Hi

I read in some post here in SF that is posible use a VPN for connecting to SQL Server.

I actually have LogMeIn for conneting remotly to my computer, but I want to try to configure a VPN for connect from my laptop to a home computer to run a SF application that I have in both, the home computer has a SQL Server 2008 databases that I wish to connect to the database in the home computer using a VPN.

So the question is How to configure a VPN for do this task?

Please, as much detail as you can? I really don't have any idea of how to do this. All what I can do is with LogMeIn using a simple Access database file, which I can share so it's easy to connect to that file. But my main application has a lot of features including SF security that can not put in the Access file.

Kindest regards

Everything is possible, just keep trying...

Hi Juan,



I guess there could be persons on this forum that have an in-depth knowledge of setting up a VPN and have the time to talk you through the process but I think there is plenty of existing resources on the Net that you could reference. Certainly, you will need to take into account the type of link you will be establishing, e.g. dial-up, broadband etc and the type of operating systems that will be used.



I'm a bit of fan of the "Dummy" series of books myself. Why don't you get yourself a copy of: Virtual Private Networks for Dummies as a starting point.



Cheers, Peter

Juan, there are many different ways to setup VPNs.  There are software VPNs and hardware VPNs.  Before we could tell you what to do, it would require in-depth knowledge of your network and your external IPs.

If you do not have static IPs at both ends, then you can use a software VPN on your home or client machine to connect back to a centralized server.  If you have no static IPs at either location, then you will have to have an online application to which both endpoints register...this gets really messy.  The best solution is to have a static IP at both locations, but at a minimum, at the centralized location.  You can then get a router setup like a LinkSys RV042 (a cheap alternative to a PIX or ASA router) that supports IPSEC VPN tunnels.  This would reside on the side that has a static IP and would also protect your network.  This router also has the ability to support a software IPSEC VPN tunnel coming in.  This would allow the second location to have a roaming or dynamic IP.

Like I said, people do this one thing alone for a living meaning there are a lot of ways to go about setting up a VPN.  But it is also something that is more difficult to do without exact information as well.  Hope this helps get you going in the right direction.

Hi Peter,

I subscribe to SF forum, but I am not on the forum very much.  I am a part-time programmer and I normally rely on the SF expertise for advice.  However, I saw this post and thought I add my advice.  I currently have a remote SF client app connecting via VPN to the centralize network where I have a WinXP workstation running SQL Server Express 2005 database.  Couple of things I did to get this working.  First of all, as Trent mention, the easiest and most reliable way to setup VPN is to use a hardware solution.  I am using McAfee SG310 Snapgear VPN/Router appliance for handling the VPN connection which is located at the centralize network endpoint with the database server. From my experience it is one of the easiest VPN appliances to setup.  Secondly, I assigned a static IP Address to the WinXP workstation running SQL Server Express database.  The remote computer running the SF Client app can have a dynamic IP address.  From there, when I setup my connection string, I used the static IP address of the SQL Server (i.e. 192.168.10.2\SQLExpress).  This solution works great assuming you are using broadband internet for end to end VPN connection and not dial-up.

I hope this was helpful.

Jeff

Hi Peter,

One other thing, before you setup the connection string and test your connection on the remote computer, make sure you have successfully connected the computer to the centralized network via the VPN connection.  Also, the one nice thing about the SnapGear appliance is that it supports Microsoft's VPN.

Jeff