IP's, Ports & Remote Connections - Wits end, please help

First, what make/model router is being used at the location where the VM is?  
Next, What ISP is used where the VM is (i.e. Comcast or Cox Cable modem, Metro-e, etc)
Third, What ISP is used at the home computer?

Side note:  Teamviewer uses ports 80 and 5938 (alternate).  I would make sure your router and/or firewall is allowing incomming connections on at least port 80.  
ESXi 5 uses the following ports (from http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1012382#ESXi%205.x)

22 TCP Client PC ESXi 5.x SSH Server  
53 UDP ESXi 5.x DNS Server DNS Client
68 UDP ESXi 5.x DHCP Server DHCP Client
80 TCP Client PC ESXi 5.x Redirect Web Browser to HTTPS Service (443)
111 TCP ESXi 5.x NFS Server NFS Client – RPC Portmapper
111 UDP ESXi 5.x NFS Server NFS Client – RPC Portmapper
123 UDP ESXi 5.x NTP Time Server NTP Client
161 UDP SNMP Server ESXi 5.x SNMP Polling.  
162 UDP ESXi 5.x SNMP Collector SNMP Trap Send
427 UDP ESXi 5.x CIM Servers The CIM client uses the Service Location Protocol, version 2 (SLPv2) to find CIM servers.  
443 TCP vSphere Client ESXi 5.x vSphere Client access to vCenter Server
443 TCP vCenter Server ESXi 5.x vCenter Server access to ESXi hosts
514 UDP/TCP ESXi 5.x Syslog Server Remote syslog logging
902 TCP/UDP ESXi 5.x ESXi 5.x Host access to other hosts for migration and provisioning
902 TCP vSphere Client ESXi 5.x vSphere Client access to virtual machine consoles
902 TCP/UDP ESXi 5.x vCenter Server (UDP) Status update (heartbeat) connection from ESXi to vCenter Server
2049 TCP ESXi 5.x NFS Server Transactions from NFS storage devices
2049 UDP ESXi 5.x NFS Server Transactions from NFS storage devices
2050 to 2250 TCP/UDP ESXi 5.x ESXi 5.x Traffic between hosts for vSphere High Availability (vSphere HA) and EMC Autostart Manager
3260 TCP ESXi 5.x iSCSI storage  server Transactions to iSCSI storage devices  
5900 to 5964 TCP ESXi 5.x ESXi 5.x RFB protocol, which is used by management tools such as VNC  
5988  TCP CIM Server ESXi 5.x CIM transactions over HTTP  
5989 TCP vCenter Server ESXi 5.x CIM XML transactions over HTTPS  
5989 TCP ESXi 5.x vCenter Server CIM XML transactions over HTTPS  
8000  TCP ESXi 5.x (VM Target) ESXi 5.x (VM Source) Requests from vMotion  
8000 TCP ESXi 5.x (VM Source) ESXi 5.x (VM Target) Requests from vMotion  
8042 to 8045 TCP/UDP ESXi 5.x ESXi 5.x Traffic between hosts for HA and EMC Autostart Manager  
8100 TCP/UDP ESXi 5.x ESXi 5.x Traffic between hosts for vSphere Fault Tolerance (FT)  
8200 TCP/UDP ESXi 5.x ESXi 5.x Traffic between hosts for vSphere Fault Tolerance (FT)  

Lastly, from personal experience with the larger ISP here, if you are on a residential service, they block a LOT of stuff.  Granted things like RDP work, but they even have telnet blocked on the residential side here.  However Teamviewer should be letting you in.  If you are not able to use the Teamviewer program and you have an account for their web interface try it from the web interface as well.  

You currently probably have your VM's network setup as NAT or Host-only. You will want to change it to Bridged. Here is instructions on the VM workstation which is alike. http://www.vmware.com/support/ws45/doc/network_configure_ws.html

You will also need to open your Inernet firewall if you want them to access it thru rdp, etc.. not teamveiwer. What kind of firewall do you have. Also do you have a static IP from your ISP? If not you will want to get one or use something like dyndns.org. Some firewalls are even compatible with Dyndns.org.

Also don't forget to open Windows firewall also.

Unfortunately we are not allowed to give out phone numbers or emails through Experts Exchange but if you really need someone I'm sure you can find me on Google :)

Shareef Huddle

First, what make/model router is being used at the location where the VM is?  
NetGear DG834GT (Firmware V1.03.87)

Next, What ISP is used where the VM is (i.e. Comcast or Cox Cable modem, Metro-e, etc)
Sky Broadband (i think, see below)
Sorry for sounding completely dimwitted but do you mean Internet Service Provider ?
There are so many of these abbreviations it gets confusing

Third, What ISP is used at the home computer?
see above

I have configured, (or so i thought) ports to be open via my router admin section, ..

Also configured a hostname for static ip with DYNDNS as it is compatible with my router (has a section for DYNDNS)
When i go to this hostname via my web browser it even comes up with an ESXi screen, so i know that is connecting.

I will have a play with the network adapter settings and see if i can change it, and get beck to you.


Thanks for the replies guys, maybe there is a glimmer of light in the distance after all

ShareefHuddle, i think i found one of your pages ;)

Ok, i had a play around with the Virtual Network Editor and something must have worked as i am able to use teamviewer

this will be a great alternative until i can figure out why remote desktop isnt working from the internet.

Please can someone explain to me in simple terms how i would normally connect to the VM's from an external location ...
Is it as simple as typing my IP address and then using the windows password set in the corresponding VM ?

Also i am aware that for users to connect to different VM's in the same server i would need to assign each VM to a port, ..
can you guys confirm this ?

if this is correct .. how do you do it ?


ok, now, .. i am happy that my friends can now connect and use the VMs i have created for them ..

but i am still primarily interested in getting windows remote desktop to work as i know 90% of people prefer to use it.


If it is a port issue, do you recommend opening all the ports mentioned in the above post ?

@IMV,

teamviewer doesnt need any ports open so if you have opened port 80 as advised above please close it.

remote desktop only neds port 3389 by default.

set your router to NAT/port forward port 3389 to the IP of the machine you want to connect to.
ensure RDP is enabled and working on the machine by testing it internally first.

Thanks ....

thats a great answer, ..

i have added rules for each VM and assigned ports via my router, but RDP can still only connect to the VM on port 3389, i have assigned the port 3390 to the second VM but cannot connect.

Ive discarded the teamviewer solution as i know most users like to use RDP


you mention changing the RDP port on the VM itself ..
can you point me to a guide or tutorial



Fantastic reply, very helpful

Thanks

Its ok i got it, ..

edited the registry setting and worked like a charm, ...

after all the heart ache, it wasnt the way i was setting things up,

it was something as simple as a registry edit, ... man am i kicking myself.

Anyway, thanks for the help, ..


points will be awarded a little later

thanks again for those who did bother to answer


IMV

Glad youve got it sorted. Apologies for not responding to your last query. Wasnt within internet range!