Networking - IT Gurus apply inside

[Todd]

Got a mate with a small business and he's wanting to link his home PC to the PC in the office so he can share files, is this do able over your normal broadband ISP, he doesn't have a static IP address for either PCs.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks

[Rico2006]

to do it safely just get a couple of Zyxel ADSL or Cable routers and use the VPN function to create one network. The Zyxel's and Netgears all support Dynamic DNS , so you wont have any problems.

 

Theres loadsa other ways to do it, but as its a business, do it properly.

[Todd]

Got a netgear myself and just checking the WAN setup section, thanks for the pointer.

 

Excuse my ignorance but could you explain the basics of how that works, I always thought you had to have a fixed IP for this kind of thing!

 

I'll get goggling and see what I can learn tonight

 

Thanks again

[Rico2006]

Basically,

 

Set the office network up on say 192.168.0.x

Home network on 192.168.1.x

 

you create a vpn connection with a gatway address of the external IP address of the remote site ( static ) or the dynamic name using dyndns (for dhcp assigned external ip address ). The routers ususally allow you to enter your DYNDNS account so it updates the server whenver the IP changes...

 

Do that on both routers.

 

then from home type ping 192.168.0.1 and it will create a secure connection to the remote network and start pinging. You can then use UNC paths etx (\\192.168.0.2\) to browse the network.,

 

Weve got about 7 sites set up here ( 2 office, 5 colos ) all using Zyxel zywalls - works a treat.

[geoffvalenti]

Or if that seems a bit complicated, and I'm sure if you don't work in IT it probably does;) As long as the files he is sharing aren't of a sensitive nature you could always use Hamachi.

http://www.hamachi.com

 

download the application onto both PCs enter your chosen network name and password.

File sharing is setup automatical (as long as it is enabled on the respective PCs) You can even run Remote Desktop over it.

 

I use it for getting to my workshop machine from a variety of different locations and it works well.

 

Just understand that any information moved across the network has to go through 3rd party servers. So official secrets are probably a no no

[Todd]

http://www.hamachi.com

 

Bloody IT boffins, can't even get a URL right

 

http://www.hamachi.cc/

 

Thanks for that Geoff, had a quick look and that looks spot on for the job, whilst I had a very rough idea what Rico2006 was saying, I'm looking for a very simple, no work for me solution

 

Thanks for all the help guys, appreciated:)

[geoffvalenti]

Sorry, we do our best

 

Hope it works OK for you

[MrRalphMan]

Got a mate with a small business and he's wanting to link his home PC to the PC in the office so he can share files, is this do able over your normal broadband ISP, he doesn't have a static IP address for either PCs.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Is it just files he wants to share or use the PC itself?

If it's the PC, try http://www.logmein.com.

 

It's free and you can take control of the Work PC from home.

 

Paul.

[DamanC]

I use hamanchi for playing online games. To access home from the office i have a VPN Connection.

[carl0s]

VPN would be my chosen route also. I use Draytek Vigor routers, have quite a few 2600s in the field, and some of the newer 2800s.

Also have a couple of Billions in use too but I like the Drayteks.

 

I'll look into these Zyxel ones, wonder if they're cheaper or better.

 

edit:

 

Looks like the Zyxel Zywalls only do IPSec VPN, which is fine for site-to-site but the Drayteks do PPTP which makes things a hell of a lot more flexible for road warriors.

Also, the Zyxel doesn't have an inbuilt DSL modem, only ethernet, so to use it you would either need an ADSL router which can bridge the public IP properly, which not many do now, or you'd need a block of static IP's from the provider (i.e. a re-provision to non-NAT ADSL).

 

Of course if you have Cable broadband (NTL/Telewest/C&W) then you'd be OK.

 

Draytek for ~£100 + vat, does 8 simultaneous VPN tunnels, PPTP, L2TP/IPSec. Sorted

[carl0s]

Also if it's just one PC at home, then there's no need for a VPN-capable router at home, he just establishes the VPN connection from his computer (i.e. as a 'road warrior'). He'd go to Start -> Connect to -> My Office (VPN), and he'd be connected up and could do whatever he could do if he was wired into the office.

 

Router to Router is nice and transparent though, but if cost is an issue..

[carl0s]

I like the look of that Hamachi thing. Not something I'd use myself but it looks like a good service all the same. I thought initially that it'd just be establishing a tunnel between two computers but I see you can just 'join' a network with up to 256 PCs, and transparent routing to other machines/nodes on a network. Neat.