Work folders vs Direct Access

[Theldron]

Hi all,

 

My school has been using offline folders for a while now, but it drives me nuts I find it so unreliable. So i would like to look at Work folders or direct access. Which one would be recommended?

 

I just want staff to be able to access their user drives from home as the main thing. A bonus would be for them to access the shared areas as well.

 

Many thanks

[3s-gtech]

Also consider Always On VPN, which follows on from Direct Access.

[Roberto]

Direct Access has been deprecated. That doesn't mean it's going to turn into a pumpkin overnight for anyone already using it (we are) but it does mean that you'd be crazy to do a new deployment. Instead, as 3s-gtech suggests, the Microsoft route is Always-on VPN.

 

Besides, Direct Access is not a panacea. It can (did?) work very well but was something of a pain to get going and get to proper reliability I find.

[RobD]

Are your users, laptop users? If so then look at both.

 

Always on VPN for vpn access from home then work folders to sync documents to a server share.

[MatthewL]

A VPN solution would always be my choice, been there done that with offline folders, causes more hassle than its worth.

 

Other option is do you use O365 or GSuite, then no VPN is required if data is stored on either platform.

[Theldron]

Is there much in the way of setup for Always on VPN? This is for our staff laptops so that they can access from home, offline files is driving me bonkers. We do use Office 365 so was looking at OneDrive on-demand. Anybody used it? My only concern with storing on onedrive is accidental deletion and recovery?

 

Also want them to access the staffshared which they can't currently.

[Arthur]

We do use Office 365 so was looking at OneDrive on-demand. Anybody used it?

@gshaw does.

 

My only concern with storing on onedrive is accidental deletion and recovery?

OneDrive has a "Files Restore" feature that would let you recover from ransomware attacks.

 

www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/because-ransomware-onedrive-for-business-to-get-files-restore-option

 

Microsoft will add a new feature to OneDrive for Business that will let users create backup points and restore to previous versions of their entire OneDrive account.

 

The new feature is codenamed Files Restore and Microsoft says it will allow users to recover files "from disastrous events such as mass deletes, corruption, and other data loss scenarios."

 

The new Files Restore feature will let OneDrive users roll back their entire account —all files and folders— to a previous time and date.

Edited December 13, 2018 by Arthur

[gshaw]

@sadams1980

 

Yup we have it on all our machines with SSO enabled so it auto signs in.

 

The one thing that's worth looking out for in a deployment now is to try and use latest 1809 release as there's an auto clean up feature in that version that will ensure the cache doesn't grow too large.

 

So far so good for us, has definitely helped increased usage of OneDrice. Sometimes the OneDrive client goes high CPU when upgrading but it's calmed down since start of term.

[chazzy2501]

I didn't know DirectAccess had been depreciated but it is still fully supported in Windows 10 (at the mo) so does server 2019 have it?

 

Otherwise it is actually easy to setup (wizard with GPO settings, win8and10 super easy) and requires no user training! (just 2 consecutive external ipv4 addresses) not the fastest file transfer but my users like it and can use our local SIMS remotely (very happy teachers doing reports at home)

[Theldron]

Hi gshaw thanks ill have a look. Is there a particular guide you followed for this, as it would be better than messing with VPNs etc?

[gshaw]

Hi gshaw thanks ill have a look. Is there a particular guide you followed for this, as it would be better than messing with VPNs etc?

@sadams1980 I wrote the guide

 

https://gshaw0.wordpress.com/2017/11/21/onedrive-files-on-demand-update

 

The other thing you may want to look at is Azure AD Join for laptops, that way remote users work cloud-first rather than extending your network externally.

 

I'm moving towards that model as we've noticed users are more vulnerable to phishing, malware whilst browsing etc. on their home machines as they haven't got the added layers of protection from filtering, secure DNS resolver and so on.

 

For that reason I'm happier not having remote connections coming directly onto the network from roaming laptops etc.

Edited December 13, 2018 by gshaw

[Theldron]

@sadams1980 I wrote the guide

 

https://gshaw0.wordpress.com/2017/11/21/onedrive-files-on-demand-update

 

The other thing you may want to look at is Azure AD Join for laptops, that way remote users work cloud-first rather than extending your network externally.

 

I'm moving towards that model as we've noticed users are more vulnerable to phishing, malware whilst browsing etc. on their home machines as they haven't got the added layers of protection from filtering, secure DNS resolver and so on.

 

For that reason I'm happier not having remote connections coming directly onto the network from roaming laptops etc.

 

You're a star thanks mate, ill have a look.