Remote Desktop connections?

Hey guys,

My brother wants to access his server at work so he can do accounts and stuff from home. I've tried looking into VPN and remote desktop connections but am unable to figure out what to do. I wonder if anyone here can help please?

Here's the scenario:

His home setup:
- Windows Vista connected to the internet via Virgin Media(Blueyonder).


His work setup:
- Windows Server 2003 is part of an intranet behind a router connected to the internet via TalkTalk Business.

- His server only has one network adaptor so I was unable to set up VPN server which apparently needs its own adaptor?


I looked into remote desktop but I'm not sure how to find the public address of his router so that I can connect through it to get to his server, although I do know the routers mac address.

I am also on Virgin Media so could test from here.

Any ideas?

Cheers,
Ed.

You could try logmein https://secure.logmein.com/products/free/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bobsmith2012

You could try logmein https://secure.logmein.com/products/free/

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Thank you for the link Bobsmith, looks interesting.

Regards,
Ed.

Or, if you want to go another free route have a look at www.teamviewer.com (non commercial use)

A VPN tunnel and RDP should work just fine though. It usually does mean when you set up the tunnel your normal traffic get blocked, ie: if you have an active tunnel you have no internet connectivity on your local machine. Another option: VMWare player and a virtual machine. Within that virtual machine you create a VPN tunnel and use RDP. That way your local machine is unaffected.

EDIT: As far as the the VPN tunnel on his work side is related: usually you create the tunnel at router level, not server level.

I also vote for teamviewer.
but i use remote admin sometimes aswell..
as for a VPN i always came across issues setting up a vpn connection when it came to other network connections. espesialy if there was ICS set up on the VPN host. The best way i found around that was to have a 3rd extra sysem running linux which acts as a centeral vpn for all the systems to connect to. (dosent matter where it is as long as the systems are all configured to use it)
its better not to use windows for the vpn as it will only allow 1 connection to the vpn (hence linux)

but I honestly tink that team viewer set up correctly is much easier and serves the purpous well, but it can be problematic whn changing adminastrative settings on the server from the client, or if you run a DX-GFX based application on the server.

The windows default remote administration shopuld just be dissregarded,

@Op Cable or xDSL?

Cable tents not to be configurable, xDSL routers do get configured.

If on xDSL open the 3389 port on the router on the server's ip address, also for the vpn opejn the ports 500 and 4500. (Ipsec protocol)

On his server (if it's windows) create a dial IN connection and assign the users you want them to connect to the server.

Also, check if the router supports DynDNS and create a dynamic domain for ease of access:)

Hi,

Thank you all for the additional replies, really appreciate those. A lot of what has been suggested is unfortunately way above my head :) I think I get the main points though.

Cheers,
Ed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by status

@Op Cable or xDSL?
If on xDSL open the 3389 port on the router on the server's ip address, also for the vpn opejn the ports 500 and 4500. (Ipsec protocol)

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I would really NOT advice opening up 3389 on any router unless there is a firewall behind it, specially with this new RDP worm/exploit swarming around! Check this newsitem: http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00002227.html

If you do use RDP route it through a VPN tunnel. Or, if your firewall allows and you have a fixed IP on the client side you could consider opening up 3389 only from the originating IP of the client. This depends if you firewall/router supports this.

Mind you: if you are serious about your server, use more then a router and windows firewall to protect remote acces. At home I run a server, I open up ports on my router, but this only goes as far as my firewall (in my case a free community edition of Endian) which then handles which traffic is allowed to go where. This firewall also enables VPN tunnels which could then be used to enable RDP access to an internal server.

---------- Post added at 17:44 ---------- Previous post was at 17:42 ----------

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ed.D

Hi,

Thank you all for the additional replies, really appreciate those. A lot of what has been suggested is unfortunately way above my head :) I think I get the main points though.

Cheers,
Ed.

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If you want help/advice send me a PM. If your brother's server is not managed by any IT department maybe there is room for improvement.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tahoe

I would really NOT advice opening up 3389 on any router unless there is a firewall behind it, specially with this new RDP worm/exploit swarming around! Check this

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Yeah, I wouldn't recommend it, even with a firewall, but I'm paranoid.

An alternative to straight RDP would be RDP over SSH.

It does mean installing an SSH server on your windows server (copssh is the usual...) and opening port 22 on the firewall. (The server DOES have a firewall in front of it, right?)

This is a decent link...

http://blog.spencerkellis.net/2010/0...-in-windows-7/

You use putty on the client side to setup your SSH tunnel to your server, then you RDP to the forwarded port on your desktop.

desiv

http://teamviewer.com/

as easy as lindsay lohan