Re: XP remote connect to Win2K PC?

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From: Bill Sanderson (Bill_Sanderson_at_msn.com.plugh.org)
Date: 10/15/04 

Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2004 10:55:46 -0400

I've a user who keeps a laptop at home and only brings it to the office to
synch every few months. She'd like to use a (1 gig) USB key to do the
synching by carrying that back and forth.

I'm looking at SC for that functionality. I see that some USB key vendors
have (usually extra cost) apps to do this job that are tied to their
hardware.

It seems to me that the devil is in the details in this kind of an app--and
I don't have a solid enough feeling for how SC works to be unequivocally
positive. Lanwench does have that level of experience, I believe!

The strength I see in Offline Files is that they've made it simple--very
little user interface--no complicated sets of options to set, etc. Because
the underlying process is, in fact, rather complex, this can lead to some
issues which are hard to manage--although the number of tools needed are
quite small--there's a KB article on how to blow away and reestablish the
cache if there are issues of corruption with it, and there's a Windows
Server 2003 Resource Kit applet that allows for manual control of several
crucial details of the cache behavior which is sometimes useful.

I haven't seen the data loss issues directly, but I've only a few users
using the feature--I have cetainly seen threads here with such issues, but
don't have a clear fix on what went wrong. For example, the cache files are
tied to a serial number for the user in a domain, and if the domain changes
(as with a neighbor who changed jobs)--the cache becomes inaccessable. He
was sure he was OK because he synched carefully before leaving the job, but,
in fact, the files were inaccessable. I now suspect this could have been
fixed with the Resource Kit applet, but I didn't know about that at the
time, and he was able to get the old job to send him the files. So--there
are "legitimate" causes for the cache becoming inaccessable, and then there
are the other kind--which I haven't followed the feature in enough depth to
try to pin down.

I like offline files--it is dead simple to use, and the users find it easy
to understand. However, if I'd been having data lost issues, I'd go
elsewhere quickly, or if I needed more flexibility--as with the USB key
transfer system.

"Jonathan Finney" <jon@isotrack.com> wrote in message
news:416ea2a1$0$103$65c69314@mercury.nildram.net...
> Thanks for a very comprehensive explanation, Bill.
>
> I can see that this could be an issue where large amounts of data had to
> be
> transferred, but once the initial copy of several GB of data had been
> performed, hopefully the relatively small number of files changed within a
> day would not present too much of a problem.
>
> I'm concerned about the instances of data loss mentioned by Lanwench and
> have asked her for more details. Have you heard of similar occurrences?
> If
> we're talking about the possibility of files at both ends becoming
> damaged,
> I'll pay the $30 and go for the SC option. It also sounds like it might
> be
> easier to set up and manage with a dedicated application as a front end.
> Would you agree?
>
> --
>
> Jonathan Finney
>
> "Bill Sanderson" <Bill_Sanderson@msn.com.plugh.org> wrote in message
> news:eSfvXbTsEHA.2632@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
>> SMB is Server Message Block, apparently invented by IBM:
>>
>> http://www.javvin.com/protocolSMB.html
>>
>> It is what any windows networking implementation has used since time
>> immemorial.
>>
>> The current standard is CIFS which is also mentioned in this definition.
>>
>> VPN is not necessarily slow--the speed depends on the infrastructure you
> are
>> connecting across.
>>
>> If you have a 100mbps full duplex ethernet, and use a VPN connection
> across
>> that, for security, the speed difference may be negligable, I suspect,
>> but
>> haven't tested. There's processor power going into the
>> encryption/decryption at both ends, but if more than enough of that is
>> available, it shouldn't impact speed. I haven't looked up the details of
>> the overhead in individual packets--versus unencrypted traffic. I'm sure
>> there's some.
>>
>> What I meant by slow is that if you are connecting across the Internet,
> many
>> common connection types these days are not equally fast in both
> directions.
>> The "A" in ADSL is for assymetric, meaning that the connection is faster
> in
>> one direction than in the other. The same is true for common cable
>> connections, as I understand it.
>>
>> So--the speed of your connection may be limited by the uplink speed at
>> the
>> site the data is flowing from. Using Remote Desktop, for example, speed
>> issues are almost unnoticable--because of compression and great care
>> bandwidth use. However, when you are using normal networking protocols
> over
>> that same connection and moving large amounts of data--as you may be in
>> doing an initial synch on offline files, the basic link speed is going to
>> limit how fast things go. If you are lucky, and the source is a
>> workplace
>> with a large upload speed to the Internet, this may not be a problem.
>>
>> Many here are accustomed to the speeds that RDP achieves over such
>> connections and are startled when they try an actual file transfer or
> other
>> bulk data movement over the same underlying connection and are bitten by
> the
>> relative speed (or lack thereof!) of the link--so I try to remind folks.
>>
>> "Jonathan Finney" <jon@isotrack.com> wrote in message
>> news:416d31ac$0$112$65c69314@mercury.nildram.net...
>> > Sorry, Bill.
>> >
>> > I've heard of VPN, but didn't know it was slow. Where can I read more
>> > about
>> > this?
>> >
>> > What's SMB?
>> >
>> > --
>> >
>> > Jonathan Finney
>> >
>> > "Bill Sanderson" <Bill_Sanderson@msn.com.plugh.org> wrote in message
>> > news:e7JMGx8rEHA.3728@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
>> >> Offline files works with any source offering SMB networking--this
>> >> includes
>> >> the 9.x versions of Windows, and, I suspect, Linux implementations of
>> >> SMB.
>> >>
>> >> As Lanwench mentions, it isn't available in XP Home, but that isn't
> what
>> > you
>> >> have at home.
>> >>
>> >> I don't have experience with trying to use this feature in a situation
>> > where
>> >> you are only connecting via a slow VPN link, but you can definitely
>> >> try
>> >> it
>> >> out.
>> >>
>> >> You might want to try both mechanisms--the third-party one and the
> native
>> >> one. I don't have a strong opinion about this--they both look well
>> > designed
>> >> to me, and I haven't had a lot of complaint about the offline files
>> >> feature--I use it mainly with laptop users who grab a machine and take
> it
>> >> off-network for periods of time, though.
>> >>
>> >> "Jonathan Finney" <jon@isotrack.com> wrote in message
>> >> news:416a9d4a$0$110$65c69314@mercury.nildram.net...
>> >> >I have a broadband connection at work and home and I'd like to get
>> >> >access
>> >> >to
>> >> > my data partition at work (3 PCs on a Win2K PTP LAN) from my home PC
>> >> > (running XP Pro).
>> >> >
>> >> > I need to get read/write access to the shared partition where all my
>> > data
>> >> > files are held. I don't mind if I have to have a duplicate set of
> data
>> >> > files at home and sync the files/folders.
>> >> >
>> >> > I understand that XP has a sync folders facility, but suspect that
> both
>> >> > ends
>> >> > need to be running XP for this to work. Is this so?
>> >> >
>> >> > What other options do I have to achieve this?
>> >> >
>> >> > --
>> >> >
>> >> > Jonathan Finney
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>
>

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