Remote Folder Access

Question

I have a file server that stores our users home drive (about 40 users). They is no problem accessing this folder internally to the network, but I would like to be able to give the users the ability to access their home drives remotely. Any suggestions would be great!

Answer 1

You'll need to facilitate some sort of mechanism by which they can access the share remotely.

Two common solutions are

• VPN - Set up a VPN with your gateway device / firewall and provide credentials for your users to log in with. This will essentially fool your users computers into thinking they're plugged into your network at the office.

• Remote Desktop (aka Terminal Server). Establish a server that acts as a remote virtual environment for your staff to connect to remotely. You'll need to allow the traffic through your firewall (which involves opening TCP Port 3389 if you choose to go with a default implementation)

Answer 2

Setup a PPTP VPN http://itupdates.in/2012/10/03/what-is-vpn/

If the home directory size is less than 1 GB you can use off line file feature http://www.howtogeek.com/98793/how-to-use-offline-files-in-windows-to-cache-your-networked-files-offline/

Answer 3

Remote Desktop is not safe unless you have VPN.If the home directories are stored in a windows seevr ,I hope you can install IIS on to it and enable webdav