Remote Desktop or something else...

Skawn

Skawn

Skawn

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Joined
18 Jul 2006
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20
I've just resurected an old PC for use as a fileserver on my home network.

The useage is twofold - 1) to provide centralised storage for all media which can then be played anywhere in the house and 2) to manage all downloads so I can turn my other machines off when I go to bed!

1 is easy enough - I was looking at FreeNAS but really for my purposes, just having the drives shared is more than sufficient. 2 is a bit trickier - I'd rather not have to physically be at the server to start/stop downloads but at any of the other PCs on the network. Whats the best way of remote controling it? Will XP remote desktop to the trick or is there a better way e.g. LogMeIn?
 
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Nothing wrong with XP Remote Desktop at all - I use it all the time and have never had any problems with it. If you have a copy of XP Pro there's no need to use something else in my opinion.
 
Remote desktop will suit fine yes.

If you are concerned with security you can set your firewall to block rdp ports for all but your own machine.
 
hmm, FreeNas is based on FreeBSD so you aint gonna be able to use Remote Desktop with that.

You could however use TightVNC to do the job. :)
 
nat will prevent anyone being able to connect to the machine from outside unless you manually setup the port...for internal use it's easy and secure.
 
Wow... love the speed of responses on these forums!

I've decided against using FreeNAS so no worries there - the drives on the fileserver are just going to be shared on the network - nice and simple!

I'm behind a NAT router so not too worried about security so looks like remote desktop is the way to go. Just need to buy a few HDDs now :)

Thanks for the replies.
 
i use remote desktop for the pc in the attic - its runs xp and i use it as a download box

couple of things i have found help - set the bios to power on after ac loss, so if you have a powercut it fires up itself again when the power comes on (i can also pull the plug downstairs if it freezes to hard reboot it - not good i know...)

also set windows to reboot if it crashes so you don't have to go reset it yourself everytime
 
Zap said:
nat will prevent anyone being able to connect to the machine from outside unless you manually setup the port...for internal use it's easy and secure.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that that would only be the case if you are behind router. Wesley has since mentioned that he does have a router though so no problems in this instance.
 
L_D said:
Keep in mind that that would only be the case if you are behind router. Wesley has since mentioned that he does have a router though so no problems in this instance.
Click to expand...

wesley isn't the op though...
 
Zap said:
wesley isn't the op though...
Click to expand...
Neither he is.

Skawn - you're fine behind a router.
Wesley - if you're not behind a router think about setting up a firewall rule to only allow access from your own machines if you use rdp.
 
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