I want to share my db with colleagues in Brazil. the computer i host the db on starts with 192. and so it is a private/internal ip address that can't be accessed by computers outside of our network. how can i publish this thing on the web through IWP if no one can access my computer?

I assume that your local network is connected to the internet with a router. In that case you can generally configure the router to have the requests on a particular port routed to the computer hosting the database. Port 591 is a good choice since that is one that Filemaker has reserved for IWP.

Some routers can be configured with a web browser by entering the router's IP address as the web page address

Example: http://192.168.0.1

The router configuration software will tell you what IP address the outside world sees. For example, it could be 10.10.10.2. So, in this example you would have your remote users use this for the url:

http://10.10.10.2:591

thanks for the tip. i have the router's ip address but now it prompts me with:

"To view this page, you need to log in to area "Home Gateway" on <ip address>" and then asks me for a name and password. trouble is, i have no idea about any name and password for my router. any suggestions?

Chasm:

You can always try the usual suspects: Admin & Admin (or Admin & no password, or vice-versa). Otherwise they may have been preset by your ISP, if you got the router from them...

-Stanley

Okay, I got the default password from the modem manufacturer and have entered the setup--what do i need to do to grant access to the 1 computer on the internal network that hosts the databases? wan? lan? nat? is this port forwarding?

Yes, port forwarding is what you're trying to do. Using the example above, you want to forward traffic on port 591 to the ip address of the computer hosting the database.