Home VPN solution - best way to achieve this?

[dekez]

Hi all

I'd like to be able to connect to my home server externally via a VPN, but I'm coming across problems when doing this and wondered if you guys know of a better solution.

The server is running Server 2008 R2 as a standalone server. The remote clients would be a running XP (home edition) or Win 7 starter.

I was originaly going to set up the server as a routing and remote access server, but I think I'm going to run into problems with certificates (or will I?) and not having a domain. The more I look into this the more it seems more hassle than it's worth.

I then tried teamviewer but you can't run the free version on Server 2008 R2, which is a shame as that would have worked perfectly.

What other options are out there? I don't need remote desktop, I just want access to shares on the network. A bonus would be if the solution also had web access to files.

Cheers

 

[dekez]

I did but for some reason I thought you had to pay, just check again and you don't, all installed now and working perfectly!

Many thanks

 

[dekez]

RRAS should be fine, i have it running here. When you install it do it as custom if you only have 1 NIC, try and use something like dyndns to create a sort of damin name for you to connect to. and create a user in AD and set them up with remote access. In RRAS set the IP table you wish to supply and make sure you have DNS installed aswell. and away you go.

I don't have an AD domain set up at the moment as the server is just used for storage and media streaming, plus neither of my laptop or netbook could join the domain as they have home versions of Windows. I would still like to get RRAS set up as well, but I'm just a bit concerned that L2TP/IPSec wouldn't be possible without a domain and certificates, is PPTP secure enough?

OpenVPN? Or have you looked at, http://www.tonido.com/ - that may be more beneficial to you.

Tonido looks really good cheers, I showed my gf last night how she can now access all her files on her netbook anywhere, and the first thing she said was "what about in work on a web browser?!" so I think this actually will be a better option after all if it works well.