Evidently Shaw cable will not allow an IP from outside their domain to access the POP3 server, which really pisses me off, because I need to check my home email from work. They have webmail, but that is a pain - I want something running in the background (I use Easy Notification (http://www.weberik.com)
What I think I need to do is run something on my computer at home (proxy or relay?) that I can point my POP3 checker at from work, and the Shaw email server will see the request coming from their domain. Even though the home machine has a dynamic IP, I will simply change the IP as needed to keep it pointed there.
Can someone help me out here?
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I am the network and system admin here, so I have no problem with sending my info over the office network, people here will not be sniffing anything, or would even know what sniffing is! Hell, they can't find the "any" key sometimes!
Could I set up a proxy to do this?
Remote control would likely be as much hassle as webmail.
Security is not a big issue here.
Box at home is running XP Pro, and we have a router with NAT here.
Thanks, Al
Hmm, then...
If I were in your shoes, I would try to use a tiny tool called netcat.
http://www.atstake.com/res
or maybe its crypting clone :
http://sourceforge.net/pro
You would need to :
- configure your cablemodem/router to forward TCP 110 to your home box
- run netcat listening on port 110 and making it spawn a connection (with another instance of netcat I think) to pop3.yourisp.net:110
The expected behavior would be :
- some software (the notifier for instance) running on your office box tries to connect to your home public IP on port 110
- the cablerouter forwards to your home PC
- the listening netcat accepts the connection, spawns and pipes to another instance of netcat
- that second instance of netcat connects to the POP3 server.
You should then be able to communicate "normally".
HTH
Thanks _nn_!
I downloaded netcat and looked at the readme file, but I guess I don't understand enough about this to see how I can make it work. Do you know of any place where I can research using netcat in this manner? I am not a complete novice, and I do understand a bit about TCP/IP...
No one else seems to have any ideas!
Thanks!
If I remember correctly, you need a batch file, say popconn.bat, that looks like this
-----8<-------------------
@echo off
nc pop3.yourisp.net 110
-----8<-------------------
For that matter it could also be
-----8<-------------------
@echo off
telnet pop3.yourisp.net 110
-----8<-------------------
on Win2K/XP
Then you need to have this running
nc -L -p 110 -e popconn.bat
To see if it's running correctly locally, you can do
telnet localhost 110
It should connect you to your ISP's POP3 server.
if you are looking at accessing your shawmail you can also access it directly throught the web by going to http://webmail.shaw.ca
Hope this helps
I use shawcable in Vancouver, BC and do this all the time... I just set the pop server to "shawmail.vc.shawcable.net
http://support.shaw.ca/ser
at the above link you can find your server to use.
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: _nn_Posted on 2003-09-30 at 09:09:39ID: 9460496
For genuine POP3, I wouldn't recommend using a proxy, as it would transfer your credentials in clear-text over your office network. But maybe you don't mind if your boss can read your private mail...
Else, I can see a couple alternatives, depending on the OSes, the network topology at your office (is there a firewall to be circumvented ?), your needs and (a little bit) your skills.
The simplest ones consist in organizing a remote control to your home box. If you have a Terminal Server running at home, you just need the client on your office box and to configure your cablemodem and/or router forwards the packets received at its public interface to your home PC. (this procedure is required in all scenarios anyway). Alternatives to TS services are remote-control softwares : commercial ones like Symantec PC Anywhere or free ones like VNC.
If you're concerned about security, not very interested in remote-controlling your home box and only need tunneling the POP3 (or some specific TCP) traffic, then you could also opt for the port forwarding mechanism included in SSH communications. The setup would be a little bit more complex, but still manageable I think.
Before I enter in the gory details, I'd like to know your preference among those options. Or maybe another expert will propose something lighning simple I oversaw...