Orbi and Back to My Mac

[demeeder]

I have a router/1x satellite setup.  1x Mac (MacMini) is directly connected to the router.  iMac is plugged into the satellite.

When on the same network I can access both computers via the "shared" links in finder (Back to my Mac).

When I am outside of my network (on a MacBook Pro), I am only able to access the MacMini via Back to My Mac.

All computers are signed into iCloud, both have the same Back to My Mac and sharing permissions set up.

On the MacMini I have a Plex server that does have Port Forwarding enabled (but to the Plex Port).  I do not have any port forwarding enabled on the iMac.

UPnP is enabled on the router.  NAT is secure.  There is no other router on on the network.

Any thoughts on why I am unable to see both of the computers when I am remote?

Appreciate any thoughts.

Dave

[Kochev · Accepted solution]

I have resolved the problem. Port forwarding does not make the problem worse but it seems that at the end of the day it is not needed at all with ORBI. My issue was the following. I have double cheked my Back to My Mac and found out that in the preferences on one of the machines i had the following massge: "I Cloud Server Not Responding". I resolved the issue by following the steps below:

1. From the iCloud System Preferences pane, uncheck the Back to My Mac checkbox to turn it off.

2. Open the Keychain Access app (in Applications/Utilities).

3. Click the “System” keychain (You’ll see keychains near the upper left of the app window).

4. Make sure “All Items” is selected in the “Category” box below.

5. In the results showing to the right, look for any key whose “Kind” is “Back to My Mac key.”

6. Delete the key(s), authenticating with your password to do so.

7. Back in the iCloud System Preferences pane, re-check the Back to My Mac box.

At this point, Back to My Mac started and the “server not responding” message did not appear.

The funny part is, that the service worked without issues with my other Linksys router and this should not be the case. Maybe after I have chenged the devices the service broke for some reason.

[whsbuss-1]

Are both connected Macs connected to the router or is one connected to the satellite? Is the Orbi in router or AP mode?

[demeeder]

IMac is connected to satellite (Ethernet). MacMini is connected to router (Ethernet). Orbi is in router mode. No other router on the network.

[Kochev]

Hello,

I have the same issues with the Orbi. I am unable to access my other Macs over external network. No issues within the WiFi internal network. 

[rhester72]

This looks possibly to be a local Mac configuration issue, similar to the one seen here.

Rodney

[Kochev]

This has nothing to do with the local mac configuration nor the keychain credantials. Back to my mac workz just fine with another Linksys router over WAN with the same machines. I have also tried with port forwarding. No success!

[rhester72]

Given making this work is entirely dependent on NAT-PMP, manual port forwarding is only going to make the problem worse, not better.

Rodney

[Kochev · Accepted solution]

I have resolved the problem. Port forwarding does not make the problem worse but it seems that at the end of the day it is not needed at all with ORBI. My issue was the following. I have double cheked my Back to My Mac and found out that in the preferences on one of the machines i had the following massge: "I Cloud Server Not Responding". I resolved the issue by following the steps below:

1. From the iCloud System Preferences pane, uncheck the Back to My Mac checkbox to turn it off.

2. Open the Keychain Access app (in Applications/Utilities).

3. Click the “System” keychain (You’ll see keychains near the upper left of the app window).

4. Make sure “All Items” is selected in the “Category” box below.

5. In the results showing to the right, look for any key whose “Kind” is “Back to My Mac key.”

6. Delete the key(s), authenticating with your password to do so.

7. Back in the iCloud System Preferences pane, re-check the Back to My Mac box.

At this point, Back to My Mac started and the “server not responding” message did not appear.

The funny part is, that the service worked without issues with my other Linksys router and this should not be the case. Maybe after I have chenged the devices the service broke for some reason.