I have MS Server 2000 running on a Dell box with Terminal Services. An off site location in eastern PA accesses a database in Indiana daily using a DSL line on both ends. (Remote DSL is 384 link speed and server DSL is 768) Reports are printed daily, in the range of 150 - 200 pages at the remote site using an HP 3380 Laser printer. Printing remotely is no problem and does not take any special equipment. All you have to do is load the printer driver on the server (under the exact same name) and set your remote profile to automatically connect to remote printers. (I do not allow remote drives to be connected, although it is supported) When the user logs on (full security options available), it is no different that any other PC!
Speed is excellent, no noticeable delays. Printing has a very slight pause when starting to print, but prints normal once started.
Benefits are great! No need to backup data at remote sight. Lower powered (thus less expensive) PC required offsite. You can "Shadow" a user remotely and conduct training or trouble shooting as you can control thier screen remotely with ease. If your internet connection is disrupted, you do not crash the database! (Be very careful on this using a VPN, dropping your internet connection is like shutting down your PC in the middle of a transaction!) Your session continues to run normally, so when you re-connect, you can be back to the exact screen, etc. that was showing when the communications was dropped.
If you have a static IP address for the server, simply click on the Remote Desktop Icon and you are up and running. (It remembers the last IP address entered) If your IP address is not static, then the remote site will need to request what the current IP address is.
Terminal services (2000) supports LPT printer ports, but not USB.
The only problem I had was initially, my DSL line dropped packets frequently and caused the remote sight to lose connection. This happend up to 10-12 times per day. After working with the ISP, they replaced a defective modem and we have not had any problems at all.
A great way to go!
-Bob
-------------- Original message --------------
> Thanks for the information.
>
> I would like to see this as a topic of discussion at the Developers
> Conference. "How to configure and use Terminal Services Client"
>
> Would anyone else be interested in this as a discussion topic?
>
> John
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of MikeB
> Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2004 3:13 PM
> To: RBG7-L Mailing List
> Subject: [RBG7-L] - RE: R:Base and Microsoft VPN
>
> Windows Server 2003 supports full Redirect, so Drives and Printers are
> shared...
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Engwer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "RBG7-L Mailing List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2004 1:31 PM
> Subject: [RBG7-L] - RE: R:Base and Microsoft VPN
>
>
> > Is it possible to redirect printing to the remote location when running
> > RBASE with Terminal Services Client?
> >
> > John
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bill Downall
> > Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2004 1:45 PM
> > To: RBG7-L Mailing List
> > Subject: [RBG7-L] - RE: R:Base and Microsoft VPN
> >
> > David,
> >
> > A VPN is like another client on the network, at the other end of a very
> long
> > cable.
> > Everything travels through the wires to the workstation (after being
> > encrypted for the
> > transmission), and then the workstation's copy of R:Base does all the work
> > with that
> > huge amount of data that went through the wire.
> >
> > Terminal Services Client is more like Citrix (or even PC Anywhere), where
> > R:Base is
> > running back on the Terminal Services Server, and a picture of the screen
> is
> > all that
> > gets sent through the wire. A VPN connection is just not going to be very
> > efficient for
> > a file-based database. This is the place for an R:Web application!
> >
> > Bill
> >
> > On 21 Sep 2004 at 13:30, Mark Kwoka wrote:
> >
> > > I use Terminal Services Client which works very well and rbase is very
> > > fast.
> > >
> > > Mark Kwoka
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David M.
> > > Blocker Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2004 1:26 PM To: RBG7-L Mailing
> > > List Subject: [RBG7-L] - R:Base and Microsoft VPN
> > >
> > > Has anyone used R:Base via a remote connection using Microsoft VPN?
> > > If so, can you offer suggestions on how to optimize performance?
> > >
> >
>
