VPN for a Newb...

[gerrygerry]

Hi all-

I used to frequent these boards back in my web development days... since then, I've changed careers and haven't done anything beyond word processing for the past ~3 years. I've been assigned a networking issue at work, and I find myself totally lost now!

Basically, we currently have 10 guys stationed all over the county with laptops... they have internet access. They all just do basic word processing. Our issue is sharing files with each other, and backing up data. We don't have a central office... we all work out of our trucks.

My solution? I figured we could rent a managed server (picked softlayer.com) and just set-up a file share via VPN. Do I know what that means anymore? I hope so... am I even on the right track?

I went through the "Manage Your Server" deal and tried to "Add a role"... I chose "Remote Access / VPN Server", and that's about as far as I've gotten. It won't let me proceed without disabling the "Windows Firewall / ICS Service"... and if I do that, my Remote Desktop Connection dies and I'm unable to access the server any further.

I've got about 2700 pages to read about Win2k3 in the books I have... and the vast majority doesn't seem directly relevant to what I want to do. Is there a simple answer to this, or do I need to devote weeks of my time to learning win2k3 server?

Thanks for any ideas or tips you can offer up!

-gerrygerry

"I'm doin' a one-nighter for bitin' Ed the mail man... the guy was tryin' to cast a spell on me... like a wizard or something."
"Are you sure about that?"
"I dunno... maybe he was just wavin' ..."

 

[gerrygerry]

I guess I should mention as well, I haven't configured anything on the machine yet... it's virgin as far as I know.

To consolidate costs in the future, I may also decide to host the company website on this machine as well... why pay for 2 servers?

-gerrygerry

"I'm doin' a one-nighter for bitin' Ed the mail man... the guy was tryin' to cast a spell on me... like a wizard or something."
"Are you sure about that?"
"I dunno... maybe he was just wavin' ..."

 

[dberg35]

Windows VPN can be tricky, so here is a possible solution. What about terminal services? You onle have 10 clients to connect and there you all can connect and share apps and docs. If the server doesn't have a static IP then get a free dynamic dns and point the server there.

 

[gerrygerry]

That is a viable option I suppose... I do have a static IP on the server. In your experience, what is the minimum connection speed the client machines need to function reasonably?

I appreciate your thoughts!

-gerrygerry

"I'm doin' a one-nighter for bitin' Ed the mail man... the guy was tryin' to cast a spell on me... like a wizard or something."
"Are you sure about that?"
"I dunno... maybe he was just wavin' ..."

 

[gerrygerry]

I read up on it a bit more... apparently I'm only licensed for 2 simultaneous connections at once, which won't work. I guess I would still prefer to do the VPN option, rather than pay for additional licensing.

Any further input?

-gerrygerry

"I'm doin' a one-nighter for bitin' Ed the mail man... the guy was tryin' to cast a spell on me... like a wizard or something."
"Are you sure about that?"
"I dunno... maybe he was just wavin' ..."

 

[dberg35]

Try this software OpenVPN

http://openvpn.net/

I have never used it but others have and liked it.

 

[Sleepsalot]

Another thing may be using a secure FTP set up. Much easier than vpn. The company I work for had this set up when we used a devlopement company in India. We now have every thing back in house and just use passworded FTP

Wayne

Life is a big Roleplaying adventure.