How does remote access work

Asks panda

A. Remote access provides you with the ability to access another computer or a network from a remote location e.g. you can access your PC at home via a laptop when you are in another part of the country or you can access your office network from home. In addition, if you access the Internet from home you are in effect connecting to it through remote access to an Internet service provider (ISP).

�

Connection is usually made using a modem and your normal telephone line, although it also works over a dedicated line (this is a lot faster, but also a more expensive method of connection), usually an ISDN line although cable modems and digital subscriber lines (DSL) are becoming increasingly popular.

�

There are two ways of connecting to your PC using remote access - either using a modem as noted above, or via the Internet. If you connect your PC to your office network or Intranet over the Internet you are using a public network to access private information, which can be dangerous as you are leaving yourself vulnerable to hackers at the same time. A way around this is to use a virtual private network.

�

Q. What is a virtual private network

A. A virtual private network (VPN) will allow you to send and receive data over a public network by emulating a point-to-point private link - keeping all your information secure at the same time. To emulate a point-to-point link, data is encapsulated, or wrapped, with a header that provides routing information allowing it to traverse the shared or public transit network (the Internet) to reach its endpoint. To emulate a private link, the data being sent is encrypted. This means that any information intercepted will not be able to be read.

�

Q. Will this effect the way I work, will my system be slower or unstable

A. You should be able to work as normal, although you may notice that commands take a bit longer when you access your company files if you're accessing them over a normal telephone, rather than an enhanced, line as Internet dial-up speeds will slow you down a bit. Your system should not be unstable as a result of this. Other than running a bit slower than normal (this is avoided if you have DSL or an ISDN line for example) it will be irrelevant to you that you're working over the Internet as to all intents and purposes it will feel as if you are working on a dedicated private link.

�

Q. If I am dialling into my office network at normal Internet dial-up speeds and am working for some time, won't this be really expensive as I will be online for a long time

A. This is an expensive way to work, not just because you'll have a large telephone bill, but because your corporate network will also have to operate and maintain a remote access server and an associated modem bank to support several remote users. Some Internet calls are also classified as long distance, which can really hike up your bills.

�

This problem has been remedied by a solution known as point-to-point tunnelling protocol (PPTP) - a protocol supported by Microsoft, 3Com, US Robotics among others.

�

PPTP (also incorporated into VPNs) allows you to dial into a local ISP and access your corporate network at local call rates and avoids the need to have lots of modem banks - which drastically cuts down on costs.

�

It is also really secure to use as it encrypts all data being sent, encapsulates it and other network protocols into an IT packet and sends it over the Internet via a process known as tunnelling, which in effect is a protective layer over all data sent and received - that is stripped off when the information is unencrypted.

�

Q. Can you recommend any good remote access software that will allow me to access my PC from a remote destination

A. There is a lot of software on the market, some of the best includes Carbon Copy (available from www.compaq.com), pcAnywhere (available from www.symantec.com), Laplink (available from www.laplink.com), Remote Anything (available from www.twd-industries.com), Back Office 2000 (www.bo2k.com) and PC Remote (available from www.americansys.com).

�

If you have any other Internet & Technology related questions, please click here

�

By Karen Anderson