Networking over the internet?

[Gatttsu]

For some reason I can't seem to recall how to do this as of late, but here's what I'm trying to do:

One user with a dialup connection, most likely on AOL or whatnot (guest)
One user with cable behind a d-link router (host)

I'm trying to recall how to link up without external programs (hamachi, etc..) so that these systems act like they're on the same network so certain files can be shared and so certain applications can be linked that don't support internet connections but do support connections over the network.

Only thing that comes to mind at the moment would be to get the dialup user to join my network through my router via his dialup connection somehow, almost making the router act like a VPN server or something.

Any thoughts or comments on this?

The user I'm trying to have connect to my network is trustworthy btw, not just some person that I hardly know.

 

[dbuman]

If the dial up comp is in the same room as ur comp, Id have a very simple answer: buy a hub. But because its possibly not that easy, here's an alternative: You cant connect to a network if the comps are not on the same connection. You need to be using the same internet and establish a network using windows in order to share files. You could, however, move his comp by yours and hook up via CAT5 cable if ur just transferring files. Ud have to setup a Ad-hoc network tho, which is kinda a pain to do. If you can manage a ethernet hub and connect both comps via the hub to the internet, you could network the comps easily.

If you arent able to do the above, just setup an FTP server. Other than that, you could possibly just use a free website service provider which has enough space to store the files needed to be transferred. Then from there the person on dial-up could login to your website provider's site and download the files

 

[Gatttsu]

If it were as simple as his system being in the same room, I'd have him on the network here and throw his 56k modem in the trash XD

It seems my router supports VPN server functions, just had to update my firmware again and now I've gotta go through the arduous task of finding out what all my settings used to be since I forgot to back them up beforehand ><

Guess I'll keep tinkering with this, even d-link says this is possible, I've just gotta find out what kind of connection I need to establish so that the VPN connection will work for him to log into my network from his house or something to that effect.

Edit: I'm more interested in getting older applications/games that don't support internet connections, but do support network connections to work without making him drag his system over here everytime we want to play a game or work on something. Sharing files isn't really a major issue, we could just use flash drives or DVD/CD's to transfer files like we've always done.

 

[dbuman]

usually if u have a game that works over a connection, like Quake, you should be able to get ur friend's IP address and he get yours and host a game, and the other use the IP address to join ur game. http://www.whatismyip.com/

 

[Gatttsu]

There's another roadblock I've run into with this project, some of these games don't support IP inputs, they just auto select the existing network and look for any games being hosted on that network.

I'm going to look deeper into the files and see if there's a way to just put in the IP addresses into the .ini's and maybe we'll just have to do that every time he signs on. I'm going to doubt this'll work though, I'm pretty sure someone would have come up with a way to do it by now, pretty much everyone uses Hamachi for a few of these and his system won't cooperate with mine over a Hamachi network.

Edit: took like 5 seconds, there isn't any easy way for me to tinker with where it looks for the host game, it's a little too deep-rooted for me to be up to the task anytime soon. (no .ini's to edit, it's all .dat's and then the game files themselves)

 

[dbuman]

hmmm. a VPN will be your only way if you want to play games without IP support and such. But LAN parties are always nice.

 

[Gatttsu]

hmmm. a VPN will be your only way if you want to play games without IP support and such. But LAN parties are always nice.

I agree wholeheartedly, lan parties rock ^^

The input was most appreciated, I think I'll give my buddy a call and see if I can direct him in attempting a VPN with my setup. If anything, this whole discussion has at least given my brain the warmup it needed, I was feeling quite rusty today for some reason XD

 

[dbuman]

lol you caught me at the right time tho. Im workin as a computer services assistant at the college i go to >.< my superior was sitting in a desk just 10 ft away. I asked him and he said the only way is VPN. lol goodluck

 

[CmdrFly]

VPN tunnels add an awful lot of overhead to the packets, being on 56k his connection to your network will be even worse. Why is Hamachi not an option? Far as I understand it will manually add routes to each person's ARP tables building a sort of static route between the nodes. This would provide much better transmission speeds between his end and yours.

 

[Gatttsu]

VPN tunnels add an awful lot of overhead to the packets, being on 56k his connection to your network will be even worse. Why is Hamachi not an option? Far as I understand it will manually add routes to each person's ARP tables building a sort of static route between the nodes. This would provide much better transmission speeds between his end and yours.

We've tried Hamachi a few times with no success, even when we had the whole thing giving us the green light to go ahead, the game wouldn't detect either of us hosting a game no matter which direction we tried it in, perhaps I've done something wrong? I followed the directions on the Hamachi site that were specific to the game(s) and we still hit that roadblock of not finding each other's game through the it.

I'm thinking that the crappy AOL settings he's stuck with won't let him through the Hamachi connection properly. Perhaps I should go over to his house and fix that if we absolutely have to use Hamachi.

 

[CmdrFly]

Oh I'm sure VPN will work, just expect it to operate at noticably slower speeds than his typical 56k rate.

AOL... yeah I wouldn't be surprised if they're the culprit behind Hamachi's inability to work here. They do some f_cked up things to ensure their Internet connection is 110% "user friendly". You may even wanna run a tracert back to your IP from his place, to see if the hops will even be recognized outside the AOL cloud.

 

[Gatttsu]

Fun isn't always easy or free, now is it? ^^;

Thankfully, the main game my friend and I are interested in is turn-based so it'll be easy to ignore the lag/slowdown issues.