Direct connection of two pcs split by town

[Jiggy]

Hi all long time no post.

I want to connect two pcs together for files transfer, the pcs are at opposite ends of town, i was going you try static IPs but unsure whether it would work.

What would be the best way to do this.

Thanks

[PrntRhd]

Depends on what you are trying to do, VPN is one option.

[Jiggy]

Hi lad,

just to pass large files to each other, can you explain more on how to set up VPN.

can i assign static IPs to both pc and then use those IPs when setting up VPN ?
Thanks

[Steve]

Hi Jiggy,

FTP works pretty good for transfering files. I use Serv-U (http://www.serv-u.com/) . If you install it on the computer that has the files, you can use any FTP client on the other computer to get the files. Internet Explorer has an FTP client built in.

Serv-U has a free offering that works pretty good and the client in IE is there, for free, if you're running Windows.

[Paul Komski]

can i assign static IPs to both pc and then use those IPs
It's the ISP(s) that would assign the relevant IPs - be they static or dynamic. Having connected to your ISP you can then use the internet or a RAS in order to establish your VPN.

If dynamic IPs are used you would need to communicate the relevant IP address beforehand (by phone/email etc) and prior to establishing the VPN connection each time.

[pave_spectre]

Originally posted by Paul Komski
If dynamic IPs are used you would need to communicate the relevant IP address beforehand (by phone/email etc) and prior to establishing the VPN connection each time.

Or you could use a service such as dyndns or no-ip to resolve the dynamic IPs.

[Paul Komski]

pave_spectre - thanks for that. I wasn't aware of such a service. I signed up, for free, to the no-ip.com DDNS (http://www.no-ip.com/services/page/free/dynamic/dns), downloaded the client software and then logged-on and got myself a host name.

Intriguing because I had wondered what would happen once I re-dialled my ISP (with a new dynamic IP of course) and specifically without running the client software. Pinging my new hostname resulted in 4 time-outs! It took about a minute for the pings to update correctly after starting the software manually.

What I'm not sure about is:- if this was due to the old ip address having not yet been re-assigned or whether the server would always check to see if its client software was still running on the same ip address that was sent to it the last time by its client software - before redirecting any server requests. Bit of further experimenting to do now. :)

[Jiggy]

Thanks guys.

Steve - now ive setup serv-u and got a domain name its that i pass on (email to) the other pc and he then can download from that ftp site, right ?

[Steve]

Sorry it took so long to get back to you. I just use the IP address. All you should have to do is type ftp//: and the IP address and you're there. :)

Edit: Jiggy, here is some info that helped me when I was setting things up. Pretty good info.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1491