How to access SIMS offsite.

[genesis]

Hi

Our staffs are asking me if they will be able tm o access SIMS remotely from their home. Do you have anything in place for this functionality? We have a enhanced support with Capita. Please suggest.

Thanks

[bobsmith]

2 main routes to this.

 

1. SIMS Learning Gateway - this is their sharepoint delivered web based portal for staff, students and parents.

 

2. Some remote access system to full SIMS, e.g. Windows Remote Desktop/App, teamviewer, logmein, many other solutions.

 

SLG costs a pretty penny and if you hate sharepoint sites you'll hate SLG too.

 

Remote desktop can cost around £5 per user per annum + any additional hardware you need to run the terminal server (you may have spare capacity already of course).

[3s-gtech]

We run the second option, with just staff licensed for RD via CALs (I'm not sure if these also cover students on EES, even if you buy enough to cover the FTE count). Not particularly cheap, but very positive reception from staff (mainly so they can do reports at home!)

[colacao82]

Microsoft RemoteApps!

[ben_mayo]

We have an option when they remote in to choose either desktop or sims depending on what they wanted to do. Think it was all controlled by RDP access though.

[soapyfish]

We give the staff access to Citrix so that they can get a full desktop experience from home which includes SIMS.

[bobsmith]

We give the staff access to Citrix so that they can get a full desktop experience from home which includes SIMS.

 

got a ball park costing for this?

[soapyfish]

Its pretty expensive to be honest, we have 3 Citrix access servers that handle the remote sessions and then licensing for each concurrent connection. We purchased one off licenses which were around £100 each, the actual servers are virtual and so there were no hardware costs. I cannot find the details at the moment but I can say that it has worked very well from the start and that the staff love it, it also works with Mac, Linux and Windows.

 

PM me if you would like more details and I will see if I can dig out the costs.

[ajevanu2]

We remote in using Cisco VPN clients - works well most of time. Issues with VPN on Windows 10 so will need to move to Cisco Anyconnect eventually. Did cost us a little, but staff can remote into network drives so they are happy enough.

[CL86]

Citrix or 2X.

 

Citrix is nicer looking but costs a lot more

[stodge1000]

Ericom is a lot cheaper than Citrix and just a good! Have been using it for years.

[markwilfan]

My vote is for ms remote apps. Works across most operating systems including mobile and is awesome.

[Geoff]

Just make sure the your remote access can't be brute forced (rubbish passwords, etc). We use two factor auth here.

[bwestlake]

IT: How to Set Up Your Own Terminal Server Using Remote Desktop Services On Server 2008 R2

[Steven_Cleaver]

Use our own solution around Remote Desktop Solution but dual factor and stuff built in to stop brute force attack and other security concerns, logging etc with some other features.

[jslate1980]

Use our own solution around Remote Desktop Solution but dual factor and stuff built in to stop brute force attack and other security concerns, logging etc with some other features.

 

What products are you using for dual factor authentication?

[rogerdnixon]

We use Ericom AccessNow combined with Ericom Secure Gateway. Pretty simple to setup on a terminal server. Allows users access to SIMS + there school PC desktop on anything with a reasonably modern browser. Not free - but not too expensive compared to other solutions. Onsite it also allows access to SIMS on ChromeOS as we have largely ditched windows now.

[DrCheese]

We use Ericom AccessNow combined with Ericom Secure Gateway. Pretty simple to setup on a terminal server. Allows users access to SIMS + there school PC desktop on anything with a reasonably modern browser. Not free - but not too expensive compared to other solutions. Onsite it also allows access to SIMS on ChromeOS as we have largely ditched windows now.

 

Same, Ericom is the absolute best!

Edited April 1, 2016 by elsiegee40
Edited for language

[Steven_Cleaver]

What products are you using for dual factor authentication?

We use an encrypted App only works with Windows devices as we set this up few years ago, so user clicks the App it does first Factor Encrypted Authentication and takes the user to login page then user has to enter Network User Name and Password and can then access PC with SIM's and other MIS systems on, each App is Unique for tracking\logging etc Where staff don't want to access SIM's or MIS systems they go to normal login page on our website or VLE and can access a PC without SIM's or MIS systems on and same for students just go to VLE or Website and can access a normal PC on their the PC's auto startup and shutdown as required with always a couple spare and we have a few VM's for access during the day.

[Geoff]

What products are you using for dual factor authentication?

 

RSA SecureID. Although we did also look at Safenet.

[rob_coles]

We're using terminal server with smspasscode dual factor auth. Works well.

[mtillbrook]

It will work over a VPN these days with internet speeds being much better but this can issues. Common probs for us are things like virgin media superhubs at peoples homes needing a setting changed to allow VPN traffic through them, Windows10 VPNs are annoying and for users that aren't confident, it causes issues.

It does also depend on how many people you are talking about. If its only a small handful then its fine. If its 50 teachers then VPN prob isnt the way to go, use some sort of remote desktop, whether its Citrix or MS TS prob depends on cost!

[discoveranother]

On 05/04/2016 at 07:48, mtillbrook said:

 

 

Edited September 4, 2025 by discoveranother