Re: vpn vs vns vs ???

A VPN gives the best performance, since ONLY data travels across the
Internet, and your remote users have the ability to directly open and
use Windows/Samba Shares using local apps. It can also permit services
such as Tomcat to be used without exposing the Tomcat server to everyone
on the Internet.

To use VPN, however, you may need to have a VPN enabled router or
switch. The VPN client comes with modern distros, and I've used it
often. The only thing I don't like about it is that it overrides my
normal routing tables and sometimes the VPN network can't reach things
my standard routes can.

VNC is a popular approach and works decently. So does RDP. I was
surprised to see RDP in the standard packageset for Fedora, since I
would have thought that Microsoft would be stingy with the tech details,
but no, it works so well that I often RDP into the Windows machine
sitting next to me even though it shares a KVM with the Linux box
because the on-board graphics card in the Windows machine outputs fuzzy
crap, while the same desktop coming through the higher-quality Linux RDP
window looks much better.

An option not mentioned is to add X servers to the clients. Probably not
the way you want to go, but worth considering. In theory, when talking
to an X machine (SuSe, for example), the graphics primitives are
transmitted where possible, making for faster rendering of primitives
than raw bit-blts would. In practice, I've heard complaints recently
that remote X may not be all that performant. And, of course, a X server
for Windows isn't free like it is for Linux. Nor it is built-in (like
RDP) or easily installed (like VNC).

   Tim


On Wed, 2013-03-20 at 12:53 -0400, Mike Rathburn wrote:
> Agreed.  RDP works really well to access desktops remotely.  I don't
> technically know the differences between VNC and RDP, but I suspect that RDP
> caches better and only sends differences across the wire, as opposed to
> perhaps VNC sending entire screenshots (?).
> 
> Set up each client on their own RDP port as opposed to the default, and
> control access in your firewall for enhanced security.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gene Cronk [mailto:[email protected]] 
> Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2013 11:52 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Cc: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: vpn vs vns vs ???
> 
> RDP is included in all the Windows OSes you mention.  Doing RDP over SSH is
> a solution I've been using for years.
> 
> On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 11:24 AM, <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> > I have a small office network - openSuSe server and backup server, 
> > using samba for file serving and tomcat to access a database. There 
> > are 5 windows workstations, 1 xp, 1 vista, and 3 win7s hardwired. 
> > There is 1 wifi vista laptop.
> >
> > I currently access my workstation from home using winvnc, usually 
> > after hours. One employee is going to need to work from home 2-3 days 
> > a week, and while I'm at I might as well set up file access for the 
> > laptop user from his home also.
> >
> > It would be simple to set up vnc for the first employee to control her 
> > desktop from home, but I would prefer a solution that does not use SO 
> > MUCH bandwidth during business hours. The laptop user does not have a 
> > desktop to control, but all he needs is occasional access to a file 
> > and we now email it to him. He knows nothing about a computer, other 
> > than how to turn it on and use the programs he needs, but the laptop 
> > comes to the office and I can set it up. The first employee is fairly 
> > computer literate, and would access from her home windows computer.
> >
> > What is the best/easiest/secure way to allow him access to the samba 
> > server, and her the samba server and the tomcat server?
> >
> >
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