Help/Ideas on Accessing Files Remotely

TEL_TICK · March 12, 2018

Hi all,

New to the forum but have been watching Linus for a number of years since his days at NCIX.

I have a bit of an issue and have drawn a blank so I need some ideas or help from you Guru's!

So we have a client that's just been setup on a domain with Shared Folders on a server (They currently use DropBox but will be migrating these to the Shared Folders on the server). Now the tricky part is 2 of the staff members are located in another country and need to access some of the files + create new files.

One of our ideas was to perhaps install the program they need to create the files on the server so they could use the program directly on the server via RDP. Trouble is, it requires a graphics card which the server doesn't have/can't install. - This idea is out of the window.

The next idea was perhaps the VPN option and to add shortcuts to the desktop of the users to be able to remotely access the files - We feel this may have severe performance issues (as where the server is located, it's not on a good connection).

After that, we thought about keeping Dropbox and perhaps have a work in progress folder where the 2 users create their files then drag over to the server once they've finished with them. - The only problem with this, is that they've now told us all users need to access them at all times whether they are a work in progress or not.

Ideally, we don't want to be installing Dropbox or keeping a local copy on every users machine (only those 2 users out of the country). - I'm wondering if it could be a case of perhaps syncing a folder on the server e.g. 'Files' into DropBox and then that would sync on the 2 users machines locally.

Does anyone know of a solution to this, it seems to be like it could be a really common problem. Is there an alternative way other than the last point I've made of using Dropbox to sync a folder on the server?

I wonder if we could use something similar to a Dropbox client that could download the files directly from the server locally onto the PC and then sync back up once changes have been made?

Thanks for any help/advise given, please ask any questions.