I am trying to identify relatively simple (??) solutions which would allow
my staff to access files saved at school from outside the school. The
primary purpose is to resolve the dilemna during Report Card Time that
teachers wish to work at home but the school has a valid interest in having
them work on files on the server (formatting issues, transfering files,
confidentiality, back up solution, etc).
* We have a staff of approximately 50 teachers.
* We are a PC school (with a handful of Macs). We use AD for
authentication. Files are saved on a Win 2003 server. Staff workstations
do not currently have fixed Ips.
* We do not currently host our own website, SID or email so we don't have a
DMZ set up, but could.
* I do tech support up to a point. More complex tasks are outsourced but
achievable.
* We are probably implementing a new email solution this summer, to replace
using Outlook 2003 as a POP3 client. We will probably pay to have this
hosted outside the school.
* We are using a Linksys RV082 VPN-capable firewall, which is capable of
100 vpn client IDs. The problem with the VPN software which came with this
is that it requires outside client to be on a different subnet, and our
network was built (before I got here!) with the default 192.168.1., which
most staff will have at home. Converting our network is an option, but not
a simple one (I'm told).
Please reply offline to this account or Daniel.Berger@jpds.org with any
recommended (or NOT recommended) solutions which might fit our situation.
It would help me if you would include some hints as to the security
pros/cons of a solution, and the relative costs and complexity of an option.
I'm not trained as a network administrator, but I play one at work. At this
time, Google Aps and other outside file saving services are not being
considered. Please don't spend your time writing to me about the wonders of
Google etc. ;-)
Dan Berger
Tech Admin
Jewish Primary Day School of the Nations Capital
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