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Cannot Pair To Mac Outside Local network

Eddie Hartman 0 Reputation points
2023-04-18T21:53:31.5166667+00:00

I'm trying to set up a mac mini in a remote location so that I can pair to mac in Visual Studio 2022. Everything works fine when I'm in that location and on the local network, but when I leave and try to connect via an ip address, I get a "Couldn't resolve Mac "xxx"" error. I have forwarded ports 5900 for VNC, 22 for SSH, and 5000 and 50530 for Xamarin messaging. I can ssh and vnc into the machine from outside the local network just fine. When I connect to pair with mac, I put in the subdomain pointing to the public ip address as "xxx.xxx.com" and get the error. If I put in the ip address it also just fails "xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx". Both machines are up to date with latest versions of Visual Studio (for windows and mac) and Xamarin. What am I doing wrong? Basically, I'm trying to set up Pair to Mac for IOS development over the internet and not a local network. What extra steps are involved, what ports need forwarded, etc?

Xamarin
Xamarin
A Microsoft open-source app platform for building Android and iOS apps with .NET and C#.
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  1. Bruce (SqlWork.com) 61,731 Reputation points
    2023-04-21T20:14:58.6133333+00:00

    while the Mac needs internet access to download packages, etc the visual studio connection only needs a working SSH and the proper tools installed on the Mac.

    First I'd get the local network to work. then try internet access. the typical issue with access a Mac with SSH over the internet is the reverser dns lookup. you may need to disable this.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
  2. Matt 51 Reputation points
    2024-01-02T11:39:07.02+00:00

    I don't think the feature Pair to Mac is smart enough; which is why directions specify that it must be on a local network.

    After reviewing the traffic with Wireshark I noticed that on a local network setup the initial call was TCP, but on a remote network setup the initial call was NBNS.

    My specific issue is that ATT forced their hardware on me and I have my own router behind that. So there was a snag on the passthrough setup to my router for the forwarding to work correctly.

    Once I got passed this I realized the easiest way to get Pair to Mac working remotely (based on what I've read on it) would be to set up a tunnel on the computer connecting to the mac with Windows PowerShell:

    ssh -L <local_port>:localhost:<remote_port> username@public-ip-address

    Then log in with localhost:<local_port> in the Pair to Mac window and everything connected perfectly.

    Good luck.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
  3. Wenyan Zhang (Shanghai Wicresoft Co,.Ltd.) 29,381 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2023-04-21T07:04:17.3166667+00:00

    Hello,

    Ensuring that both machines are on the same Local Network is the premise to pair. Please check the step7 in this Remote Login Doc.

    I have to say, it's a question in network level, and you have to solve the local area network configuration between the 2 computers.

    Best Regards,

    Wenyan Zhang

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