Remote access server

[zag]

I'd like to setup a remote desktop server to run Sims and let people access their my documents from home.

 

Whats the best way of doing this?

 

Is setting up a remote desktop Windows 2008 R2 with an external IP a good idea?

[mrbios]

I'd highly recommend RemoteApp (part of terminal services for 2008R2)

 

Much better than a remote desktop session in my opinion, you can add access to all your schools apps from it and set access rights if you want kids to be able to run schools apps too, then for access to school folders setup home access plus (Home Access Plus+) all in all a smashing combination

[wesleyw]

I would put the Remote Desktop behind something such as Forefront - Threat Management Gateway or a linux proxy for safety.

 

Wes

[SYNACK]

I'd highly recommend RemoteApp (part of terminal services for 2008R2)

 

Much better than a remote desktop session in my opinion, you can add access to all your schools apps from it and set access rights if you want kids to be able to run schools apps too, then for access to school folders setup home access plus (Home Access Plus+) all in all a smashing combination

 

I would put the Remote Desktop behind something such as Forefront - Threat Management Gateway or a linux proxy for safety.

 

Wes

+1 for RemoteApp we use it for our troublesome MIS to and the ease of just having an icon on the desktop that launches the app locally or even remotley over SSL encapsulated RDP is great.

[strawberry]

rds is the way to go , setup a rds server as a session host, then setup a gateway server and a web server. people will access the rds session over the internet, or locally, and have a nice ssl encryption. Takes a bit of work to setup but is very worthwhile.

[zag]

I've got this all setup now but would like to improve security of remote desktop. Is there any way I can change the port or hide it from the wider internet?

 

I would rather not setup an ISA server just for this.

[SYNACK]

I've got this all setup now but would like to improve security of remote desktop. Is there any way I can change the port or hide it from the wider internet?

 

I would rather not setup an ISA server just for this.

 

 

If you are using 2008 and remoteapp/RDG then it will be on port 443 (SSL) and will work better left on that port. If you are using raw RDP over the internet then changing the port number will not add any extra security at all.

 

Pointless as it is here is how you can change the listening port on the server Change remote desktop port number on Windows Server 2008

or if you have an internet router that you mapped the port through in the first place just map a different external port to the RDP internal port.