Using laptops on domain and away from domain

[moffl]

Hello everyone:

 

We are about to issue some laptops to managers to replace their Desktops in a 2012 domain environment. As i have never done this before looking for some info on how to do this correctly.

 

1. Do they need to be roaming profiles?

2. They will be able to VPN.

3. Should a person use offline sync or just make each user responsible for their own backups?

 

I am sure i will have many more questions as i get further into this

 

PS this is going to be on windows 10 Laptops

[3s-gtech]

They don't need to be roaming profiles. Local will work. You can either use offline files or set their account to save locally only. Our staff that can take laptops offsite save locally, and the disk is encrypted. They are issued with HDDs for backup which are also encrypted (they're responsible for doing backups, but I know they don't!)

[gh5000]

Is direct access an option for you?

 

You can also keep their computer up-to-date with your policies as well as them able to access your resources.

[moffl]

Yes they will be able to log into the domain when they are at work with the laptop and i know that creates another ball of worms but they will need to access certain shared drives while in the office

[gh5000]

I would look into DirectAccess then, it should (when it works) seamlessly make the computer think it's inside your network. No user interaction needed.

[3s-gtech]

With the VPN or Direct Access, you don't even need to worry about the file locations, other than over a slow connection. Just make sure that your on-prem setup is working well, then get the VPN or DA working as seamlessly as possible. You may want to look at how it falls back if the DA or VPN link fails.

[moffl]

Okay is it a good idea to do the following:

 

As each user has a profile with folder redirection is there any cons to allowing them to continue using folder redirection when they join the network. It appears they are going to keep all files they need on their desktop to work on and then when finished will place them in one of the mapped drives. We have folder redirection setup

for desktop and documents