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 130

#1628671 13-Sep-2016 15:54

nem2k2:

2. It is double NAT. I port forward from the VDSL router to my wireless router, and then from my wireless router to my home PC. All connections are ethernet (no wireless)

With your custom port, have you configured the OS to use this port and are you using the same port all the way, or are you using PAT somewhere?

nem2k2:

3. If it is my VDSL router I would expect to see my WAN IP at the last step there, but instead it appears to be a Spark server somewhere

Not necessarily. A lot of routers these days are configured to not respond to ping, and there is no need to enable it. RDP will work fine without ping being enabled.

So long as the port forwarding on both routers is correct, and you have double checked it, my first suspect would be the firewall on your PC. Are you using the windows firewall or another firewall or both? What happens if you disable the windows firewall or create an entry to allow RDP traffic on the custom port?

ghettomaster

387 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 130

#1628684 13-Sep-2016 15:57

In case you are wondering what PAT is, it is where you use one port externally, and have your router forward the traffic to a different port internally.

ubergeeknz

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#1628700 13-Sep-2016 16:12

Just my 2c - don't use RDP remotely - even if it is on a custom port. It's horribly insecure. Set up a VPN or something - with 2fa and/or a key. And I'm out.

New World

Shop on-line at New World now for your groceries (affiliate link).

xpd

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#1628703 13-Sep-2016 16:16

Teamviewer. THat is all. ;)

XPD / Gavin

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Lias

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#1628705 13-Sep-2016 16:18

What Ubergeek and XPD said

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup. Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

nem2k2

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1628752 13-Sep-2016 17:00

ghettomaster:

With your custom port, have you configured the OS to use this port and are you using the same port all the way, or are you using PAT somewhere?

I am using the same port all the way. I am not using PAT

ghettomaster:

So long as the port forwarding on both routers is correct, and you have double checked it, my first suspect would be the firewall on your PC. Are you using the windows firewall or another firewall or both? What happens if you disable the windows firewall or create an entry to allow RDP traffic on the custom port?

I am using Windows Firewall. I have tried disabling it entirely and it does not fix the issue.

I changed the RDP port in Windows as outlined here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/306759

And thank you everyone for the PSA about RDP - I am simply using this as a test case to try and work out why I cannot connect to my home PC remotely.

ghettomaster

387 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 130

#1629079 14-Sep-2016 09:18

While I agree with the comments about public RDP, it is a good learning experience and the OP has said he is aware of that.

nem2k2, did you get it working? Your post isn't quite clear.

nem2k2

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1641833 28-Sep-2016 13:43

No, I did not. I started using TeamViewer instead of RDP, haven't looked into it further as I haven't had to use any other services on my home network remotely lately