Access for mobile and home-based workers.

There has been a huge growth in recent years in technologies that enable mobile and remote workers to access their companies network. Dial-in and internet connection based access from laptops or home computers is now an affordable and often desirable option for smaller businesses for reasons that include:

Staff needing to access their office network or a single computer on the network from home.
Staff needing to access their office network or a single computer on the network while on the move.
Remote maintenance, troubleshooting and repair of PC, server and network equipment problems.

With current technology there is a solution for just about every remote access scenario you're likely to require. What solution you choose will obviously depend on your specific requirements and the budget you have available.

Email Only services

Many small businesses find it is beneficial for their remote users to be able to access their business email address from outside the office. Most leading email server software packages, including Microsoft Exchange, have the ability to allow remote users to collect their email remotely using any internet connection. Most email server hardware devices, including the Netpilot and ExoServer, have remote email access through the internet as standard.

Email only access enables your remote users to access their email through any web connection. The user is required to enter their username and password to retrieve their mail. Remote users will have no access to any files or resources on the network using the email only service.

Advantages:
Low cost of set-up
No additional hardware or software is usually required.

Disadvantages:
Low levels of security - username and password only.
No access to data or network resources.

Dial In services

Dial-in services have been available for many years. The remote user requires a modem and telephone connection, either land-line or mobile phone, and connects using a modem on your network connected to a dedicated dial-in telephone or ISDN line.

Dial-in services offer great flexibility. Remote users can access files and network resources at your discretion and on a user by user basis. You may wish one user to have access to their own documents and email, whereas another may be able to access shared folders and network printers. Dial-in Remote Access enable you to specify exactly what the remote user can - and cannot - access.

Dial-in services also have a number of additional security features that can be configured. These can be configured to reject dial-in attempts from unknown numbers, to only accept dial-in requests from authorised numbers, or to call-back users when they try to dial-in to ensure that the person attempting to connect is the authorised remote user.

Dial-up systems are not recommended by UpSource Ltd unless your business requires very light remote access usage. If the server is using a standard telephone connection, only one user at a time can dial-in which may be an issue if multiple users require remote access to the server. ISDN adapters can act as multiple devices however using multiple ISDN lines can be very expensive.

Advantages:
Level of access is easy to control.
Uses basic and low cost technology.
Security features available to protect the network from unauthorised access.

Disadvantages:
Slow connection speeds.
Users may not be able connect at all if the line is in use by another user.
Telephone/ISDN line rental and charges can add up quickly.

VPN services

VPN - Virtual Private Networking - is the newest of the remote access technologies available. The system uses an internet connection combined with specialist hardware and/or software to allow the remote user to securely access the network. VPN systems are rapidly replacing traditional dial-in systems due to their superior security and performance. Due to the advantages of VPN access and the growth in it's popularity, most firewalls now come supplied with VPN features included.

Unlike the previous two methods, VPN systems use security key exchange and data encryption to protect your security. This means that the data that is passed between the remote computer and your network in a format which is unusable. The data is only decrypted into usable data by the VPN software once it has reached its destination using the keys exchanged when the connection was established between the remote client and the network..

VPN systems require VPN software and/or hardware on both on the network and remote client side of the internet connection to operate. Although there is no technical reason why a VPN cannot be set up between two dial-up connections, practical reasons mean that an always-on broadband connection is essential at the network side for the VPN to operate properly. This connection should also use a static IP address (i.e. the network public address should never change) rather than a dynamic one to enable the VPN to work without regualar reconfiguration - See the Internet Services page for more information on static and dynamic IP addresses.

The remote client can use either a dial-up or broadband connection, although obviously having a broadband connection for the remote client is very beneficial in terms of connection speed.

Advantages:
Highly secure
High speed
Can be accessed by multiple users simultaneously on a single connection.
No telephone charges when broadband connections used.

Disadvantages:
Requires specialist hardware and/or software. NOTE-: Most business firewalls now have VPN features as standard or available as an upgrade option.
More expensive to set-up.