2 sites, 2 internet connections, one seamless network?

[PhillyDee]

First, did not know if I was going to put this in the networking, or this one, but decided here would be best!

I currently work from home, and have a WHS v1 system, and networking stuff here. I have the Virgin Superhub, and a Netgear 16 port dumb gigabit switch with everything plugged into it, wireless is via a tomato based wrt54gl.
I also have a Netgear FVS114 Prosafe firewall VPN Cable router doing nothing (Virgin Superhub took over the duties).

I am looking at renting an industrial unit, but all of the companies stuff is stored on the WHS system, and since it is more secure than the unit, I would rather keep it at home.
I do not know what ISP I am looking at yet, I am assuming it has a BT line so ADSL here, so any internet provider will be considered! No telephone required, since I use VOIP through Vonage.

I want to have the unit and my home networks to appear as easily as they do now. So everything is mapped to drive letters, printers are shared just the same (There will be a mono laser 1320TDN at the unit and a samsung colour laser connected to the whs at home) and I can easily DNC to and from any pc as I currently do.

What equipment will I need, is it nice and simple, and how on earth will I do it!
No set budget, but I would like to spend as little as I can to acheive the goals.

 

[PhillyDee]

Reading up on it, it sounds like that a VPN is what I require. As for users, I will have 2 pcs in the unit, both of which require access to the files stored at home on the server. Initially, there will just be me, but surely the amount of users makes no difference since the pc's themselves will have the only access?

I know WHS has remote access for files, but its too long winded, and I want to be at the unit, accessing files (write and read access) as if I am at home plugged into the same network.

So:

Unit (2 pcs, 1 network printer) (10/100 would be fine for here)
|
?????????
|
Home (3 pcs, wireless access point, server, ps3 etc) (again, 10/100 router would be fine as it will be using a gigabit switch for the network)

What hardware do I require for the unit (which will be ADSL) and for home? Will the Netgear FVS114 be sufficient for home use? If not, what cable router would I require?
It goes without saying that there also needs to be internet access for all clients.

And a handy guide to setting it up would be much appreicated. Although I know plenty about basic networks for small offices and homes, I know nothing about the more complex side like what I want to do!

 

[PhillyDee]

Not what I want to hear of course!
Not a fan of cloud, and anyway, I have redundancy, ups, backups and anti-virus on the server, as well as on the home server.
The files will not be covered by google docs, as they are proprientary files for label machines, label printers, laser cutter files as well as cad and office type documents.
Speed is not an issue for the file sizes at all. No database access, as my warehouse software uses the cloud anyway (for a fee of course!).

I was hoping for a one off charge for the hardware, and then nice ease of use for the rest. the data does require access for updates from both ends of course! Seems a shame to move all the business stuff to cloud, and let the 7Tb of storage on the home server go to waste!

As for hashed together Im offended p). Just looking for a solution that keeps the same way of working, so it does not matter where I am if I forget to do anything in particular etc.

If I decided on cloud storage, then what would be the most seamless provider? Any that I can map as a drive letter, or a simple drag and drop interface?

Edit: Yes, I have a 30mb VM.While branch cache sounds good, I am happy with my WHS, and really do not want to go down the Server 2008 route! Far more complex than I require.

 

[PhillyDee]

Not so much not a fan of, its just im not sure if I 100% trust it! Although my mission critical database for the warehouse software is all cloud based (I pay monthly subscriptions), I prefer to have the full control over the individual files, but I am inclined to change my mind. Got to embrace the future right?

I use DE for the discs, it is for home use after all! I have no RAID hardware on board, and like the simplicity of DE over RAID. Its an energy efficient server on a basic i3 chip with a basic board.
I store all my DVD's and music etc for playing over the network hence the massive space. The business stuff is all on its own share, to keep it seperate. Just thought it would be easy to use the hardware and storage I already have.
I know nothing of VPN's, I know of them, but thats all!

 

[PhillyDee]

oh my... 7TB of documents?



Just internal? lol

Lol.
Yes, I rip all my dvds (I also have a lot of tv series) to h.264 and play on the PS3. Oh, and its all redundant, with space for a drive failure and keep the redundancy going while I purchase a replacement drive.
Anyway! It basically seems a shame to have a seperate system for the business side of it, when I have an adequate system in place for managing files!
I think I will give dropbox a go, and see how it goes. My move probably will not be for another 3 weeks or so, so it gives me plenty of 'tinker time'.

 

[PhillyDee]

Just one for now, but with 2 pcs at the unit.
Space wise, I have around 3gb in the business shares, but around 2gb of that are product photos, original ones which are stupidly high res! I have been using dropbox, and it is very easy. How safe is the data against loss etc? Any horror stories?