Deploying a File Server Across Large Distance

[zzzzzzzzzz]

I want to set up a file server for two workgroups.

The operating systems used on the client computers of the two workgroups are Windows 2000 Professional with Service Pack 4, Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 1, and Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2.

The workgroups have about thirteen computers each and are about 800 to 1000 kilometers apart.

I have never set up a file server for to serve greatly distant networks before, and would appreciate assistance to get this done correctly.
What needs to be done to set up a file server to serve a distant network?

I was thinking to implement the file server as at least an FIP server and using Windows File Sharing to share files to one of the workgroups the file server may be a member of. Perhaps I should use Terminal Services (or Remote Desktop Services as it seems to be called in Windows XP and newer Microsoft operating systems)?

For the operating system of the file server, I was planning to use Windows 2000 Server (the selection is not definite).

The Internet connection is decent.

I want the solution to cost 8000 U.S. Dollars or less.

 

[nd4spdbh2]

i think your best bet would be a VPN type of connection.

if you have a server on both ends i would imagine you could make a VPN connection between the two then share the files throughout both workgroups as if they were on the same network. someone with more experience could probably elaborate but id imagine it will start out with a vpn.

 

[zzzzzzzzzz]

Does Windows 2000 Server include VPN services?

 

[SuperMiguel]

Do u have an old system that u can use?? U can easy impletent a NAS server, using freenas.org operating system and it will let u set up all ur windows workgroup sharing, FTp, VPN and loooots more even send u an email when a file is being added/deleted or extracted cool stuff

 

[zzzzzzzzzz]

Perhaps leasing a WAN may be the best option if it is not too expensive.

 

[zzzzzzzzzz]

Do u have an old system that u can use?? U can easy impletent a NAS server, using freenas.org operating system and it will let u set up all ur windows workgroup sharing, FTp, VPN and loooots more even send u an email when a file is being added/deleted or extracted cool stuff

Looks interesting.

 

[SuperMiguel]

why not use SFTP?? or VPN? so u dont have lease a WAN line which they are reallllllly expensive and useless for 4 systems

 

[zzzzzzzzzz]

why not use SFTP?? or VPN? so u dont have lease a WAN line which they are reallllllly expensive and useless for 4 systems

There are about 26 systems.

I have to check pricing on the WAN leases. I may use VPN.

 

[SuperMiguel]

There are about 26 systems.

I have to check pricing on the WAN leases. I may use VPN.

Ummmm k let me get this straight... U have two offices each has 13 system and u want to share files between them.. This is what u do... if u have 13 computer that means that u have a router on each site. That being said you buy your self 1 computer a cheap one (file server). And you install windows or linux on it. If you pick windows u could install filezilla a really easy to use ftp server. And if you pick linux you can use any distro and put something like ProFTPD.

So now you have a computer working as an FTP server. On tghe configuration of filezilla or proftpd change it to SFTP (secure server). Then you go to your router and forward port 22 to your new computer.

Then from any computer of your company you can just put your external ip address into an SFTP client and you can share files....

This way you spent $300 comared with $8k or getting 2 private lines to your self. and spending $100s paying those lines..

 

[zzzzzzzzzz]

From what I understand, SFTP is not an implementation of FTP; it is an implementation of SSH protocol.

I think it may be best to perfrom similar to what nd4spdbh2 sugested. Two servers with a VPN bridged to a network seems like a good solution.

 

[SuperMiguel]

From what I understand, SFTP is not an implementation of FTP; it is an implementation of SSH protocol.

I think it may be best to perfrom similar to what nd4spdbh2 sugested. Two servers with a VPN bridged to a network seems like a good solution.

yep sftp is ssh reason why i said to open port 22 also if yu have money to waste go ahead... 2 servers to share files between two sites is like having a honda civic with two V8 engines

 

[cyberfish]

The Internet connection is decent.

How decent is decent?

SAMBA (windows file sharing) is a very chatty protocol, and is usually not the best choice over higher-latency networks like the Internet.

If you don't need real-time sharing, or if only one side will be modifying it, you can set up a server on each side, and use rsync to synchronize them every hour or something.

If you only need plain old file transfer by copy and paste and not other advanced features, FTP (possibly over VPN for encryption and compression) will provide close to the highest theoretical throughput. The FTP protocol has very little overhead.

I did this same research a while ago, and made a post on another forum about what I found -
http://cboard.cprogramming.com/tech-board/113010-comparison-network-filesystems.html

If you are familiar with Linux/UNIX, it seems like the best option on paper is SSHFS (it doesn't have a Windows client unfortunately), details in the link.

 

[SuperMiguel]

If you are familiar with Linux/UNIX, it seems like the best option on paper is SSHFS (it doesn't have a Windows client unfortunately), details in the link.

I tought WinSCP supported SSHFS but i could be wrong

 

[Moto7451]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Shell_Filesystem has a link to a Windows implementation of SSHFS.

 

[SuperMiguel]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Shell_Filesystem has a link to a Windows implementation of SSHFS.

yep SFTPDRIVE

 

[gangaskan]

From what I understand, SFTP is not an implementation of FTP; it is an implementation of SSH protocol.

I think it may be best to perfrom similar to what nd4spdbh2 sugested. Two servers with a VPN bridged to a network seems like a good solution.

little tricky, but good to start off on we're here to help. depends on what you want to do.


also, do you have 2 static IP addresses? with 2 cisco or juniper routers you can do point to point vpn's pretty easily. i'm not sure as to what is the best of the two, but its something to look at. juniper may be more "user friendly" granted i've never used them so take that with a grain of salt.

others have used juniper products are still around here. dark_15 is jncia and we have various ccna/np people around here

keep in mind, its a learning curve! so it may not be the best option, but once you have it running you really do not have to touch the boxes at all.

 

[SuperMiguel]

little tricky, but good to start off on we're here to help. depends on what you want to do.


also, do you have 2 static IP addresses? with 2 cisco or juniper routers you can do point to point vpn's pretty easily. i'm not sure as to what is the best of the two, but its something to look at. juniper may be more "user friendly" granted i've never used them so take that with a grain of salt.

others have used juniper products are still around here. dark_15 is jncia and we have various ccna/np people around here

keep in mind, its a learning curve! so it may not be the best option, but once you have it running you really do not have to touch the boxes at all.

I dont think he has 2 lines... few post ago he was going to look into that. Also im guessing that all he wants to do is transfer files from point A to point B.. with whats he has he can do that.. just install filezilla server in any of the computers and then just forward the ip and he will be able to connect to it... That simple and didnt need to spend 1000s of dollars

 

[cyberfish]

Last time I checked SFTP is NOT the same as SSHFS, but I'm not sure about that.

 

[cyberfish]

Hmm now that I read more about it, it seems like SFTP is the underlying protocol in SSHFS. But SSHFS provides goodies like (from the SSHFS official site)

# Multithreading: more than one request can be on it's way to the server
# Allowing large reads (max 64k)
# Caching directory contents

 

[gangaskan]

I dont think he has 2 lines... few post ago he was going to look into that. Also im guessing that all he wants to do is transfer files from point A to point B.. with whats he has he can do that.. just install filezilla server in any of the computers and then just forward the ip and he will be able to connect to it... That simple and didnt need to spend 1000s of dollars

just throwing options around