VPN or Remote Access

[GeeW]

Here is my situation. I have four locations all connected with Cable. I want to setup an accounting program at one location and have the other three locations access the accounting system simultaneously as if it was a LAN.

How would I create a VPN to bridge the three LANs? Is there Remote Access software that would allow multiple users to log in to the same machine simultaneously?

I think the best way to go is with a VPN, but I have never set one up before. Any ideas?

BTW. The machines are all running W2K or XP Pro.

 

[mwahla]

I would use VPN.. It is pretty simple to setup. what OS is your applicationg running on?

 

[dankelt]

GeeW, I would be hesitant creating an vpn connectin over cable to use with an accounting application. Some applications will send/receive massive amounts of data, and a vpn over cable could be awfully slow. You can test it out with just your XP / 2000 pro PCs, it will allow only a sigle connection, but it will give you and idea of speeds. My recommendation is to go with Windows 2000 Terminal Services. For this you will need 2000 server. With T.S. you will be able to create multiple sessions to the server, and all the application processing is done on the server. It will run much faster than if you were processing over the VPN.

 

[GeeW]

I have thought about using Citrix (Terminal Services). But that would not be practical. Cost of the software is too expensive.

My concern is that the one location where the application is hosted would be hosed if the remaining three locations access the accounting program simultaneously. The accounting program is QuickBooks Pro, I am not too familiar with this program but I am assuming that it will only send raw data (text) so bandwidth should not be an issue.

 

[bwilliam13]

No one mentioned Citrix.

Terminal Services (Microsoft) will let you do the exact same thing...without the cost.

Your connections are going to come to a screeching halt running fat-client applications over them. Either utilize Terminal Services which is built-into Windows 2000 Server, or be prepared to cough up some dollars for Citrix. You cannot accomplish what you want to do without giving something up. What you give up is either going to be massive amounts of bandwidth, or some dollars to run Citrix. There is no other way.

Licensing issues with Windows 2000 Server for Terminal Services are non-existent as long as your clients connecting are all Windows 2000 Pro or higher.

 

[GeeW]

Microsoft purchased Citrix (Server Side) and the out come was Terminal Server.

I think that is the route to go. Can someone give me a brief overview on how to setup Terminal Services on 2000 Server. Do I need Advanced Server?

I know that it is possible to use Remote Desktop on XP, but this will only allow one connection per machine. There is even a web based client using ActiveX controls.

 

[gurner]

You only really need Advanced server for Load Balancing or Cluster services.