Odds are pretty decent that the router at the store is doing NAT (Network
Address Translation), hiding a block of private addresses behind a single
public address.
  That works fine for clients to access the Internet,  When an answer comes
back, it's part of a conversation that originated internally and so the
router has a translation entry that matches it.

  When someone (you) tries to connect in from the outside, there's no
translation entry, and so the router can't guess *which* internal machine
you want to connect to.  Pretty great for security -- not so great for
remote access.

  Most small routers include at least one, and sometimes more, ways for you
to define a "static" translation that allows connections originating from
the outside to be directed to a specific private machine.  You generally
want at least one static address from the Internet provider for this to
work, and many will offer a set of five adjacent static addresses for a
business account.

David Gillett



On 14 Jul 2005 at 13:19, Will Stephenson wrote:

Date sent:              Thu, 14 Jul 2005 13:19:04 -0400
Send reply to:          PCBUILD - Personal Computer Hardware discussion List
                <[log in to unmask]>
From:                   Will Stephenson <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:                [PCBUILD] Access QuickBooks from afar
To:                     [log in to unmask]

> Hello all!
>
> I am putting together a proposal for a client who wishes the ability to use
> QuickBooks from afar. The basic job is to get them a new computer (which
> will be the "server" for QuickBooks Pro with 5 copies and the ability to use
> it simultaneously from different computers, and to get a router/switch (we
> will probably use Verizon's) to establish a wired network at the store in
> Maine. The owner will be living in Florida during the winter, and wants to
> be able to work on QuickBooks whilst hopefully basking merrily in the land
> of sunshine and warmth.
>
> All this is reasonably basic for me except the connection from afar, which
> MUST be secure. The laptop from afar has Windows XP Home on it. In a few
> tries, I have consistently failed to get into an internal network from the
> outside with the ability to run programs, explore, etc. My question is this:
> what program or settings does the afar laptop need in order to get into the
> local network?
>
> As an aside, for another group, I was trying to set up a laptop to get into
> their local network via remote assistance in XP Pro. Although I could find
> remote desktop, I couldn't find Remote assistance. I well could be just
> missing it, but where does it live?
>
> Thanks in advance for your time and thought on these questions.
>
> Best,
>
> Will Stephenson
> Acadia Technologies Inc.
> mailto:[log in to unmask]
>
> There are as many paths to God as there are people to walk them.
>
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