Access to shared folder from outside of local network

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la chupacabra

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Hello All,
I'm looking for a solution for what is described in a title. Basically there is a shared folder on a local network of around 25 computers (all of them in a Workgroup, not a Domain). One of the users is going abroad and she will be working from there. The problem is that she will need constant access to the Shared Folder (it contains mainly office files and .pdfs).
Can anyone advice me what would be the best and easiest solution in this case?
 
Solution
Hamachi is an account-based solution for an incredibly easy VPN setup. Just setup the client on the host for the shared folder and set it up the exact same on the remote computer. Easy as that. Also, I have heard great things about Comodo Unite, but I have not used it myself.

CrzyGK

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A cloud storage solution would probably be best in this case. DropBox works wonders for things like this, as you can setup a local folder on your server there, then sync it with DropBox to their servers which can then be accessed by your remote worker. Onedrive is also nice as it is already included and integrated with Windows 8.
 

CrzyGK

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You could also look into hosting a small FTP or SFTP server locally (Take a look at http://smallftpd.sourceforge.net/), then your remote worker could use an FTP client like Filezilla (https://filezilla-project.org/) to access files remotely. It's simple, requires little network configuration (Just port forwarding port 21 to your server) and you don't have to mess with cloud services.
 

la chupacabra

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Which one out of those 3 would be the best? I know how I would do it in Dropbox, but it would mean to set it up on all 25 computers and I don't know how it would work in practise compering to accessing one original shared folder on Ubuntu server (which works pretty well, without much lags)
 

CrzyGK

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A VPN solution would work as well. Depending on your router, you could set it up from there. There are also a large amount of software VPN (Like Hamachi) that would be worth looking into.
 

Whatever solution you choose, your remote worker should remember that he/she is "Remote" - to plan the work in such a way as to copy files back and forth.

FTP is "file transfer" application - the user must explicitely transfer files back and forth. For that to work properly, other workers should post and retrieve "work items" on a shared folder.

VPN solution would work for "transparrent" access even for line-of-business (and depending on what you already have, you even wont need additional equipment - Windows Server can work as Remote Access Server out of the box).
 

CrzyGK

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It will do it, but it's a real pain to get in working properly in most situations. A third-party solution is usually best when talking about software VPN solutions.
 

la chupacabra

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I use Dropbox myself and I'm very happy about how it's syncing data between my mobile, tablet, laptop and desktop, but I'm a bit concerned how it will work when 25-30 users will start using data from one Dropbox account (i.e lags, duplicates etc.). If anyone has test it (or other service than Dropbox), please let me know, maybe it works flawless and that's the best solution for me.
But I would probably like to start from setting VPN. CrzyGK you mentioned that I should use 3rd party solution to do that; what would it be?
 

CrzyGK

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Hamachi is an account-based solution for an incredibly easy VPN setup. Just setup the client on the host for the shared folder and set it up the exact same on the remote computer. Easy as that. Also, I have heard great things about Comodo Unite, but I have not used it myself.
 
Solution
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