gqchris
asked on
Best Way to Connect a Main Branch and Remote Office
HEy Guys,
I am consulting for a medical office that has a main branch with a domain on a SBS 2K box, T1 connection, and only using ISA server for a firewall. They have a remote office 30 miles away, with 4 additional machines, that need constant connection to the main offcce for medical software.
The previous "consultant" set them up to use the standard Windows VPN connection into the SBS box. This is supposedly always on! At the remote office, they have static IP's , external" thru the DSL provider, with no firewall whatso-ever. This has been working, but obviously not well!!
So here are my questions:
What would you suggest to get them connected RELIABLY and also Securely, remeber, this is patient info being passed back and forth and they have a resposibility to protect it! Would you suggest hardware solutions, PIX, or maybe a PTP T1?
Also, they have a printers at the remote offcce that they want to be shared , so this needs to be considered. Right now, I cant for the life of me get the printer to share when the VPN is active, which is all the time!! I also cant get the remote boxes to join the domain thru VPN!
TIA guys and gals
Chris
I am consulting for a medical office that has a main branch with a domain on a SBS 2K box, T1 connection, and only using ISA server for a firewall. They have a remote office 30 miles away, with 4 additional machines, that need constant connection to the main offcce for medical software.
The previous "consultant" set them up to use the standard Windows VPN connection into the SBS box. This is supposedly always on! At the remote office, they have static IP's , external" thru the DSL provider, with no firewall whatso-ever. This has been working, but obviously not well!!
So here are my questions:
What would you suggest to get them connected RELIABLY and also Securely, remeber, this is patient info being passed back and forth and they have a resposibility to protect it! Would you suggest hardware solutions, PIX, or maybe a PTP T1?
Also, they have a printers at the remote offcce that they want to be shared , so this needs to be considered. Right now, I cant for the life of me get the printer to share when the VPN is active, which is all the time!! I also cant get the remote boxes to join the domain thru VPN!
TIA guys and gals
Chris
ASKER
HEy Slydog thanks for the quick reply,
Would this mean a whole new server running Windows 2k with ISA on it? Is there a cheaper alternative out there maybe? I Know they dont want to shell out that kind of money right now. Is the site to site VPN hard to set up?
Would this mean a whole new server running Windows 2k with ISA on it? Is there a cheaper alternative out there maybe? I Know they dont want to shell out that kind of money right now. Is the site to site VPN hard to set up?
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ASKER
Thanks Slydog I am going to go with a couple Netgear FVS318's on each end. It seems liek the easiest and cheapest route. Thanks for the ideas..
I'm running a slightly large setup here, but it's essentially the same as what you're describing. It's been running flawlessly for 3 years now. I'll be upgrading to ISA 2004 in the next month, so if you need any help, let me know.