Al,

How about using VPN, but this time, use CursorAdapters or SPT to access the main office with a server running say MySQL?

Will it be fast?

Dennis

>You need to understand the difference between any VPN solution, and remote control:
>
>- with a VPN, you are transferring actual data files across the slow VPN, and executing your program on your remote computer
>
>- with remote control, your program runs on the host computer, no VFP data is transferred across the Internet, only keystrokes, mouse actions and screen updates - and print jobs if remote printing is enabled
>
>Any VPN, regardless of its name or source will be a poor solution for a VFP app.
>
>For multiple simultaneous remote control sessions you have several choices:
>
>- TS, as you mention
>- creating a pool of physical computers that can be controlled via LogMeIn or equivalent
>- creating a pool of virtual computers on a single powerful box via something like Hyper-V or VMWare ESX, and making them accessible for remote control
>
>Of those, TS is probably the easiest to set up and manage. You will need to inquire locally about hardware and software costs.
>
>>Hi Al,
>>
>>Thanks for your reply.
>>
>>Would u know if solutions such as OpenVPN (just came across it) be any better?
>>
>>Since budget is an issue, any idea how much those - LogMeIn, Terminal Service (Windows), VNC - cost?
>>
>>Also, do these permit multiple simultaneous log-in sessions (which is a requirement)? I know Terminal Service can. Am pretty sure VNC only allow single sessions at any time.
>>
>>Dennis
>>
>>>
>>>That practice sucks and is not advisable ;-)
>>>
>>>DSL is often only 2 or 3 Mbit/sec download speed, and 0.5 Mbit/sec upload (or less).
>>>
>>>VFP has to pull some, or all of data files and indexes over the wire. In your case, that means pulling them from the main office, whose uplink speed is probably 0.5 Mbit/sec or less. Even though the remote office download speeds may be 2 or 3 Mbit/sec, the limiting factor is the upload speed of the main office.
>>>
>>>Consider that a "slow" LAN these days runs at 100 Mbit/sec, bi-directional and often full duplex. Your VPN link is running at about one-half of one percent of that speed; you can expect VFP file operations to take about 200 times longer to execute.
>>>
>>>Fast modern magnetic hard drives or arrays can push 100 Mbyte/sec or more, which is 800 Mbit/sec or more, which can come close to saturating even a gigabit LAN. Compared to that, the VPN's performance is even worse.
>>>
>>>Remote control is vastly superior for VFP apps (Terminal Server, LogMeIn, VNC etc.).