SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

Just wondering what the best method you guys would consider for VPN access when you have a whole bunch of macs in the office, a w2003 server and a variety of clients working from home ?

Dont want to use any of the remote apps like GTMPC or Logmein because there may not be host machines on in the office. Terminal services and remote workplace are out as the clients are macs so that leaves me with some kind of VPN access.

All the users want to do is to have access to the server and their email but they dont like OWA

Any ideas you guys ?

IWatkins

Remote Desktop? Connect Across Platforms with Remote Desktop Connection | Mactopia

I use this to connect to my Windows machines from my mac. Works well and includes stuff like printing and shared drives built it.

Well, that is assuming I understood your question, it is early

hodgy0_2

it depends where you want to terminate the VPN connection, at the router/gateway or on the win 2003 server

do you run ISA server?

remember all vpn does is give access to the "wire" things like application\file\share access etc is another matter (not a problem, but it helps if treat these things as two separate issues)

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

Not a bad solution, I completely forgot about that. How it would be implemented is another matter and also the clients are multiple OS's, not just macs

Windows server is SBS2003 but standard. We would need to upgrade to premium to run the ISA server but possible. Ideally VPN needs to terminate at the server I guess

Markus

RDC client is around for OS X and XP/Vista, probably not for *nix though, so if you have any *nix users it might be a no-go.

Perhaps a secure VNC server/client? RealVNC has an enterprise version of it's software which might be worth a look, and it does cover Mac, Windows and *nix.

A quick google showed LogMeIn Hamachi, which they claim is an instant VPN, so again worth a look.

Obviously you could look into a hardware/software solution, and the only one I've used, and only at the software end, is Cisco VPN, and it was the client side of things to connect to a few people's networks, but it did work.

The VNC side of things is, of course, not a true VPN, just sharing the screen of another computer. Another out of the box thought would be something like Citrix, I know it certainly works on Windows and OS X, as I've used the client side of things to connect to a setup, not sure about *nix though.

I guess it all depends on what you really need to achieve and how much effort, and more importantly, money, you want to throw at this.

hodgy0_2

do you want remote users to access the office network resources or thier office workstation desktops

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

Typically they dont want to spend anything at all
However their requirements are :

around 5-10 people working from home/mobile getting access to the files on the server and their email but not via their desktops in the office

Also when we upgrade the server to sbs 2003 premium, then we can sort out mobile/iphone access which is a seconday requirement

hodgy0_2

get a simple/cheap VPN router, stick it in your environment either as the gateway device or behind a firewall

job done -- a bet you can get one for under a ton

then you have network connectivity, so they can access the server as if they were in the office

(just need to be carefull of local DNS and Internet access)

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

Looks like that may be the best way. Clients can use any VPN client on their machines be it windows or macs. Email access will need to be resolved. I guess I shall have to either bully them into OWA or find an alternative.

hodgy0_2

why can't the macs use the same method externally as the do internally (when on the lan) when accessing exchange

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

Sorry, I was thinking of something different when I wrote that. The problem of multi-tasking

hodgy0_2

the only issue you may have is DNS you need to make sure that the VPN clients can resolve "internal" names

Jerome

We have a couple of guys in our office that insist on using Macs.

One had his VPN set up ages ago by a Network Admin who knew how to do it, and he can access the office network no problem.

A newer guy, who also has a Mac can't connect because he gets asked for his "secret password".

I know nothing about Macs, and we have a new Network Admin who doesn't know how to get round this secret password crap.

Would be nice if any of the solutions mentioned above would get round this...

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

What do you mean secret password ? The password for when they come in over the VPN, a network access password or a password on the actual mac itself ?

Markus

Jerome,
I'm going to take a guess that the secret password is probably the password the VPN client software is asking for to connect to the VPN, and you'll be asked for a username as well, which he probably is providing (software probably remembering that). What you'd need to do is find where that account comes from, and I'm guessing there will be some management interface for the VPN software/hardware, so that would be where I'd look (or tell the admin to look).
My guess is that the VPN either has it's own list of users, or it's set to pick up the accounts from somewhere, for example, use the Active Directory domain. If it's the former, simply reset the password for that user account in the VPN software, the latter, well get him to enter his AD password, of if he does not know that, then reset it in AD and then get him to enter it.

Andy Tang

iTrader: (3)

I would use an SSL VPN solution for both MAC and Windows users.

Have a look at: Celestix WSA Appliance , which is this Microsoft solution (Intelligent Application Gateway) on an appliance.

Different access policies can be created for Windows, Mac and Linux machiens, as well as end point checking.

Any questions, let me know as it's my specialist subject!