Make the most of all your Internet-connected Macs via Back to My Mac!
Back to My Mac promises that you'll be able to connect easily from one of your Macs to another, whether it's down the hall or on the other side of the globe for file and screen sharing, making it possible, for instance, to snag a forgotten document or to control your Power Mac G5 from your MacBook while on a trip. Or at least that's the theory, since in practice, people have had huge trouble in getting Back to My Mac working. In this ebook, you'll get detailed help with solving puzzling router problems, using the hidden Screen Sharing application, and understanding the security implications of using Back to My Mac.
If you own Take Control of MobileMe, you can save 50% on this title: open your PDF to page 1, click Check for Updates, and shop via a link on that Web page.
More Info
Contents & Intro
FAQ
Blog
Read this book to learn the answers to questions like:
What can I do with remote file sharing and screen sharing, anyway?
Should I be concerned about securing my Back to My Mac connection?
How do I configure a Linksys router for Back to My Mac?
How can I copy and paste between a local and a remote Mac?
What smoke and mirrors is Apple using to make Back to My Mac work?
Help! I'm double-NATted, and it's really bugging me! What should I do?
How do I erase all traces of my Back to My Mac info from a public computer?
Book Info
94 pages
Version 1.1
Updated 11-Jun-08
1.2 MB download
ISBN: 1933671467
Free sample with Table of Contents, Introduction, Quick Start, and section starts.
About the Author
Glenn Fleishman is editor of the daily Web log Wi-Fi Networking News, a contributing editor for TidBITS, the Practical Mac columnist for The Seattle Times, and a regular contributor to The Economist, Macworld, Popular Science, and The New York Times.
This book will help you master Back to My Mac, a feature introduced in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard that lets you remotely access files and remotely control the screens of multiple Macs that you manage or own. This book was written by Glenn Fleishman, edited by Tonya Engst and Dan Frakes, and published by TidBITS Publishing Inc.
Introduction
If you thought this book title was interesting, then you probably own more than one computer, and your computers are likely located in different places—whether just down the hall or halfway around the world from each other.
I'm no mind reader, and you can easily determine how I predicted your computer ownership. It's increasingly the case that when we're on one computer, we find that we need files from or need control of another computer. Fortunately, Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard has added a significant tool to our arsenal that can reach out over a local network or the Internet: Back to My Mac.
Back to My Mac uses a host of industry standards and Apple-developed protocols to create an intertwined web (as in a woven web, not the World Wide Web) of services. It uses these services to create a connection between Macs for the purposes of remote file sharing and remote screen control. The "key" to this connection, so to speak, is a shared MobileMe account.
Leopard's somewhat unique twist on existing third-party and Apple technologies is in allowing file sharing and remote screen control via "tunnels" that can reach through home and office wireless and broadband gateways and past network obstructions.
Apple would like to say that one or two clicks turns on these services. However, as with any set of tools that relies on the Internet, there's more beneath the surface.
In this book, I show you not only how to set up your network and your connected Macintoshes for the best results with Back to My Mac, but also how to troubleshoot problems, determine whether Back to My Mac can even work for you, and overcome stumbling blocks.
Although Back to My Mac debuted with the initial release of Leopard, in this book I assume you are using at least Mac OS X 10.5.4, the first version of Leopard to support MobileMe.
Quick Start to Back to My Mac
This book shows you how to activate Back to My Mac, including configuring your router, and it teaches you to troubleshoot problems that prevent the service from working reliably.
Learn background that will help you configure like a pro:
Apple changed the name of the .Mac service to MobileMe in July 2008 and modified the features offered. For more about the change, read Take Note of MobileMe.
Read Why Use Back to My Mac? to get a better sense of how Back to My Mac addresses your needs.
Take a quick whirl through how Back to My Mac actually makes its way over the Internet or a local network for a connection, noting whether your networks are set up as Back to My Mac expects. See Learn How It All Works
Learn important networking terminology and concepts in Appendix A: Understanding Network Terms.
Configure and use Back to My Mac:
Read Configure Your Router or Gateway to first see if you need to make any changes to allow remote access, and, if so, what settings to modify.
Enable remote file sharing and screen sharing with Back to My Mac. Consult Turn on Back to My Mac, Set Up File Sharing, and Set Up Screen Sharing.
Learn how to connect to remote computers in Connect to a Back to My Mac System.
Access more features when sharing a screen. See Add More Control to the Screen Sharing Program.
Help friends and relatives troubleshoot problems via Back to My Mac. See Overcome the Same MobileMe Account Limit.
Deal with Back to My Mac security issues:
Avoid security pitfalls that make Back to My Mac less safe. See Secure Back to My Mac.
Did you use Back to My Mac on a computer that's not yours? Erase Back to My Mac's Traces on that Mac.
Solve problems:
Diagnose and solve commons problems that prevent Back to My Mac from working. See MobileMe Preference Pane Troubleshooting Messages and Back to My Mac Stops Working or Doesn't Work.
Figure out if your ISP is keeping Back to My Mac from making a connection. Refer to Double NAT.
Keep your computer from falling asleep and being unreachable remotely. See Sleep Causes Lack of Access.
Do I need a MobileMe account to set up Back to My Mac?
Yes.
Does this ebook cover Back-to-My-Mac access to drives attached to an AirPort/Time Capsule base station? Or how to configure a base station via a remote Back-to-My-Mac connection?
The downloadable PDF of this ebook pre-dates Apple's introduction of those features and does not cover them. However, once you have the PDF, if you click Check for Updates on the cover (page 1) the resulting Check for Updates Web page has details and steps, which were excerpted from a draft of version 1.5 of Glenn's Take Control of Your 802.11n AirPort Network.
Note that although you can access remote USB-attached (or internal on the Time Capsule) drives via Back to My Mac, you can't make Time Machine backups to them using a Back-to-My-Mac connection. Also note that the Back-to-My-Mac option is only for 802.11n AirPort base stations, and that you can't attach a drive to the AirPort Express.
Can I connect with Back to My Mac to a network through an AirPort base station from before 2003?
Glenn suggests that you not try. Specifically, he wrote in the ebook, "If you have a pre-2003 AirPort Base Station, any of the two 802.11b gateways (with the alien ship design) that Apple produced from 1999 to 2002, your best bet is to upgrade. You won't get the performance or features you need from it, and you're using outdated security, to boot. A used 2003 AirPort Extreme Base Station with the latest firmware—always a free update from Apple—is better than any of the pre-2003 models."
What if I want to know about screen sharing through other methods, like iChat?
Feel free to ask us if you have a question about this book!
Send Us Your Comments!
How could we not publish such kind words? If you'd like to send us your comments (good or bad, though we hope they're all good), just click the Feedback link on the cover of your copy of the ebook. Be sure to let us know if we can publish your comment. Thanks!
If you own this ebook, and you want help with connecting from a Macintosh, via Back to My Mac, to any 802.11n AirPort base station (Express, Extreme, or Time Capsule), click Check for Updates on the cover (page 1) of the ebook's PDF. The resulting Check for Updates Web page has advice and steps. Once you are connected, you can access files on any attached (or internal) drives on the base station and you can configure the base station remotely, using AirPort Utility.
MobileMe's Back to My Mac feature used to be just for accessing files stored on a drive attached to a Mac. Now, Apple has added an option for using Back to My Mac to access a drive attached to or inside a Time Capsule, or attached to an 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station. So, for example, if you're in Australia, you should be able to access files on a Time Capsule in Brazil, assuming you've properly set up your account, password, and the Brazil-based Time Capsule's incoming Internet access. The new Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme models released earlier this week come with the feature, and the older Time Capsule model and older 802.11n AirPort Extremes will get this feature via a firmware update from Apple.
