Jun 9, 2012
tom
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VPN vs. Direct Access in Server 2008 R2

Question

I’m attempting to setup a connection between several Windows 7 PCs on one network and a Server 2008 R2 instance on another network. I’ve ascertained that the options are VPN or DirectAccess but I’m trying to determine which is better for my particular situation.

I’ll start by saying I’m not really that concerned with security as I am the only person that will be using this connection; so I don’t care about group policy and things of that nature.

I basically want to be able to edit files on the Server through my Windows 7 PCs; I get sick and tired of downloading and then re-uploading to change an xml setting. If I where able to mount a shared drive on the Server on my Win7 PC that would be ideal.

I would secondly like to be able to connect to an SQL Server on the Server so that I can change and edit tables in Visual Studio on Win7. I’m mainly interested in accessing files, but if this can work too that would be awesome.

Asked by Doug

Answer

You don’t really describe the “2 networks”, so I don’t know what obstacles you are trying to overcome. You might want a combination of Remote Desktop and Remote Desktop Gateway, and possibly PPTP

Remote Desktop is used for accessing the console of the server remotely via RDP. Most windows OS from XP to current has some form of the remote desktop client built in. But you need to enable it on the server as well as open the ports on its firewall and grant the user account permission to connect remotely. This works great across a LAN.

Remote Desktop Gateway is used for accessing machines behind a firewall via a Windows 2008 (and Windows 2008 R2) Server. This creates a “gateway” for your remote machine to connect to the server and then forwards the request to the remote machine on the LAN. Since this does this over port 443 which is typically used for HTTPS, it generally is easier to setup on the remote side. if you SQL and 2008 Server are on the same network this might work for you.

Routing and RAS would offer you a way to VPN via PPTP to the server directly which would allow you to access and mount the file shares directly. But this might not be a workable solution depending on the connection between the two LANs. (I am assuming internet).

Answered by MikeAWood

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