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How do i connect to my server at home from anywhere in the world?

I am running server 2003 sp2. I want to be able to bring up remote desktop connection and type my servers ip and remote control it. Do i need to setup vpn? Also since i have no static ip i am using no-ip currently and forwarding the port necessary for my ftp server. What port would i need to forward for RDP?

Public Comments

1. Answer - 3389 The best thing to do would be port foward 3389 to you server through your router. As well, most routers are able to handle Dynamic DNS services and can be configured to automatically change your ***.NO-IP.com to a new IP should yours change for some reason
2. RDC is 3389. Just enable remote connections on the server (and forward 3389 to it) and run RDC remotely. I do it in either direction, connecting to work from home and to home from work.
3. I would use Microsoft Mesh to do this, just add the server as a device then you can connect to it from any computer with internet access. You just need a hotmail/windows live account and it is all free and comes with 5gbs of online storage.
4. You can use Remote Desktop and set up the server to port forward port 3389 (remote desktop) to the server IP. This works but is not secure. You can use L2TP on Windows Server 2003 to vpn into the server; a lot more secure. However, server is immediately accessible on log in. You can also enable a vpn hosted on the router and then use IPSec vpn client to vpn into the LAN and then use Remote Desktop using the LAN subnet to identify the server and access. This is a lot safer.