School Remote Access - How do you do it?

[midweek]

What clients are your staff running? Does your login process go something like this...

- IE only browser support (quelle surprise)
- login to yourdomain/rdweb
- have to enter DOMAIN\username format credentials, completely different to OWA where they only need to enter their standard network username (I've edited the login page to add the DOMAIN part)
- on XP SP3 the ActiveX control is often disabled by the OS so you need a Microsoft FixIt tool to enable it via registry
- user then sees a list of RemoteApps displayed along with the Remote Desktop icon for a direct session - great
- but when loading a RemoteApp you get a warning box about the publisher (even with SSL all sorted out) that you have to dismiss
- if loading the Remote Desktop session you get prompted for credentials a second time (at least in 7 it remembers the username but not with XP). Hotfix is available for 7 but again it's another patch to install.

If using XP SP3 clients you have to make sure they have RDC 7.0 installed or WebSSO doesn't work and RemoteApp asks for credentials a 2nd time. I also found unless CredSSP is enabled it can be a bit flaky (patch + reboot required)

I've been asked to set up similar in my new job (they had already bought the CALs).

I have encountered every single one of those problems which makes the MS solution almost unusable. Shame as it's potentially a great solution.

[zag]

Yes it uses TS.

And install it on 2003 R2 and you don't get most of those problems

[ScottLogan]

I have attached a rough picture of what our network is doing with DirectAccess to help people understand what it looks like.

[sidewinder]

Scott - been reading this whole thread today and intrigued by your secrecy of your method of setting up DirectAccess..care to share the solution? Just a brief overview to satisfy my curiosity more than anything else

[ScottLogan]

Scott - been reading this whole thread today and intrigued by your secrecy of your method of setting up DirectAccess..care to share the solution? Just a brief overview to satisfy my curiosity more than anything else

Hi sidewinder,
Sorry I have just sold the technology to a company.

[sidewinder]

Hi sidewinder,
Sorry I have just sold the technology to a company.
<link removed>

A company? So you sold it to yourself? Seeing as that website is registered to you. Nah, I'm good thanks. Something fishy about this whole thing

[localzuk]

A company? So you sold it to yourself? Seeing as that website is registered to you. Nah, I'm good thanks. Something fishy about this whole thing

To add to this, to legally trade in the UK, you must have an address and the proprietor etc... visible on the places of trade, including the website. If its a company, this must be the registered company address, and would include the company number.

[ScottLogan]

I own the domain but they have bought rights to use it. I was setting it up as a blog but gave up because its to complicated to write with some many different networks out there. It will eventually fall over to them its just red tape at the moment. This has been setup very quickly to meet the demand and is still in progress. all that information will be put up soon.
As far as company and stuff i think i might have confused you by my wording. your not buying hardware / software / any special programs etc etc. It is just the knowlegede of how to put everything together. Simply you will if you want it just be paying for a guy to install it. Just the same way a non technical user will ask for an IT guy to pop round and fix their home computer and pay them for it. If they decide to turn it into a company its upto them I am out of the loop now. "It is not compulsory to register a business name but you can do so with the National Business Register"
I don't understand whats fishy? you think i'ts a con or something? I have been very open about what is going on. Do you think the system doesn't work? Your more than welcome to pop down Gillingham School and have a look. I don't mind showing you a demonstration. I think this is a brilliant piece of kit and would gladdly help other schools see how it will help them. Just send me a PM and we will arrange a time and date. The only reason I posted on here was to let people know it is now possible and to get DirectAccess when orginally it was not.
The reason i have let it go is because the people now running it have the funds to do so and the time. I'm quite happy with my well paid job and with a 1 year old baby i don't have the guts to leave it and start a project on my own.
Anyway this is going to be my last post on the subject its nothing to do with me anymore. You can draw your own conclusions but I wouldn't slate a people with out trying them or the software first hand.
Have a good snowy day everyone

[localzuk]

I own the domain but they have bought rights to use it. I was setting it up as a blog but gave up because its to complicated to write with some many different networks out there. It will eventually fall over to them its just red tape at the moment. This has been setup very quickly to meet the demand and is still in progress. all that information will be put up soon.
As far as company and stuff i think i might have confused you by my wording. your not buying hardware / software / any special programs etc etc. It is just the knowlegede of how to put everything together. Simply you will if you want it just be paying for a guy to install it. Just the same way a non technical user will ask for an IT guy to pop round and fix their home computer and pay them for it. If they decide to turn it into a company its upto them I am out of the loop now. "It is not compulsory to register a business name but you can do so with the National Business Register"
I don't understand whats fishy? you think i'ts a con or something? I have been very open about what is going on. Do you think the system doesn't work? Your more than welcome to pop down Gillingham School and have a look. I don't mind showing you a demonstration. I think this is a brilliant piece of kit and would gladdly help other schools see how it will help them. Just send me a PM and we will arrange a time and date. The only reason I posted on here was to let people know it is now possible and to get DirectAccess when orginally it was not.
The reason i have let it go is because the people now running it have the funds to do so and the time. I'm quite happy with my well paid job and with a 1 year old baby i don't have the guts to leave it and start a project on my own.
Anyway this is going to be my last post on the subject its nothing to do with me anymore. You can draw your own conclusions but I wouldn't slate a people with out trying them or the software first hand.
Have a good snowy day everyone

The fishiness comes from you coming on here and waxing lyrical about how it can work behind NAS, then saying people should contact you, then suddenly you've sold it to a company who have a domain which is registered in your own name, without any contact details on the site itself as per legally required (specifically, a sole trader is legally required to list the proprietor and an address, a registered company is required to list the registered company address and the company number etc...). Not to mention your 'i'm not going to comment further' is a typical comment used by someone who is not being 100% honest in my experience.

So, you should understand our trepidation here...

[gshaw]

I've been asked to set up similar in my new job (they had already bought the CALs).

I have encountered every single one of those problems which makes the MS solution almost unusable. Shame as it's potentially a great solution.

Glad I'm not the only one to have experienced it... was beginning to wonder if I was going mad

Will probably have to do it via an SSL VPN and just provide a link to an RDP session that way, very frustrating as the MS product *should* be spot on but there's some glaring design errors there. It's almost like it was done by a couple of developers in a corner somewhere who never received any direction on the end user experience

[sidewinder]

I own the domain but they have bought rights to use it. I was setting it up as a blog but gave up because its to complicated to write with some many different networks out there. It will eventually fall over to them its just red tape at the moment. This has been setup very quickly to meet the demand and is still in progress. all that information will be put up soon.
As far as company and stuff i think i might have confused you by my wording. your not buying hardware / software / any special programs etc etc. It is just the knowlegede of how to put everything together. Simply you will if you want it just be paying for a guy to install it. Just the same way a non technical user will ask for an IT guy to pop round and fix their home computer and pay them for it. If they decide to turn it into a company its upto them I am out of the loop now. "It is not compulsory to register a business name but you can do so with the National Business Register"
I don't understand whats fishy? you think i'ts a con or something? I have been very open about what is going on. Do you think the system doesn't work? Your more than welcome to pop down Gillingham School and have a look. I don't mind showing you a demonstration. I think this is a brilliant piece of kit and would gladdly help other schools see how it will help them. Just send me a PM and we will arrange a time and date. The only reason I posted on here was to let people know it is now possible and to get DirectAccess when orginally it was not.
The reason i have let it go is because the people now running it have the funds to do so and the time. I'm quite happy with my well paid job and with a 1 year old baby i don't have the guts to leave it and start a project on my own.
Anyway this is going to be my last post on the subject its nothing to do with me anymore. You can draw your own conclusions but I wouldn't slate a people with out trying them or the software first hand.
Have a good snowy day everyone

I'm sure your solution works from the amount of posts you have made about it!
It's just, as localzuk says, in the space of a few days you have gone from seemingly wanting to help people by asking them to pm you to it being sold and suddenly being a chargeable solution...the cynic in me says your contribution in this thread might have just been for the purposes of advertising your solution.

[gshaw]

Seriously, windows comes with remote desktop web kit. Just install it under roles on the server and people just visit a web page which turns into a fully functioning remote desktop session.

I don't see why anyone would need anything else to be honest.

Here is a pic of ours. This is in a web browser, not using anything else.

Attachment 12899

How is it secured though, have you got some sort of SSL on there or making connections through VPN?

[ScottLogan]

I'm sure your solution works from the amount of posts you have made about it!
It's just, as localzuk says, in the space of a few days you have gone from seemingly wanting to help people by asking them to pm you to it being sold and suddenly being a chargeable solution...the cynic in me says your contribution in this thread might have just been for the purposes of advertising your solution.

I completly understand where you are comming from.
But not every one is evil in this world there are still some genuin people out there.
I have been completly inundated with messages of people wanting help. This has exploded into a situation which I cannot handle. I am happy sat here with the way my life is at the moment. I dont have any spare time to give what is now 100's of schools help with setting this up for their individule network setup. I bearly get enough time with my son at the moment as it is. I don't want a life of doing the same thing day after day I like new problems new things to discover.
Then I get all the abuse from people on this forum with comments that just ends with answers with me going around in circles because they know nothing about the product, wasting even more of my time and being unhelpful to other readers.
Basically I have gotton fed up of the whole thing and decided someone else can take it on. I don't need it, I don't want it and you have all made something that was meant to be helpfull for all those people who want it very negative with unhelpful comments. I understand where people are coming from but I have also answered every question.
another example of a circle in order to answer previous posts "This has been setup very quickly to meet the demand and is still in progress. all that information will be put up soon."
I'm not having an indivdual go at any particular person i'm just fed up and venting.
So lets bring this back to basics
DirectAccess now works behind NAT's, <link removed> If its not for you try something else there are plenty of very useful comments on here that show alternatives.
If you want to see what else is out there for example try SonicWALL, Inc. - Dynamic Security for the Global Network - United Kingdom
I am trying to be as fare as possible in my comments and have suggested alternatives and even suggested using more than one product. Just because I am suggesting products doesn't mean I am selling them. There are many post doing the exact same thing here. They are just posts to try and be helpful.
I am still happy to be a school who demontrates this for anybody its not a problem I am trying my best to be helpful and give everyone the best information.

On a side note to those people contacting me, yes I will pass your details on and they will contact you soon. There is just alot of details to pass and should get through them all this weekend or soon after. or just go direct.

sorry i'm just tired and fed up. 2am wake up with kid = long day.

[bantonia]

OpenVPN to a linux server through the firewall then terminal services from the remote client. Also run a script to map drives if required. Certificates are self certified and each client has their own individual certificate for their connection.

[zag]

How is it secured though, have you got some sort of SSL on there or making connections through VPN?

When you say "secured" what do you mean?

SSL/VPN is pointless in this situation as far as I can tell. Its a remote desktop connection, there is no need to encrypt the data stream.