One of the coolest thing about having a home server is being able to remote control it. Accessing data and controlling softwares can be extremely useful and fun. Here I will describe how I did.

Getting a static address

If your ISP provides a static IP then you’re done, you can just use it or link it to a domain (so called DNS Domain Name System). Otherwise if you have a dynamic IP you may use, for instance, the free DynDns Host Service to link the every-time-changing IP to a custom url (ie mycustomurl.dyndns.org) that you could eventually re-link to a domain of yours. After setting up an account on DynDns see Dynamic DNS page (or similar) on your router interface; plus I also suggest to set up a DynDns client (on the HTS) cause sometimes my router itself failed to tell DynDns the change of IP…

Turning on the device

Unlikely I have a NETGEAR DG834G router, it would have been easier to remotely turn the HTS on with a newer one.. Anyway here are two main things you need to check before starting:

1. Your HTS matherboard supports Wake On Lan (WOL) and it is connected via ethernet cable to the network
2. Your router supports the sending of magic packets over the internet (WOL over the internet) OR it supports remote management and local WOL (my case)

If these conditions are not met, I’m sorry but you will not be able to turn it on remotely. Otherwise, first activate WOL on your device (the HTS) both from the driver setting and from the bios settings. Now if your router supports WOL over the internet you may just  set a port forwarder and download a tool like these: windows android iphone or use an online interface. Done!

Such in the case of my old Netgear this was not possible, by the way a nice workaround made it possible! Steps are: enable remote management on the router and have it to turn on the the HTS. If your router doesn’t have these features try installing an unofficial firmware (I’m using FreeDGv1.37 by SoftWord). In my case remote management is only working on port 80, I don’t know why (even setting port forwarders and stuff on other ports, mah), so if I visit mycustomurl.com I can access my router admin interface. From its WOL page we could turn any device just by inserting their IP and MAC address, to have this done easyer you may just a custom url as: http://mycustomurl.com/wol.cgi?ip=INSERT_HERE_IP_ADDRESS&mac=INSERT_HERE_MAC_ADDRESS (in this case valid form my netgear model). Also, I don’t know why but this is working only if I use as IP address 192.168.0.255 while it should instead be 192.168.0.2. Make sure to have a strong router password since now your private network may be more exposed to other people (never give the custom url to other people!).

In fact in both cases, to have your port forwarding work you need to set a static LAN IP to your device (local IP for my HTS should always be the same!), in netgear’s interface it is called LAN IP Setup.

Accessing

Now the fun part! There are lots of different ways to access you device now, via GUI (Graphical User Interface) or shell for instance, here the ones I use the most:

1. built in web interface. Most softwares as Transmission, Utorrent and XBMC have the option to control your torrents/files via the browser, just make sure to port-forward the correct ports on your router (without messing up)
2. shell. If using linux or macs this is great once you get started, you will be able to do everything!
3. GUI. Using the great TeamViewer or the built in remote control for Ubuntu (having RealVNC or androidVNC clients on the other non-linux device)
4. ftp/sftp. Just enable a ftp/sftp server on the HTS (ie filezilla if it’s win) and a client on the other device
5. using the HTS as asever. Thus accessing files via the web browser with some online file manager

If using a Unix device have also a look here.

Happy distance-nerding!