Connecting 2 schools.

[boogster]

I have been asked to look in to connecting 2 schools (separate networks) on the admin side so that they can access the shared FMS database (federation). Site 1 will host the database but site 2 will need to be able to connect to it as well and use just this FMS database and perhaps sims.net. Site 1 will also need to access site 2 sims.net database.

As a quick fix I was thinking 2 laptops at each end with sims/Fms installed on both and use logmein pro to allow admin staff to connect each end but want something a bit more permanent and robust.

 

Has anyone set this up before and could give me some pointers, guidance as I take it I would need to liase with Lgfl to set this up.

[eddyc]

Could you not get the Lgfl to set up a static route between the two sites to allow you to interconnect between them? We have managed to get the SWGFL to allow access between 6 primaries that we support - we can rdp between them all and access shares via their IP's.

[cpjitservices]

How about OpenVPN & Samba ?

[GrumbleDook]

We have similar amongst a number of schools within Northants ... opening Access Control Lists between schools works quite well for us.

 

When you say LGfL do you mean Lancs or London ...

[boogster]

It is the London Grid for Learning. So if I get them to set static routes between the sites, that would get me connectivity but how would a user on site 1 access the sims/fms database as I would not want them logging into server?

[GrumbleDook]

You would have to have a trust between the 2 schools, have the school B connect to the database on the server at school A. The other way would be a small Remote Desktop server and they log into that. This is usually the best option anyway, to allow you better control of bandwidth used.

[witch]

You would have to have a trust between the 2 schools, have the school B connect to the database on the server at school A.

We have this between the admin and curriculum networks and it works well.

[Eric]

It is the London Grid for Learning. So if I get them to set static routes between the sites, that would get me connectivity but how would a user on site 1 access the sims/fms database as I would not want them logging into server?

 

This has worked for me in the past (using LGfL.) I then installed an unused (fairly old, low-spec) windows box at the host site for use with MS Terminal Services, via an mstsc short-cut on the desktop of the remote user. Of course the windows box didn't need a screen, keyboard or mouse.

 

Doing this avoids the problems of accessing a database over a slow link. In particular, I would expect using Samba to be completely broken, due to locking issues.