On 11 Jul 2003, at 15:16, Joe Lore wrote:

> I think what you want to look into is called
> 1) VPN = Virtual Private Network.
> They use it here at our location, the IT dept is 300 miles away.  It is
> for them to  remotely fix or operate our systems.
>
>
>         I have never set it up or used it myself.  The software, I
> believe, is on the web as a     free download.  I think it works either,
> dialup or broadband.

  A VPN works by encapsulating a network connection, wrapping it in a layer
of encryption.  There are several different encapsulation protocols and a
different encryption algorithms -- Windows 2000 and XP include at least two.

  Note that this is going to require some setup of a server at the company
end.  (There are white papers on Microsoft's site explaining how to do
this....)  There's also the VPN mailing list
[log in to unmask]
http://lists.shmoo.com/mailman/listinfo/vpn

> 2) Windows Terminal Server
> This we use every day to enter and print orders. It allows access to
> main server also 300 miles away. We log into windows server software.

  This is a bit different beast.  It allows your mouse, keyboard, and screen
to connect to a Windows "session" running on a remote box -- all application
processing takes place at the server end.  This can be useful if, for
instance, you need to work with an order-entry system that was never
designed for remote access.

David Gillett

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