Networking puzzle, day 2

Tuesday, June 19, 2007 by Dave Winer.

Yesterday I wrote up a Macintosh networking problem. With two ISPs, I wondered how I could use both networks on one LAN. There was a huge outpouring of very high quality information that almost immediately pointed to a class of hardware product that provides a very elegant solution. But I want some more information before deciding how to proceed, because something even simpler might make more sense for what I want to do. 

Suppose, for the sake of argument, that I have a Mac OS X server colocated offsite, but I want to be able to use it as a file sharing server from my home. The machine has a fixed IP address. Of course it doesn't show up as a server under the Network section in the Mac Finder. Now the question. Is there some way to get my desktop Mac at home to connect to the server with just an IP address?  

If so, my problem is solved because I have five static IP addresses from one of my ISPs. And if I can just put up a server at a fixed location, that solves the problem.