# 3

Ekaterina Gerasimova
kittykat3756@googlemail.com
Connect to computers not on your local network: bypassing firewall restrictions on remote host.

# Reverse Connections…

A reverse connection is usually used to bypass firewall restrictions on open ports. A firewall usually blocks open ports, but does not block outgoing traffic. In a normal forward connection, a client connects to an open port on the server. However, in the case of a reverse connection, the client opens a port for the server to connect to.

# Enabling reverse connections

Select Remote Reverse Connections….

Check Enable Reverse Connections.

# Access a computer behind a firewall

The remote machine needs to connect to your machine using your IP address and port number, which can be found in the Reverse Connections… dialog, under Connectivity.

Currently, Vino, the GNOME VNC server, does not support reverse connections which are also known as "listen mode". Some other applications, such as UltraVNC, RealVNC and TightVNC, do have support for reverse connections.

Once the remote computer connects to your machine, Remote Desktop Viewer will establish the reverse connection.

When connecting to a machine which is not on your local network, you will need to provide your externally visible IP address and port number to the remote server.