ScottLogan Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 That's what a VPN does! It connects your device to your network, as if its in the school. When a user connects on our VPN, they can access their shared drives, access any intranet pages etc... without any intervention. It is as if they plugged into a socket in the school. I think you're somewhat confusing what a VPN does if you think DirectAccess provides something a VPN doesn't. When a user connects on our VPN. Exactly, when a user connects. Again if your situation means that your happy doing that then thumbs up you have exactly what you need. But not everyone is like you. And i have made many valid points why this is not always ideal. And not everyone has the means to fork out 4k on that particular piece of software that does your job + training yourself and every user that wants to use it, installing specilised hardware and software in order to achive that goal. It's again just all down to your tastes, if you want VPN then get it but have a look at DirectAccess features and see if this will help to.
edutech4schools Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 I think you're somewhat confusing what a VPN does if you think DirectAccess provides something a VPN doesn't. Totally agreed. every reason given for using DA can be done using vpn. Even gpo's can be applied and update over vpn.
edutech4schools Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 UPDATE to my last post. And not everyone has the means to fork out 4k on that particular piece of software You can do this using FREE vpn software that is for corporate use.
maark Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 You can do this using FREE vpn software that is for corporate use. What free vpn software are we talking about? A vpn solution looks best for us as direct access is too restrictive on the client systems it allows - just need to get some ideas on what is best.
edutech4schools Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 What free vpn software are we talking about? http://openvpn.net/index.php/access-server/overview.html Its free for me but if your a large institution you will need to buy additional licences, you get 2 free perpetual licences built in, which actually works fine for about 20 users, and is more than enough for my schools. Its then $5 per perpetual licence. I also have been playing with adito, which is completely free. Adito is web based but along with mapping drives can also run RDP and remote apps, all from a browser. The user goes to a web page and logs in and they get a list of drives and apps you have granted. Its very very simple for the user to use. Both systems work on xp, w7, apple, linux 2
gshaw Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Yes you are looking at a VPN solution. You can use DirectAccess along side this to support your windows 7 range and give those users a some what better experience. Unfortunately not as those home users will be running Windows 7 Home Premium Maybe with organisation owned laptops it could be an option but then I'd rather invest in a device-agnostic remote access solution than have smooth access tied down to a specific set of devices. MS seem to sell DirectAccess as a solution for branch offices and what with having to install a multihomed server directly facing the Internet I'm not entirely convinced for now... Adito sounds interesting, especially if it's single entry of credentials and then straight into RDP... better than Microsoft's native RDS solution if it works
edutech4schools Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Obviously the web based system (Adito) does not apply gpo's, but if all you need is file access or RDP you don't need that anyway.
gshaw Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Obviously the web based system (Adito) does not apply gpo's, but if all you need is file access or RDP you don't need that anyway. Once you're in the RDP session policy should apply on the Terminal Server session though or am I missing something obvious?
jtotheb Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 DirectAccess works amasingly well at our school. But it did take me 8 months of hard work and 50 reinstalls to finally figure out how to get around the NAT issue. You do need someone like me with microsoft qualifications to understand how to do it. And once its up and running don't mess with it unless you know what you are doing because once its broke its broke and your looking at a total reinstall. Well done and all that, but you've taken 8 months to build a completely unsupported solution.
jtotheb Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Unfortunately not as those home users will be running Windows 7 Home Premium Maybe with organisation owned laptops it could be an option but then I'd rather invest in a device-agnostic remote access solution than have smooth access tied down to a specific set of devices. I'm falling in love with Ericom's AccessNow. HTML5 based RDP Client in a browser. Ericom® AccessNow™ - needs Websockets support.
edutech4schools Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Once you're in the RDP session policy should apply on the Terminal Server session though or am I missing something obvious? That's right. the rdp session is internal and picks up all updates etc. The 2 systems openvpn AS and Adito are very very different products. Openvpn AS has a very corporate feel and has many security layers, anything you can do inside your network you can do from home with this. Adito is nice and easy to use from a staff point of view. Having used both systems I would probably go down the Openvpn AS direction as a general rule but will still be using Adito in a few schools.
edutech4schools Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 I'm falling in love with Ericom's AccessNow. HTML5 based RDP Client in a browser. Ericom® AccessNow™ - needs Websockets support. Does look good. Any idea how much they charge?
jtotheb Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Does look good. Any idea how much they charge? It's based on concurrent users. Edu-pricing for 100 users was ~£40/user + ~£7/user 12 months upgrades and support when I looked into it. Not cheap, but it is magic. There's a 30 day free trial available from them as well.
m25man Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 That HTML5 app looks very impressive! Certainly does, however I had to install the Chrome Frame plugin for IE9 and I couldnt get it to connect from the iPad or phone via 3g or wifi "Error Connection Failed verify the Secure Gateway is running and reachable"
edutech4schools Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Ericom's AccessNow = Too expensive for my schools when the 2 products I have listed above are basically free
gshaw Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Ericom's AccessNow = Too expensive for my schools when the 2 products I have listed above are basically free Such is true, doesn't mean we can't drool over cool stuff though (even if we can't afford it ) Will most likely have a play with Adito at some point so from that perspective a worthwhile thread!
edutech4schools Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Adito windows installer Installer « Lars Werner Openvpn AS Virtual Appliance Access Server Virtual Appliances
m25man Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Ericom's AccessNow = Too expensive for my schools when the 2 products I have listed above are basically free I dont think anyone here would seriously contemplate it for school use but its good to see that HTML5 and AJAX is being put to good use and it broadens horizons, we have corporate clients that would consider such platforms so its always worth a look see and whilst "free" is good, it doesnt always mean that its the best. OpenVPN however isnt actually free is it, it's cheap very cheap and cheap is good! $5 for a perpetual license is value for sure. 1
edutech4schools Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 OpenVPN however isnt actually free is it, it's cheap very cheap and cheap is good! $5 for a perpetual license is value for sure. Does depend on the size of your school. I look after primary schools. I just use the 2 free licences and so far nobody has complained that they can not get on because both users are logged in. Might be because they don't do much work from home lol. So for me and my schools it has been completely free.
edutech4schools Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 but its good to see that HTML5 and AJAX is being put to good use and it broadens horizons Don't really understand the AJAX side of things but I did read that Adito also supports web bassed AJAX RDP. But I doubt it will ever get html5 as its no longer getting updated.
chazzy2501 Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 "directaccess" is THE most user friendly experience. Sonicwall and Netgear both need 3rd party software java activex plugins to be approved and installed (not without issues either) then the user is expected to configure their browser to allow certain access or have the page added to trusted areas. It really is a giant pain for them I love the support on the devices tring to explain what an SSL-VPN tunnel does and why they need it. (just watch the end user glase over and give up) I was considering purchasing an adsl line in order to demo the "directaccess". It should handle 5 or so connections, I'll configure it to not pass the webtraffic. It'd be nice to use the "Windows Remote Access" with it too.
ScottLogan Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Heres a link for people which may find very interesting RemoteApp on MAC This is how you can use RemoteApp on Mac's You should be able to take this further because all you need is a device that supports RDP and it will work. You can use 3rd party RDP software vendors to achive these goals. I'm going to test this on my internal macs tommorrow. This will mean from my NAT network i have directaccess for home users who get work stuff at home transparently, Ill setup RemoteApp for sims at home via directaccess and internal mac's so it runs much quicker. And its all built into windows (assuming you have the right versions) This then gives me the option to have home users pc's (non domain) capable of running sims (not as transparent but quick). However this is not an option we want to give users here yet as the massive headaces of using random unprotected OS systems and supporting them. This is why VPN software has never been on the cards for us. This solution suits us down to the ground and is all running from a 1U server.
glennda Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 With the Open VPN AS server - if i purchased 25 licesnse - is it that only 25 people can use at once? or is it only 25 seperate users?
ScottLogan Posted February 2, 2012 Posted February 2, 2012 With RemoteApp we now have sims .net on our internal macs. all you need is Download: Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2.1.1 - Microsoft Download Center - Download Details
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