Remote Management?

[BaccyNet]

Hey all!

 

Not sure if this is the place for this question but here goes anyway.

 

I support a primary school and have setup a remote access system to allow me to go into their server and make changes/fix things when requested and it would be too tricky to guide the school staff through.

I have recently been using LogMeIn Free Edition to gain access at that way it allowed me to not only make changes from my other school but also from home (for those times a fix needed to be performed when no-one is there) but recently I seem to have lost access to the website from the other school (Access Denied) and also the remote agent at the primary loses connectivity for most of the day, thus making it useless to me.

 

Does anyone know of a simple yet secure soloution to allow remote access onto a server? I'm after something that will allow access from either a school or home and if possible, does not require a user at the schools end to initiate the connection.

 

Oh and before anyone mentions it, I am aware of the need for security and thus the blocking of LogMeIn but this is kinda crucial to my job!

 

Many thanks

[pooley]

VPN ? or use Remote desktop - if your network is managed by the LEA/CC then ask them to open a port to allow you access to Remote desktop.

[BaccyNet]

Here comes the wonders of the LEA though. I cant VPN as that would require changes to the router to allow it - LEA's router and they will not change settings on it for anyone

Unfortunatly it's the same with remote desktop. I have been told that I can have a permenant link made between the two schools but this is of no use to me as most of my work is done away from the schools and also the high school doesnt want the 'burden' of supporting the primary.

 

Yup tis a wonderful world!

[Abaddon]

Bit antiquated perhaps, but why not install a modem and use PCAnywhere.. ?

[plexer]

Welcome to Norfolk LEA

 

You can have things like that opened up but at a cost of several hundered pounds for the change.

 

Or buy into the LEA remote access solution via neoteris. £1000 setup plus £750 p/a for maintenance.

 

It's pathetic I know but thats just how it is.

 

Secondary ADSL line into the school? If you do it as much as you do thats an option.

 

As long as it's firewalled the lea will still moan.

 

Machine with modem attached to outside line for dialup access?

 

Ben

[greenfieldsupport]

Id go down the VPN route too, as its encrypted and compressed.

 

Tell them that you have to do this, they can forwardward remote desktop for you, or they can forward port 1723 and enable GRE so you can set up PPTP.

 

You will need to forward SOMETHING through the router, otherwise as its NAT, the connection will have to be instigated from behind the router (i.e. at the primarys side) otherwise you wont be able to get it (thats one of the points of it!)

 

the port forward is your best bet.

[greenfieldsupport]

Several hundered pounds!!! !?!?!?!!!??

 

its fill in the boxes and press save on most of them!

 

External port.... Internal IP .... Internal port....

 

ITS THREE BOX'S!!!

 

admittedly one of the box's includes more then one number, sepreated by fullstops. but seriously!

 

your LEA must be rich!

 

[plexer]

How about:

 

http://www.uvnc.com/pchelpware/index.html

 

???

 

Ben

[plexer]

Our LEA doesn't control the Norfolk VPN BT do. They have to put a change request in to BT to get anything done.

 

That could be a change request for 100 things or just your 1 thing.

 

It's the same cost.

 

If it's just you then you pay the whole fee.

 

Ben

[greenfieldsupport]

who controlls your personal router, at your site?

and is the internet pushed down to there (as in does that router have a public IP) or does that connect to another LAN, before getting to the internet?

 

If its your sites router i dont see why you should have to pay for a pinhole port forward,

 

if its part of a big lan... your stuffed....

[plexer]

It's all part of a big lan basically.

 

We have no control over any of that kit it's BT's.

 

Ben

[Halfmad]

Ours is similar except we have no control over any of that kit - it's all controlled centrally by central IT

[BaccyNet]

Thanks for the replies!

 

The high school used to have neoteris and it was working fine but as we were only testing it before rolling it out to students, the school decided to pull the plug.

 

I would have an ADSL line brought into the primary but I think there may be cabling issues as to get the LEA/CC broadband, BT have put up a radio mast next to the school and are relaying the signal a fair distance away. This kinda gives me the impression that ADSL may not be in their area!!

 

I did notice last night that however they are blocking LogMeIn, it is allowing it through during the night, so as long as the school can wait til 10PM for any fixes, it'll be fine :-)

I had a look at various VNC systems but many of them require the client to know the IP address of the VNC server (i.e. the school) again this is not something that the LEA would give me so thats another bang against the wall with my head.

 

How hum, if only I could convince the high school (and the primaries for that matter) to join together for IT support my problems would be solved, but it is seriously doubtful as it stands at the moment.

 

Again thanks for the advice guys!

Steve

[FN-GM]

Remote desktop web connection its free!!!! Give it a go. One of the links are instructions for XP but it works the same way!

 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e2ff8fb5-97ff-47bc-bacc-92283b52b310&DisplayLang=en

 

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/tools/rdwebconn.mspx

[Slartibartfast]

Remote Desktop Web Connection needs port 3389....which the Norfolk LEA won't open.

 

SSL Explorer is an option for remote administration between schools, but Neoteris is the only 'reasonably' priced option for remote administration from home.

 

The other option is even more expensive:

http://eficts.norfolk.gov.uk/NSIX/ThirdPartySupportAccess.asp

[craiglay]

I thought of using OpenVPN over HTTP to connect all my schools but i haven't really had time to research it properly. This would most likely need a client outside the LEA network to relay between the school though.

 

Its a thought I've been playing with as I maintain 6 primaries, and they only get a day a week from me.

 

Craig

[FN-GM]

you could try "logme in" http://www.logmein.com

[wesleyw]

You'll need the LEA to open up port 1494 or 1194 UDP

& TCP for VPN I can't remember which of the two ports is Citrix and which is VPN though If you dont' the client won't be able to connect properly. You can do some clever port redirection on 443 instead but it's easier this way. That would work with citrix not sure about vpn though.

 

 

Wes

[Nij.UK]

@FN - if you read the original post, that is what was being used first but is not blocked.

 

I think he is looking for another solution

[wesleyw]

I would try the port redirection then and see if OpenVPN can be used via port 443 ask the LEA for a list of open ports if 22 is open then you could tunnel in via that route.

 

Wes

[FN-GM]

@FN - if you read the original post, that is what was being used first but is not blocked.

 

I think he is looking for another solution

 

Sorry i do apologise, there are two major ones i got them mixed up. Try https://www.gotomypc.com/

[starscream]

Hamachi is good but slow unless you pay for it. The free version works great though, just a little on the slow side. It's fast enough for remote control but copying files would be scarey.

 

Dirt easy to use

 

think it is the brainchild of logmein.

[craiglay]

I don't think there are any ports open unless we pay a ridiculous amount of money to the LEA. We're on a large LAN with web filtering and a NAT before the internet.

 

I can connect via http to my home PC okay but I think all the LEA schools are completely hidden from the net. Someone on here has a IP discoverer in their sig, and that reports the gateway IP which is very different to our internal IP's

 

Craig

[BaccyNet]

I tried Hamachi but it wont even complete the first setup as it cant connect to the hamachi website. Strange considering that LogMeIn was working at the time.

 

Incidentaly LogMeIn has been reporting that it is available during the day but when I try to connect to it, it times out. It also randomly goes offline during the day but comes back late in the evening.

 

@craiglay

I've noticed the gateway IP addressing too. And to make it even worse, there are a whole bunch of them! Like you I can connect to my home web server but anything above this is a no-go.

[m25man]

Ok, here is a tried and tested method which works in most cases even with the most difficult LEA's.

 

Request a public IP and port forwarding of HTTPS (443) to a free IP address in the range used by your school. Remember you are part of a Metro VPN Circuit leased by your LEA. You may need a change request to be approved by the head geek of the LEA network department.

 

TELL THEM THIS IS FOR YOUR VERY IMPORTANT MIS PORTAL ACCESS and is CRUCIAL to the schools development. Get the Head involved if need be.

 

Every time I have used this one they have caved in straight away!

 

Stick a Netgear SSL312 VPN appliance inside the LAN (about £200) on the ip address you had the port forwarded to.

 

Not only will you get the access you need to do your job but the Head, Bursar and everyone else that is semi important gets RDP to their own PC if need be and whole host of other benefits.

 

Yes you could ponce around with old pc's and Open SSL instead of buying an appliance but at least the appliance will be up and running in less than 5 minutes works seamlessly with AD and you can slip it into a cabinet where no one will ever ask what it does!