Un Sage network inquiry

[briands]

I'm no expert (probably know just enough to be dangerous).

My wife works for a Dr office. She spends some days in the office and some days at home. She was basically "kicked out" of the office because of a lack of space. So when she is there, she uses a laptop that they leave running when she is not there so she can RDP into it from one of our computers at home. This seems like a crazy arrangement to me. How hard would it be (this is a small office) to set up a VPN for this? I assumed this is pretty straight forward, but have never really investigated the actual process. At the most, I thought they might have to get a new router and maybe a new one for our house as well. Then I thought she could use the laptop here just like she does when she is in the office.

Couple concerns -
on my end, this needs to coexist with my existing home network... can't have her work interfering with my Sage network

Privacy - they seem to be paranoid about patient records... but I suspect any VPN solution would be as secure as RDP, no?

By the way, I use my work laptop from home using a secure ID token to have full access to all of my office network functionality, so I know it is not undoable (but I work for a slightly larger company).

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by briands

I'm no expert (probably know just enough to be dangerous).

My wife works for a Dr office. She spends some days in the office and some days at home. She was basically "kicked out" of the office because of a lack of space. So when she is there, she uses a laptop that they leave running when she is not there so she can RDP into it from one of our computers at home. This seems like a crazy arrangement to me. How hard would it be (this is a small office) to set up a VPN for this? I assumed this is pretty straight forward, but have never really investigated the actual process. At the most, I thought they might have to get a new router and maybe a new one for our house as well. Then I thought she could use the laptop here just like she does when she is in the office.

Couple concerns -
on my end, this needs to coexist with my existing home network... can't have her work interfering with my Sage network

Privacy - they seem to be paranoid about patient records... but I suspect any VPN solution would be as secure as RDP, no?

By the way, I use my work laptop from home using a secure ID token to have full access to all of my office network functionality, so I know it is not undoable (but I work for a slightly larger company).

We have VPN where I work. Don't need anything special at home router wise just the supplied software. They would probably need a special router at the Dr's office that has VPN capability (if they don't already) and the server software to match the client software they would give you. Sorry but that is all I know about the subject.

The only other thing I will say is that when I installed the client software they gave me it took over the PC. You were not allowed to browse the internet. It also cause some problems with some apps I had so that is when I got Virtual PC and put the system on a VPC session. Then I was able to use all my apps as well as browse the internet while connected to work.

[m1abrams]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

The only other thing I will say is that when I installed the client software they gave me it took over the PC. You were not allowed to browse the internet.

This happens when the company who configured the VPN to not allow split networking on the client side. Many VPN solutions easily allow split networking on the client side however for security reasons some companies do not want that.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by m1abrams

This happens when the company who configured the VPN to not allow split networking on the client side. Many VPN solutions easily allow split networking on the client side however for security reasons some companies do not want that.

Yes I guess I should have specified that. I knew it was because of how my company set it up and not necessarily how the software works. I just thought I would mention it since he said they were paranoid about security. Although using RDP wouldn't be very secure compared to VPN I wouldn't think.

[stuckless]

This isn't a router based solution... but I did set this up once for a short time... worked ok.. Open VPN

[gplasky]

A lot of times the RDP solution is used because of the applications that they need to run. This being a dental office they probably have their proprietary software running the office. If a VPN was used the software would need to be installed on the PC at home. An RDP solution allows simple access to all the software she needs to run. A Citrix solution would also be a more secure way of accomplishing the same thing. Also Windows Server 2008 can provide a more "Citrix-like" solution out of the box.

Gerry

[bcjenkins]

Depending on the version of RDP being used, they would be better of setting up openSSH on the laptop in the office, and ask your wife to tunnel RDP over SSH.

It's a little more complex, but potentially less prone to hacking.

B

[briands]

Originally Posted by gplasky

A lot of times the RDP solution is used because of the applications that they need to run. This being a dental office they probably have their proprietary software running the office. If a VPN was used the software would need to be installed on the PC at home. An RDP solution allows simple access to all the software she needs to run. A Citrix solution would also be a more secure way of accomplishing the same thing. Also Windows Server 2008 can provide a more "Citrix-like" solution out of the box.

Gerry

Gerry, good call on the software usage. My hope was that she could bring their laptop (and all of it's software) home with her and get her off of one of my back up machines (she used to be on my Sage server )

Thanks for the info everyone... I didn't think it could be as hard as their IT support nerd was trying to imply... like it would be really expensive to set up.
I bet their router already has capability, just a matter of configuring it and getting the right client package installed to work with it. Unfortunately noone in their office has a clue.