How to give server a external domain name?

[ihaveaproblem]

Hello,

 

I'm learning and reading through my Microsoft books so this is only for a test environment and nothing urgent:)

Can i remote desktop a server externally from the internet? I know you can use tools like logmein, but i was wondering can I purchase a domain name like myserver.com and then use the windows remote desktop session and remote in using that?

e.g.

mstsc /v myserver.com

 

would that work? if i purchased a domain name how would i then set up the server to use this?

If someone has a website i can read up on this it would be great:)

 

Hope this isnt a to dumb of a question ..

[FN-GM]

Can i remote desktop a server externally from the internet?

Yes but i wouldn't recommend exposing your RDP port like that is not recommended. I would you a VPN or something its allot more secure. @tom_newton is an expert with this.

 

You dont need a domain name you can connect up using your public IP.

 

What type of router / Firewall do you have?

[ihaveaproblem]

Yes but i wouldn't recommend exposing your RDP port like that is not recommended. I would you a VPN or something its allot more secure. @tom_newton is an expert with this.

 

You dont need a domain name you can connect up using your public IP.

 

What type of router / Firewall do you have?

 

Its just at home so all i've got is a Belkin Wireless G + Router. My friend has a domain name spare that they dont use and i was going to test using that.

[strawberry]

ok, this covers a lot of stuff. The first thing you need to do is find a route from the internet to your server, If you have a static ip address at home then great but the chances are you'll have a dynamic ip which makes things more difficult. you'll need to set your router to listen on its external port and forward traffic internally to your computer. once this is place you should be able to access rdp using the ip address, if you want to set it up to use a name then you can set your external dns server to translate the name to your external ip.

[irsprint84]

Which server version do you have? look at remote apps with remote gateway, though you will need a seperate server for the gateway

[TheMan100]

Which server version do you have? look at remote apps with remote gateway, though you will need a seperate server for the gateway

 

I thought you could have the gateway on the same server?

[ihaveaproblem]

ok, this covers a lot of stuff. The first thing you need to do is find a route from the internet to your server, If you have a static ip address at home then great but the chances are you'll have a dynamic ip which makes things more difficult. you'll need to set your router to listen on its external port and forward traffic internally to your computer. once this is place you should be able to access rdp using the ip address, if you want to set it up to use a name then you can set your external dns server to translate the name to your external ip.

 

Yep i have a dynamic IP. The method you mention do you mean port fowarding? I set my router to listian to port 3389 and then foward all requests to the server? And then use a dynamic dns service (which my router supports) to keep the ip address information up to date.

 

Which server version do you have? look at remote apps with remote gateway, though you will need a seperate server for the gateway

 

Im using the server 2008 r2 enterprise 180 day trial

[irsprint84]

I thought you could have the gateway on the same server?

 

Securer otherwise

[irsprint84]

Yep i have a dynamic IP. The method you mention do you mean port fowarding? I set my router to listian to port 3389 and then foward all requests to the server? And then use a dynamic dns service (which my router supports) to keep the ip address information up to date.

 

 

 

Im using the server 2008 r2 enterprise 180 day trial

 

Ok, have a look at remote apps, doesnt take more than a hour to setup

[strawberry]

Yep i have a dynamic IP. The method you mention do you mean port fowarding? I set my router to listian to port 3389 and then foward all requests to the server? And then use a dynamic dns service (which my router supports) to keep the ip address information up to date.

 

Im using the server 2008 r2 enterprise 180 day trial

 

Bingo. Thats the puppy.

 

And in contridiction to the above, dont look at remote apps, look at installing a ts gateway instead. Remote apps gives you external access to apps, ts gateway gives you an encrypted route to the inside of your network.

[ihaveaproblem]

Nice, it works I like it.

From what others have said using RDP like this isnt very secure?

 

I'm going to try the other method now.

[ihaveaproblem]

Double post...Bad me:evil_twisted:

 

I used the remoteapps way and it works as well. I even added a few programs to the remote apps as well^^ Was easy enough.

[irsprint84]

Double post...Bad me:evil_twisted:

 

I used the remoteapps way and it works as well. I even added a few programs to the remote apps as well^^ Was easy enough.

 

Was saying remote apps as good for training. I m guessing you re doing over http? then it wont be secure you ll have to do over https though you ll need a certificate, which wont be cheap!

[ihaveaproblem]

Was saying remote apps as good for training. I m guessing you re doing over http? then it wont be secure you ll have to do over https though you ll need a certificate, which wont be cheap!

 

Yeah this is just for learning and training

Emm it's over https. If i try to access using http it shows page cannot be displayed. Using https it just says there is a security risk because of the invalid certificate. I accept and ignore that and it all works.

 

EDIT

 

To learn how to use ssl certificates would this godaddy one for £30 be fine?

http://www.godaddy.com/ssl/ssl-certificates.aspx?isc=sslqguk02b&ci=9039

 

Can I apply it to the TS and then once i've done testing that apply it to something else? Dont know how these work=]

Edited June 4, 2011 by ihaveaproblem

[irsprint84]

from a testing point of view thats fine, you need do get a certificate from a company like ipsca and self signed one isnt enough

[strawberry]

go with ipsca , theyre free for education.

[ihaveaproblem]

hmm yeah i saw that but at the moment their website keeps giving me errors!

[strawberry]

go for ipsca, theyre freeeeeee to education.

[dhicks]

Yes but i wouldn't recommend exposing your RDP port like that is not recommended.

 

Why not?

[ihaveaproblem]

go for ipsca, theyre freeeeeee to education.

 

do you know how i actualy get it free?

The website is being such a pain for me and throwing errors on everything i click.

[irsprint84]

SSL Certificate Authority low-cost, fully-validated 38$ SSL and 276$ Wildcard Certificates

 

go there and click 'education' it doesnt have to be a .edu domain

[sheepluv]

Like someone said above use TS Gateway, you can configure who can connect where they can connect to (In server 2008)

 

Id think that for a testing server your own certificate would be fine. The only problem with homebrew certificates is that they throw up errors for users as their browser cannot verify its validity (as its not from a trusted CA). This is fine for your use, or you could inform users that this will happen or buy one later on if the server becomes a production server for users.

Ive used IPSCA cert for my mailserver and it was free