[PaulOBrien]

Now and again I come across an application that is so damned useful / cool that I just have to tell you about it. One such application is Hamachi from LogMeIn.

This is how LogMeIn describe Hamachi...

Quote

VPN Evolved

LogMeIn Hamachi: Instant, Zero Configuration VPN

Your network just became mobile.

LogMeIn Hamachi is a VPN service that easily sets up in 10 minutes, and enables secure remote access to your business network, anywhere there's an Internet connection.

It works with your existing firewall, and requires no additional configuration. Hamachi is the first networking application to deliver an unprecedented level of direct peer-to-peer connectivity. It is simple, secure, and cost-effective.

To help you understand what it is and how it works, let me tell you about how I came across it.

If you're tech savvy, chances are you have to do remote PC support for your family. I know I do, and for that I use the awesome LogMeIn FREE, which lets you remotely control any number of PCs / Macs / Linux machines, either from your PC / Mac / Linux machine or even your Pocket PC (if you haven't checked that out yet, you should!). As well as PC support, I end up doing Windows Mobile support too My dad is sold on Windows Mobile devices (he has a C600 and a JasJar atm), but he's not THE most computer literate person in the world. He's about to swap his pair of devices for a TyTN II, so I started thinking about how I could do remote support of his mobile device as well as his PC.

Sadly, there is no 'LogMeIn FREE' server for Windows Mobile, so that was out of the question. That left me with two ideas, VNC or SOTI Pocket Controller. Both are fine for remote control, but there's one problem. The T-Mobile Web'n'Walk connection he'll be using uses an IP address and NAT that means I won't be able to 'get in to his machine' easily from outside. Problem.

As it turns out, Hamachi - which I discovered while browsing around the LogMeIn site - is the answer. Hamachi allows you to set your machines up in something of a 'Virtual LAN'. Handily, they have a Windows Mobile client in Beta too!

The config went like this. Install Hamachi client on one of my PCs, create a new 'private network'. Install Hamachi client on my device, join new network. Install Hamachi client on my other machines, just for fun. After install, they can all see each other, and magically all belong to a new 5.x address range on a secondary network card. Their own private network, routed over the internet (GPRS / 3G / WiFi in the case of the Windows Mobile device).

This opens up all sorts of possibilities. As the machines can all talk to each other, I can access private web servers on them, connect between them using VNC and use SOTI over TCPIP. Problem solved... and it works great! The Hamachi clients are very unintrusive, free, and even over slow-slow-GPRS the remote control is just about usable! I have my dad's new device sitting here, and I can remote control it on demand, even when it looks like it's off.

Amazing!

I hope my discovery is useful to someone else, and i'd love to hear how people take advantage of it! To get started you need a client for your PC / Mac / Linux machine from the main Hamachi download page, and the Windows Mobile Beta client from the LogMeIn Labs page.

Enjoy!

P

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[fatmcgav]

That looks rlly sweet....

Now if only they had a linux ARM client so i could run it on my Wrt54gs Router...

Hmm, live in hope...

[PaulOBrien]

I wish I could hook my NAS up somehow!

P

[jmaki]

ah! I just found out about hamachi mobile, and then logged into google reader and found I wasn't the only one, haha

is there anyway to get a shared printer to work on a windows mobile device? -- It IS possible via bluetooth, cause I've seen printers advertise the ability to print from bluetooth enabled phones...

Paul, do you know of any way to create a shortcut directly to a particular machine name / directory on windows mobile?

This post has been edited by jmaki: 01 November 2007 - 04:43 PM

[PaulOBrien]

Shared printer, not tried, but I will

Do you mean shared drives? I use Resco Explorer to map them...

P

[PaulOBrien]

re: your blog: "Be able to access files on my phone from a computer (instead of other way around)" - FTP works SWEET for this (running a FTP server on the device).

P

[PaulOBrien]

re: printing, how about:

http://www.westtek.c...ocketpc/jetcet/

As it turns out, I have a bunch of copies to give away

P

[Phil Lee]

Paul (MVP), on Nov 1 2007, 16:47, said:

re: printing, how about:

http://www.westtek.c...ocketpc/jetcet/

As it turns out, I have a bunch of copies to give away

P

I'd love to have a copy to try

[PaulOBrien]

There's a 15 day trial on the Westtek site, and watch this space on Monday

P

[tasi]

This is amazing! and best of all it's free!

Thanks Paul.

[PaulOBrien]

I'm doing the same as everyone else I imagine, thinking of all the super cool things I can do with it! I wish I could somehow get Hamachi to let me get to my NAS tho, almost like one of the clients would route a secondary address on the local network...

P

[Alex (nedge2k)]

Muahahaha....this will come in handy

[PaulOBrien]

What ya planning nedge?

P

[Alex (nedge2k)]

Let's just say i'm gonna use it to break out of a heavily locked down area /me wonders if they plan to make a standalone client.

...although saying that, I could prolly just use logmein anyway. Hmmm...need to play

[surur]

I've had this installed for a few weeks, but for my purposes its useless. I wanted to access my PNP music server from afar and stream my music, but I found I was one of the supposed 5% that needed to access my network via their proxy server, limiting me to 8 kb/sec, or pay the $5 per month for higher speeds.

Are other people finding they are able to get direct access to the other members of their network on the T-Mobile network, or do you have the same problem?

Surur

[PaulOBrien]

I have direct access, but only after doing a ton of reading today. If you're NAT'd at both ends, then you will likely get issues. T-Mobile NAT of course, so if you do on your network, that's a sign of trouble. It depends on your router setup, but for me I could either set up all the port forwarding manually (which I have now), or even easier drop the machine into question into a DMZ. I did that earlier and with one click all was well.

There are other implications of doing so i'm sure, but don't give up - it can be done on T-Mo (as witnessed in the screenshot at the top!)

In the screenshot in the first post the device is connected by GPRS, and my MacBook (and therefore it's VMware Fusion session) are in the DMZ on my router. My media center is obviously just NAT'd, hence the blue blob. The screenshot shows SOTI working over GPRS

P

[surur]

Paul (MVP), on Nov 1 2007, 22:07, said:

I have direct access, but only after doing a ton of reading today. If you're NAT'd at both ends, then you will likely get issues. T-Mobile NAT of course, so if you do on your network, that's a sign of trouble. It depends on your router setup, but for me I could either set up all the port forwarding manually (which I have now), or even easier drop the machine into question into a DMZ. I did that earlier and with one click all was well.

There are other implications of doing so i'm sure, but don't give up - it can be done on T-Mo (as witnessed in the screenshot at the top!)

In the screenshot in the first post the device is connected by GPRS, and my MacBook (and therefore it's VMware Fusion session) are in the DMZ on my router. My media center is obviously just NAT'd, hence the blue blob. The screenshot shows SOTI working over GPRS

P

Would you mind saying which ports you forwarded, and I will give this another go tonight?

Surur

[PaulOBrien]

Set a port on your router (e.g. '8080') to forward UDP packets to the machine you want a 'green blob' to inside your network.

Then, tell the client (in the settings) to use UDP port 8080.

I think that's all I did, then it was working, can't remember if I set the internal machines UDP port manually too.

This post was useful: http://forums.hamach...opic.php?t=3875



P

[surur]

Paul (MVP), on Nov 1 2007, 23:30, said:

Set a port on your router (e.g. '8080') to forward UDP packets to the machine you want a 'green blob' to inside your network.

Then, tell the client (in the settings) to use UDP port 8080.

I think that's all I did, then it was working, can't remember if I set the internal machines UDP port manually too.

This post was useful: http://forums.hamach...opic.php?t=3875



P

Thanks!! That solved the problem. I had in fact already set up port forwarding, but I did not do anything on the client side. Just adding the port number to the nat page in the specifications did the trick. Lobster tunes plays perfectly over HSDPA on my Vario 3 now! Thx again.

Surur

[NuShrike]

Cool! I was wondering how to do vpn tunneling with the Kaiser. Usually I use ssh+vnc on the laptop, but this makes sense for Windows.

I've already been using Hamachi to play lan Dawn of War: Dark Crusade games with my friends since its builtin DirectPlay is mentally challenged, and Hamachi works very transparently most of the time.

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