----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2001 12:27
PM
Subject: [support] RE: online use
Peter,
With
FileMaker Server, many users can access ebase at one time. I think what
Walt is saying is that PC Anywhere (or freebie VNC, or other software) allows
one to operate an office computer from a remote location (basically
impractical unless both ends have a couple hundred kbps bandwidth, e.g.
through DSL). But, in this case the office computer cannot be used by
another (not even someone sitting in the office) at the same time someone
is using the remote-access sotware -- that's the 'one user' part.
This office computer could be one of many that is accessing the database at
any one time, though. Under a PC-Anywhere or related scheme, for
multiple persons to have remote (i.e. from home) access at one time, more than
one office machine would have to be set up to use PC Anywhere (or whatever
other software).
I
expect there'd be some potential to use Virtual Private Networking (VPN) and
_large_ bandwidth to actually directly access the database directly from a
remote computer, rather than simply operating an office computer from
afar. But, I seriously doubt this could be practically done with
standard 256 kbps DSL unless the database is teeny-tiny. Does anyone out
there have experience with this? Also, as I understand it, VPN is
probably not a good solution unless there's a system/network administrator on
hand/on call to set things up and maintain them as needed.
The
reason that PC-Anywhere (or VNC or whatever) can be used remotely is that the
only data being passed back and forth is the information about what pixels are
showing on the screen, mouse movements & clicks, etc. This is not
too much trouble with a DSL or similar connection to the internet on both
ends. One limitation is that if you export data from ebase under this
system, the exported file will be right there on the office computer -- not at
home where you may have needed it. A clunky workaround is to set up an
email client on the office computer and email yourself the exported
data.
As I
understand it, when one wants to actually directly access the database from
afar, lots of records have to be passed back and forth -- a much bigger load
of information to fit in the pipeline.
It's
very important to realize that PC-Anywhere, VNC, and the rest can create some
new vulnerabilities that a hacker/attacker could exploit to gain access to
your system. I'm not thoroughly versed in all the issues, but they are
important enough that they should be thoroughly investigated before
proceeding.
--
Eric Johnson
Colorado Environmental Coalition
I am new to
ebase and trying to determine if it will work with our organization.
Are
there any users on this list who have multi-users accessing their database
online? if so, how is this working for your group?
We do not have an
office but we do have a reasonable computer literate group -- we would like to
be able to access and update the data base from our home pc's.
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