Remote Access

[brylee]

Nowadays with high speed internet connection, Remote Access has emerged as an important tool for business.:D Software like RemotePC makes anyone access their remote computer from anywhere.:eek: What are your opinions about remote access softwares?:confused:

[El Greco]

Depends on what you want to do. Some are better for file transfer, some are more secure, some are faster, others are simpler. XP's Remote Desktop is pretty good if all you want is to check what your other PC is doing. For most other uses many people report that radmin is pretty cool (haven't used it myself).

[Dogbreath]

You may want to check out this podcast

http://www.grc.com/SecurityNow.htm#18

This is Steve Gibson's site. Home of Shields Up, a site that tests the vulnerability of your computer. He and Leo Laporte have a weekly security podcast. This last week they covered a product called Hamachi. It sounds pretty cool and the price is right.

[NeilC]

I use Remote Desktop. I run Win2000 which doesn't come with it as standard but you can d/l it from Microsoft for free. It works great if you have Small Business Server.

I can see my entire desktop, shared database and all network resources. Ie it's the same as using my PC at work. My PC at work doesn't need to be switched on. It's a bit slower than normal but very useable over broadband.

[jimlintott]

I use SSH. I can log into a box via SSH and have fill access to that machine. I can run X Window apps and get the display, with mouse, on the client I am using.

I had set up a little Linux web server / router for a freind. When he ran out of disk space he tried to put another one in but botched it up. Via SSH I was able to log into his machine, and figure out where he went wrong. Then remotely, I repartioned and formatted his new disk. Made the appropriate fstab entries, moved the web pages to the new spot and restarted all the required services. All from a putty terminal on a Windows machine at work.

I think Windows is way behind the curve on remote access but I am no Windows expert and could be wrong.

[voidx]

Windows is not behind the curve. There are many different products utilizing the RDP protocols for remote control. The Microsoft RDP protocol works fine. Radmin is also a good tool. Remote connections to servers are easy. Any windows Server merely needs to have Terminal Services started on it, and you can RDP to it. XP workstations have the server aspect of the RDP client allowing them to be remote controlled. Pre-XP os's don't and so another tool, such as Radmin must be used. However, asmentioned, you can download the client side of the RDP protocol for windows 2000, allowing you to control Windows Servers and XP workstations. VNC is another program often used for remote control, and works across multiple platforms, even Linux.

SSH of course works well for Unix OS's, good ole PuTTy :D.

The largest issues come down to security and encryption. Most newer implementations of the RDP protocol are decently secure. As a general rule though I typically would not, for a business allow RDP out through the router. Require users to make an authenticate VPN connections first, then RDP to wherever you need to go.

For home users...eh maybe less important :D.