I do not want to copy files back & forth. I want the Users to access files on the Server, as if they are on the LAN, therefore file locking is in place.
Thanks Nick
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VPN Access for Excel
I want to give users access to Excel files on our Linux Server. The Server is internet facing.
How can allow my users to access the files over the internet, makes changes to them and save them back to the Server.
Thanks
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Answers
You have to run Samba on the Linux server to provide windows file sharing capabilities.
The problem is how to secure access to it. Leaving access to the Samba server open from the Internet would be a very bad idea from a security perspective.
You could use putty (windows ssh client) and tunnel the windows file sharing ports across it but I would expect this would be difficult and problematic to setup.
I think the best way would be to get something like a Cisco PIX 506E firewall and have your users use the VPN client.
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) would fit the bill for what you want - it would allow users to connect via the internet as if they were connected locally, and if it's a proper VPN, it would be secure as well.
One such VPN which I have recently had the pleasure to deploy (and now use) is OpenVPN: http://openvpn.sourceforge
OpenVPN is multi-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD, Solaris), and firewall friendly. Very impressive.
Anton
mmhh..
for low speed (vpn over even broadband) I would not use the vpn+windows browsing
what I do is use smb2www which virutalizes to shares to be on a web page, where the user can download/uoload(and update), and then such page I put under the vpn. I also recommend openvpn. very fast and trustable.
but it's not what NarendraParekh
asked on his updated post.
What I personally find the most convenient and also the fastest (for what I do) is to use Remote Desktop (or Terminal Services on Windows 2000/2003) through the VPN.
This is reasonably fast (except for graphics), as the actual program runs on the remote site, accessing all files and data locally (from the program's perspective). Only screen, keyboard and mouse events need to be transmitted (which is why graphics will slow it down much, as they have to be transmitted in their entirety).
This approach does require that 1 or more Windows machines on the LAN are available to act as "server" to which remote clients connect (Windows 2000/2003 Server, or XP Pro). A single machine could support multiple sessions simultaniously to my understanding, as long as it can handle the load (multiple sessions may slow everyone down anyway as the bandwidth will have to be shared). The client software is available for other Windows versions as well, starting with 95.
Anton
I must agree with Anton. He got a good point :-)
I also have this setup on the facility I work part-time, and it's great (we have citrix on top of terminal services) and I can work very easy with the rdesktop client and/or the citrix client for linux also..
the only drawback is the licenses cost.
if you want a solution with no spend, then you have already answers that work
if you can afford expenses, well, I think nothing will beat citrix for road-warriors (traveler users) since they have all the programs in the office working with almost no problems of speed (they can work using a modem! slow but they can work with big excel spreadsheets, databases, ERP, etc)
linux has it's way to do it also: Linux Terminal Server Project, or just X over SSH can do the work, but this is still not for average user.
Gabriel
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by: owensleftfootPosted on 2004-05-27 at 07:47:59ID: 11172196
Run a secure shell server on the linux box. The windows users can use winscp - http://winscp.sourceforge.