Hello csny,
I am assuming that you were expecting a researcher to go down one of
the three avenues. I picked #3 because I already know a good working
solution for this which will prove to be extremely inexpensive and
fairly easy to set up and maintain.
====Avenue #3====
You probably know that when a person goes to a domain name such as
://www.google.com, the address is translated into an ip address.
The solution for avenue three is to set all six of the computers with
dynamic ips so that they automatically update their ip address to a
specific URL within minutes of it changing. There is an excellent
service out there that will do this for you. The service is free for
up to five hostnames, but the pricing for increasing the number of
hostnames to six is only an annual fee of $10.
First, lets set up your account. Go to
http://www.dyndns.org/account/create.html
Type in a user name. Make sure that this is something you can easily
remember. Enter your email address and password and click on Create
Account. There should immediately be an email in your inbox with a URL
for you to click on to verify your account.
Now you are ready to login with your username and password at
https://www.dyndns.org/account/login.html
Next: This is what I want you to do on each of the six computers.
Go to: https://www.dyndns.org/services/dyndns/
Click on “Add a Host”
Think of a hostname that is unique and append a number to it. For
example, computer 1 could have the hostname mypurplecat01. Next, from
the pull down menu, select a domain. If you leave the default,
computer 1 will have the address mypurplecat01.dnsalias.com
For ip address, leave the default and click on “Add Host”.
We are now well on our way! What we need to do now is to set up a
program on computer 1 that will automatically upload a new ip address
to this account if it detects that it has a new ip. This will ensure
that you always have mypurplecat01.dnsalias.com pointing to the
dynamic ip on computer 1.
There are numerous client programs with the ability to detect your ip
address and upload it to the dyndns.org service when it changes. I
have selected a program called DeeEnEs which is donationware. The
author would appreciate a donation of at least $15, but does not
obligate users to do so. (If you do not like this program, or need
more advances features in the future, more client programs can be
found here: https://www.dyndns.org/services/dyndns/clients.html)
DeeEnEs can be downloaded here:
http://palacio-cristal.com/default.asp?main=/Products/DeeEnEs/ Scroll
down to where it says “Download Program” and download the zip file.
After running the application for the first time, it will ask you to
store your account information. Where it says “Server” look for the
domain that you selected when you registered the url. (In this example
we used dnsalias.com)
Where it says Hostname, enter the host name you picked for this
computer. In this example we used mypurplecat01
For user name and password, enter your DynDns.org user name and
password. Next click on the Add button in the middle. Now click on the
OK button.
The program has now minimized and become a little globe icon on the
windows taskbar where the clock is. Right click this globe and click
on Properties.
I recommend that you leave the settings exactly as they are. IP
detection is usually more accurate if done over the web, 10 minutes is
a good time for it to detect your ip. You might want to uncheck the
“Check for new versions” option but that is completely up to you. The
force update after 28 days (even if ip has not changed) is important
because you do not want your dyndns account to be disabled because of
inactivity. Click on OK.
Right click the globe and click on “Force Update Now.” Click on Yes.
Right click the Globe again and click on View Log. You will see that
it updated mypurplecat01.dnsalias.com to your current ip address!
This program is now set up so that within 10 minutes of your ip
changing, your ip will be mapped to mypurplecat01.dnsalias.com I do
not recommend that you do this forced update for the other computers
because it is considered an abusive update. When you signed up for the
service, it detected your ip through the browser, but as soon as your
ip changes, it will be updated.
I am not sure what version of PCAnywhere you are using, but am fairly
confident that it will accept mypurplecat01.dnsalias.com for an ip.
If not, you can check the ip of that computer by clicking on Start ->
Run and typing in cmd.exe and hitting the enter key.
All you have to do to find the ip now is type ping
mypurplecat01.dnsalias.com (replacing the proper host name for the
computer you want of course) and hit enter. It will give you the
current ip address of that computer.
You can also drag the program to your startup folder (on all of the
client machines) so that it starts automatically when your computer is
restarted. Your account information etc. will all be saved and it will
automatically detect the new ip address and upload it as required.
I hope this is the type of answer you were expecting and that this is
an acceptable solution for you. If you require any clarifications, or
run into any problems with this solution, please let me know and I
will do my best to further assist you.
tisme-ga |
