Remote access to files

I have two offices connected using VPN and T1 lines. I need to create a file
server that people in both offices can use. I tried using a normal sharing
in the Windows 2k Server, but it is extremely slow. Does anyone have any
suggestion about the best approach to have a reasonable performance? It
would be good if I could at least browse the files faster.

Lourenço.

If you are using Windows RRAS for a VPN server, you may get better
performance by switching to a hardware solution. RRAS servers carry
significant overhead when providing VPN access and even T1 connections can
be sluggish. In my experience RRAS performs better with a persistent router
to router connection (ie. Win2k or 2003 servers at both ends) than with a
client/server configuration - not sure why.

There are many inexpensive VPN server devices available to suit your needs.
In general such devices give faster performance than a Windows software
solution. They are almost never called VPN servers - usually VPN end points
or something like that - beware of 'supports VPN connections' - you do not
want a VPN pass through device.

An alternative is Terminal Services/Remote Desktop. RDP performance is
almost always superior to VPN - and, yes - RDP connections are encrypted.

Doug Sherman
MCSE Win2k/NT4.0, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP


"Lourenço Teodoro" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:OGTe#(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have two offices connected using VPN and T1 lines. I need to create a
file
> server that people in both offices can use. I tried using a normal sharing
> in the Windows 2k Server, but it is extremely slow. Does anyone have any
> suggestion about the best approach to have a reasonable performance? It
> would be good if I could at least browse the files faster.
>
> Lourenço.
>
>

Mr. Sherman,

I really do not think that my problem is hardware. I also believe that my
Windows 2k Servers as end points are not being the bottleneck. The reason
why I say this is because I have been using SourceOffSite to share source
code and it is 10 times faster than the Windows Network file transfer.

SourceOffSite should use compression or something similar to that. It also
keeps a local list of the directories, so it does not have to be downloaded
every time that the user selects a folder. Unfortunately this solution
applied for normal files would require that every user copies the file to
his local machine before using it.

I hope that I will be able to find a software package such as SourceOffSite
that speeds up file transfers and mainly file browser and allows me to work
with the files on the server.

Lourenço.

"Doug Sherman [MVP]" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> If you are using Windows RRAS for a VPN server, you may get better
> performance by switching to a hardware solution. RRAS servers carry
> significant overhead when providing VPN access and even T1 connections can
> be sluggish. In my experience RRAS performs better with a persistent
router
> to router connection (ie. Win2k or 2003 servers at both ends) than with a
> client/server configuration - not sure why.
>
> There are many inexpensive VPN server devices available to suit your
needs.
> In general such devices give faster performance than a Windows software
> solution. They are almost never called VPN servers - usually VPN end
points
> or something like that - beware of 'supports VPN connections' - you do
not
> want a VPN pass through device.
>
> An alternative is Terminal Services/Remote Desktop. RDP performance is
> almost always superior to VPN - and, yes - RDP connections are encrypted.
>
> Doug Sherman
> MCSE Win2k/NT4.0, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP
>
>
> "Lourenço Teodoro" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:OGTe#(E-Mail Removed)...
> > I have two offices connected using VPN and T1 lines. I need to create a
> file
> > server that people in both offices can use. I tried using a normal
sharing
> > in the Windows 2k Server, but it is extremely slow. Does anyone have any
> > suggestion about the best approach to have a reasonable performance? It
> > would be good if I could at least browse the files faster.
> >
> > Lourenço.
> >
> >
>
>

Have you considered using NFS, so that both sites have a local copy of the
files?

"Lourenço Teodoro" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:OGTe#(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have two offices connected using VPN and T1 lines. I need to create a
file
> server that people in both offices can use. I tried using a normal sharing
> in the Windows 2k Server, but it is extremely slow. Does anyone have any
> suggestion about the best approach to have a reasonable performance? It
> would be good if I could at least browse the files faster.
>
> Lourenço.
>
>

maybe DFS?

"Bill Grant" <not.available@online> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Have you considered using NFS, so that both sites have a local copy of
the
> files?
>
> "Lourenço Teodoro" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:OGTe#(E-Mail Removed)...
> > I have two offices connected using VPN and T1 lines. I need to create a
> file
> > server that people in both offices can use. I tried using a normal
sharing
> > in the Windows 2k Server, but it is extremely slow. Does anyone have any
> > suggestion about the best approach to have a reasonable performance? It
> > would be good if I could at least browse the files faster.
> >
> > Lourenço.
> >
> >
>
>

Yes Doug, that looks better!

"Doug Sherman [MVP]" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> maybe DFS?
>
> "Bill Grant" <not.available@online> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Have you considered using NFS, so that both sites have a local copy of
> the
> > files?
> >
> > "Lourenço Teodoro" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:OGTe#(E-Mail Removed)...
> > > I have two offices connected using VPN and T1 lines. I need to create
a
> > file
> > > server that people in both offices can use. I tried using a normal
> sharing
> > > in the Windows 2k Server, but it is extremely slow. Does anyone have
any
> > > suggestion about the best approach to have a reasonable performance?
It
> > > would be good if I could at least browse the files faster.
> > >
> > > Lourenço.
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>