Home office, remote access and the new gmail business...options??

[Uppie1414]

Hey everyone!

I'm moving into a new space where we will be working on the 1st floor of the unit and living on the 2nd. I would also like to have a co-worker have access to the network/info off site.

What's the best system for this? Should I set up a home network with logins so we can access each user from one of 4 computers? Would paying for gmail (debating moving my current outlook/corporate email to this) and going that route make the most sense?

I can set up the home network, but not 100% sure the best way.

Thanks in advance--I appreciate it!

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Is the first floor going to be something that's secured and safe from a Data standpoint? Is this workload that should possibly be placed in a De-Militarized Zone, such as the cloud? How critical would it be if your internet, power, or utilities went out where this data was stored?

If you think having it onsite is a good idea, then off the bat this sort of thing is usually done with a VPN Server + VPN Client Access. You maintain the Server and credentials that allow remote users to log into your Network. There's usually access control lists and other security implementations that limit the amount of access a VPN User would have.

 

[Uppie1414]

It's safe...but it's a good point about power going out/etc. I'd be OK having it going to the cloud as long as it's safe/secure/etc. I do not need it onsite.

Thanks!
Dane

 

[Uppie1414]

Up

 

[thecoolnessrune]

It's all about costs vs. needs right, and what you want to do. Hosting out of your own location is more than likely the cheapest option, but what happens if you're down? On the other end of the spectrum, hosting a pod in the Datacenter is extremely resilient from power and connection outages, but the price is probably prohibitive.

What sort of workload are we talking about, and what does it run on? Are we talking a single application that runs on some small Linux system? An Application with GUI that someone needs to load on a Windows Desktop? Multiple Applications? A multi-system application that needs a Database and other supporting systems to run?

The first fact is identifying your workload, identifying your cost vs. performance factor, and using that as a guide to determine where your applications should live.

 

[Uppie1414]

Thanks thecoolnessrune!

Right now, I just have a home network with wireless accessing certain folders to get into xcel for a small business. Xcel, photos, etc. Nothing crazy at all. Now we want to work remote, so was debating creating logins and perhaps migrating everything to google business/google drive, or just creating our own. I suppose power goes out here once ever 2 years or so, but wouldn't be the end all. Not hosting the website/etc or anything like that.

Thanks!

 

[thecoolnessrune]

If you want an easy to use Content Management System that keeps you out of an administrative nightmare then a Cloud Based system would be my recommendation as well. If you're using Microsoft Excel, then Office 365 Essential for Business is just $60 per User per Year. It gives you 1TB of OneDrive Storage for your Photos and Documents, and Web Versions of all your Office applications, as well as Microsoft Flow that does a pretty awesome job at easily automating menial everyday content management tasks. For just a couple of users, you'll easily beat the cost of hosting your own services, not to mention you won't have to worry about the Security administration for things like VPN.

 

[Uppie1414]

Thanks!! Looking into this now. I really do appreciate it! Secure this way as well?

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Thanks!! Looking into this now. I really do appreciate it! Secure this way as well?

It has all the security of an internet-facing application backed by a Behemoth in the cloud industry, so I'd say overall it's very good. What you want to protect from is other people such as your associates using easy to guess passwords, or other basic security measures.

To minimize the people factor, we always recommend our clients Enforce Multi-Factor authentication on their Tenant, which will require Users to log in using no less than 2 forms of authentication (usually a Password + Authorized Smartphone which receives a Login Approval request in the installed Microsoft App). Doing that makes sure that even if the password is compromised, they'll need the password + the an unlocked or compromised phone to get into the account.

 

[Uppie1414]

Thanks again! $60 a year seems fine to me. Probably buy the hard copy of Office 2016. Any other suggestions for us?