WAN IP Address

[Patrick Whittle]

My ISP uses the following:

WAN IP Address: 24.57.199.51
Default Gateway: 24.57.192.1

Which IP do I give to a person in Illinois, so that he can connect to my
terminal server? This server is on my internal LAN.

 

[Kerry Brown]

The WAN IP address. You will have to forward the incoming port (3389?)
through your firewall/router/gateway device to the terminal server. Note
that this device is not the same thing as the ISP gateway you listed. Before
you do this make sure you understand the security implications. There are
many bots scouring the Internet looking for terminal servers. It is
imperative that you lock down the terminal server and ensure all accounts in
the entire network have strong passwords.

 

[Kerry Brown]

Especially since you've told them where to look!

It really doesn't matter that someone posts a public IP, even to say they
are running a terminal server at that IP. If you are running a terminal
server the bots will find it and attack it regardless of whether you post
the IP or not. The important thing is to secure the terminal server. Then
it doesn't matter who knows the IP.

 

[Jack-MVP]

Hi
You got the gist of it in the above answers.
However there might be substantial difference to the setting and security
depending on your setting.
I.e. behind a Router, or directly on the Internet. Since you are on Cable
Internet connection your IP might stay the same for long time.
Jack (MS, MVP-Networking).

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Which brings another thought:

If you (the O.P.) are on a connection with a dynamic IP address--I.e. it may
change, even if that change is infrequent-- and you wish to enable someone
to connect over a period of time, you should provide a dynamic DNS entry so
that they can connect by name rather than requiring that they know the IP
address.

See www.dyndns.org for details. You will need to run client software on one
of your systems--some consumer-grade nat/router devices have this built-in.

 

[Patrick Whittle]

Thank you for that. My collegue in Illinois will only connect when I have
him on Facebook. The terminal server is pretty much powered-down...
constantly.

PS There is absolutely nothing, on the server (i.e. spreadsheets,
confidentials, etc)

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Regardless of confidentiality issues, use strong passwords. You may not be
worried about the data on the server, but you should worry about the server
being made use of by others for their own purposes--which can be pretty well
invisible without careful monitoring.