Complicated remote access situation

[omesk]

Hello everyone.

Here is the situation at hand. I have a friend who is setting up video cameras to monitor his restaurant. Now these cameras are going to be connected to a new computer which will record the video to the hard drive. He also has one other computer which is also the cash register. These two computers will be on a LAN with a DSL connection to the internet.

So what he wants to do is be able to monitor the video and the cash register from a remote location, not necessarily at the same time. He wants to be able to monitor this over the internet with a DSL connection. I am planning to use PCAnywhere for this project for the remote viewing.

Now, what I cannot decide on is how to set up the network at the restaurant so that it will allow a remote connection over the internet and still be secure. I was thinking of installing Windows 2000 server on the computer with the video cameras and setting up a VPN so he could connect over a VPN and then use PC Anywhere over the VPN connection.

Please let me know if I am going in the right direction or if you have any ideas on a better setup.

 

[ashleym]

I hope you friend is using an established solution for this and not just trying to throw it together himself. Is he going to be contstantly recording video or taking shots every 2 min? If he is going to be constatnly recording video he will need tons of diskspace, or he will run out quickly.

As for remote access, you can do VPN with Win2k, or you can just use PcAnywhere, version 10 has lots of good security built in. What kind of firewall are you getting for the DSL connection? I would strongly reccommend a hardware router. Some of the more sophisticated routers offer VPN capability although they are a little expensive, it can be worth it in the end.

AM

 

[omesk]

ashleym, thanks for your reply.

Well, the constant recording isnt a problem becuase it will record for about 7 days on the hard drive and after the last day, it will dump the first day and so on.

And I will use a hardware router with the DSL connection. Now, I know that I can just forward the ports in the router for use with PCAnywhere, but doesnt this create a security risk? How can I set it up for use with PCAnywhere and still keep the network secure?

 

[ashleym]

Sure you can forward the ports and use Pc Anywhere, you would be opening a hole in the firewall, but no more so then you would be if you forward any other ports. Pc Anywhere 10 has good encryption and security built in, check it out.

AM

 

[omesk]

Is PCAnywhere 10 compatible with win XP? I think I read that v10.5 is but Im not sure about 10.