VPN to Access Work's Network From Home

[_Hoppers]

My boss has asked me to look into the possibility of working from home. For our document management we use Google so that's and easy one!

We would need to access our BIMServer which runs our CAD software (Graphisoft's ArchiCAD). Graphisoft has told us we would need a VPN to access the network from home but they cannot offer any advice on setting this up. I'm reasonably IT literate but I've no idea where to start with this one? Can anyone please advise?

[mariopepper]

Have you ever used vpn before? And tell a little bit more about your prefernces. Do you need free vpn or paid version?

[Chozza]

What routers do you have connecting your office network ( where the servers are ) to the internet ?

Your software is probably expecting the IP address of the remote user to be on network as the server ( from a quick google your software is looking for the licence key etc. rather than running across a virtual desktop ) .. so you are looking at connecting to this - using a vpn that either terminates on your firewall or on a server in your data centre

( n.b. you are after your own vpn not a vpn to hide your surfing )

[Mr Pointy]

You'd need an extenal-facing VPN server/endpoint at the office (or wherever your IT systems are located) & then you'd run a VPN client on your PC at home which would log on to the office endpoint.

It's the sort of thing whoever runs your office IT needs to be implementing: if that's you then you need to engage an external IT company to set this up for you.

[_Hoppers]

Chozza said:

What routers do you have connecting your office network ( where the servers are ) to the internet ?

Your software is probably expecting the IP address of the remote user to be on network as the server ( from a quick google your software is looking for the licence key etc. rather than running across a virtual desktop ) .. so you are looking at connecting to this - using a vpn that either terminates on your firewall or on a server in your data centre

( n.b. you are after your own vpn not a vpn to hide your surfing )

We've got a Plusnet Hub One router (is this what you mean), we run a peer to peer network without a server. With regard the licence key we can 'borrow' licences direct from Graphisoft's server so that shouldn't be an issue. We need to access the 'BIMServer' in the office to open projects and send/receive changes.

With regard a firewall, would this be at router level or on the workstation running the BIMServer software.

VPN is not to hide surfing.

[_Hoppers]

Mr Pointy said:

You'd need an extenal-facing VPN server/endpoint at the office (or wherever your IT systems are located) & then you'd run a VPN client on your PC at home which would log on to the office endpoint.

It's the sort of thing whoever runs your office IT needs to be implementing: if that's you then you need to engage an external IT company to set this up for you.

I'm the IT department! I did manage to setup our office network when we ran Windows SBS and keep that maintained, but It is beginning to appear that I'm going to be out of my depth a bit on this one?!

[_Hoppers]

mariopepper said:

Have you ever used vpn before? And tell a little bit more about your prefernces. Do you need free vpn or paid version?

No, never. A free one would be preferable if the boss is concerned but I suspect we would need a paid one?

[TonyRPH]

Unless you have particularly good internet speeds, your CAD software is likely to be very, very laggy.

Do bear in mind that even though you and work may both have good download speeds, your upload speeds are likely to be much, much slower unless you have a leased line or similar.

EDIT: By slow I meant retrieving large drawings from a server at your work for example. Local performance will be fine.

[_Hoppers]

TonyRPH said:

Unless you have particularly good internet speeds, your CAD software is likely to be very, very laggy.

Do bear in mind that even though you and work may both have good download speeds, your upload speeds are likely to be much, much slower unless you have a leased line or similar.

EDIT: By slow I meant retrieving large drawings from a server at your work for example. Local performance will be fine.

When saving/receiving changes to a teamworked Archicad project it only sends/receives the changes to the model that have made, it doesn't save the whole project (if this makes sense). I guess the first time a project is loaded remotely it could take a while but send/receives should be much quicker?

PDF versions of our drawings are saved in Google so that won't be an issue.

[Mr Pointy]

_Hoppers said:

Mr Pointy said:

You'd need an extenal-facing VPN server/endpoint at the office (or wherever your IT systems are located) & then you'd run a VPN client on your PC at home which would log on to the office endpoint.

It's the sort of thing whoever runs your office IT needs to be implementing: if that's you then you need to engage an external IT company to set this up for you.

I'm the IT department! I did manage to setup our office network when we ran Windows SBS and keep that maintained, but It is beginning to appear that I'm going to be out of my depth a bit on this one?!

Well for the size of system you have then you could probably replace the Plusnet router with a Draytek one & that will give you a VPN endpoint. You then run a Draytek VPN client on your PC at home & should be able to connect.
https://www.draytek.co.uk/products/routers/adsl-vd...

I suspect you should think about getting help in setting it up though as they have a lot of features & settings to get a grip of. There was another thread from somone needing assistance & that had a couple of responses:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[TonyRPH]

_Hoppers said:

When saving/receiving changes to a teamworked Archicad project it only sends/receives the changes to the model that have made, it doesn't save the whole project (if this makes sense). I guess the first time a project is loaded remotely it could take a while but send/receives should be much quicker?

PDF versions of our drawings are saved in Google so that won't be an issue.

A send (save) from you will be affected by your internet upload speed.

A receive (load) from your work server will be affected by works' upload speed.

In other words, if work has fast (symmetrical) upload / download speeds, your file load time will be fast, but upload / save times will be slow if your upload speed is limited.

[sparkyhx]

do you mean an organisation VPN or personal VPN? My org provides VPN for remote access and I use NordVPN for personal stuff.

[quimbles]

https://remotedesktop.google.com/

[_Hoppers]

Mr Pointy said:

Well for the size of system you have then you could probably replace the Plusnet router with a Draytek one & that will give you a VPN endpoint. You then run a Draytek VPN client on your PC at home & should be able to connect.
https://www.draytek.co.uk/products/routers/adsl-vd...

I suspect you should think about getting help in setting it up though as they have a lot of features & settings to get a grip of. There was another thread from somone needing assistance & that had a couple of responses:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Cheers Mr P. Would using a Dratek or similar router mean we wouldn't need to subscribe to a VPN service then?

[_Hoppers]

sparkyhx said:

do you mean an organisation VPN or personal VPN? My org provides VPN for remote access and I use NordVPN for personal stuff.

VPN for an organisation.

[_Hoppers]

quimbles said:

https://remotedesktop.google.com/

I kinda assumed it would be a bit laggy using this type of service?

[_Hoppers]

TonyRPH said:

A send (save) from you will be affected by your internet upload speed.

A receive (load) from your work server will be affected by works' upload speed.

In other words, if work has fast (symmetrical) upload / download speeds, your file load time will be fast, but upload / save times will be slow if your upload speed is limited.

Yep, got that, cheers

[Mr Pointy]

_Hoppers said:

Mr Pointy said:

Well for the size of system you have then you could probably replace the Plusnet router with a Draytek one & that will give you a VPN endpoint. You then run a Draytek VPN client on your PC at home & should be able to connect.
https://www.draytek.co.uk/products/routers/adsl-vd...

I suspect you should think about getting help in setting it up though as they have a lot of features & settings to get a grip of. There was another thread from somone needing assistance & that had a couple of responses:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Cheers Mr P. Would using a Dratek or similar router mean we wouldn't need to subscribe to a VPN service then?

Yes. The Draytek router acts as the VPN endpoint & you use free client software on the PC. It's like an encrypted direct connection between your PC & work, a bit different from the personal VPNs from the likes of NordVPN (but very similar).

Here's an article from the Draytek knowledgebase:
https://www.draytek.co.uk/information/solutions/vp...

[sjg]

_Hoppers said:

quimbles said:

https://remotedesktop.google.com/

I kinda assumed it would be a bit laggy using this type of service?

A mate uses it a couple of days a week and says it's fine.

[quimbles]

_Hoppers said:

quimbles said:

https://remotedesktop.google.com/

I kinda assumed it would be a bit laggy using this type of service?

your only controlling your PC at work, shouldnt be any lag with a half decent connection. No VPN needed.

you will of course need a device to use from home, but something cheap like a chromebook will do the job.