Remote Connection Issue/Question

I've got an interesting scenerio and I'm not sure of the best say to handle
it. I have and SBS 2003 R2 Std server with several XP Pro clients. For one
of these clients they want the ability to work on files either locally or
remotely since they are part time in/out of the office. I know the easy
answer is RWW to connect to network then to internal XP client but the only
problem is the files they work on are Autocad type of files and doing and RWW
using Autocad is nothing short of horrible.

Ideally if they could take the files home with them and work on (in an
Autocad on a home machine not joined to to the domain) them then back into
the office and update the office local then it works great. But that leaves
it up to the user to remember to USB Key the files or even RWW from home and
transfer the files. This can also work but can be slow.

The ultimate is if I could place a folder on their home machine that is an
off-line/sync folder with a folder on the server. If they VPN into the SBS
network then just sync the folder (either manually or by scheduling at the
end of every day) then there would be synced copies at home and at work.
They work on a file at work.... go home and sync so a copy of the file is on
the home computer.... work on the file... sync again to update the work
computer.... go back into the office and pick up where they left off.

This user is not technically savvy so I'm trying to come up with an easy
solution in order for them to work at home and in the office with both places
syncing with the latest and greatest data files.

What are peoples thoughts on how to handle this? What are the steps to set
up the VPN on the server and client? Does this type of "off-line and sync on
demand or schedule" idea have any merit?
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: W2008: new location for folder redirection does not work
    ... server though the domain name was the same as before. ... it and all the users kept their program settings locally. ... including finding a way how to export/import all the users on clients. ... and Settings folder) to the new folder in Documents and Settings, ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.general)
  • Problem with popen
    ... Under linux x86 I'm running a stress test which opens some tcp server ... applications and then about 70 clients in each their thread. ... The server however is started as an async process using fork and then ... sync and async processes. ...
    (comp.unix.programmer)
  • Re: W2008: new location for folder redirection does not work
    ... So you would have a clean profile with the correct settings in the profiles folder. ... server though the domain name was the same as before. ... including finding a way how to export/import all the users on clients. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.general)
  • Re: Redirection of Offline Sync Behavior
    ... That's normal for a domain server and why they're always going to/from the server. ... Could you have the 'normal path' to be their local PC and the SYNC path to point to the server. ... they could turn off their WAN / "work offline" all day - turn it on again. ... for unshared files could you use "My Briefcase" to have it sync to 'their mapped network folder' only at logon/off.? ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: forcing an nfs sync
    ... >I used the sync option in the /etc/exports file of the server, ... and clients still didn't see immediate changes in the file on ... >the server. ... >"sync" did not affect the overall throughput, ...
    (comp.protocols.nfs)