One computer is at home connected to home internet and has a web server. I am usually not at home, I am somewhere else connected to a different, secure network. I have two computers, one is the server that stays at home, the other I take to and from home with me where-ever.
I want to save, edit, and run files on the server when I am using a different computer on a different, secure nework. Is this possible? And how would I go about doing it? Both computers are mine.
Have you already tried something like TeamViewer? It is a good way to easily and securely connect to a couple of devices remotely.
During setup the user usually is asked to create and account for remote access. Various features are available on the go;
remote print
VPN secure session
file transfer etc
You should then configure both computers and request access to the second one though password and user account or ID .IF the request ID matches the one from other second machine then the connection is thus established.
It also enables the user to setup unattended access (would be suitable for your scenario). It comes with both non commercial license and enterprise, meaning it's free so I suggest you try it, if you haven't already tried it.
TeamViewer would likely be the easiest for you to set up, but another option is to configure the home system as a Secure Shell (SSH) server. There are many implementations of SSH server software for Microsoft Windows systems that are free for personal use. Some that I've used include the following:
Once you have SSH server software running on the home system, you would need to configure your home router/firewall to allow connections in on TCP port 22, the well-known port for SSH and forward that connectivity to port 22, or you could use a non-standard port, if you preferred. Then on the mobile system you would need to install SSH client software. PuTTY is a widely used SSH client software package used for Windows systems. PuTTY would give you a command-line interface (CLI) to your home system, i.e., an interface akin to what you would have if you opened a command prompt window on either of your systems. An advantage to the command line interface that you would get with an SSH connection is that someone else could work on the home system without interference from you while you were running commands or transferring files via the SSH connection.
PuTTY comes with a psftp program for transferring files using the SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), but WinSCP, which is also free, provides an SFTP program with a graphical user interface (GUI) allowing you to drag and drop files from one system to the other.
Of course, many people want a GUI for managing a remote computer. You can use Virtual Network Computing (VNC) software to provide a GUI mechanism for remotely controlling another computer. There are a number of free VNC software packages for Windows systems. You would install VNC server software on the home system and a VNC viewer program on the mobile system. One free and open-source VNC package is UltraVNC. Some VNC programs don't use encryption, so people often tunnel the VNC connectivity through an SSH connection, since SSH connections are encrypted. You can install an encryption plugin for UltraVNC, so that you don't need to tunnel the VNC connectivity through SSH. Unless you are tunneling VNC through SSH, you would need to port forward the VNC port, port 5900 from your home router/firewall to the home server.
Another alternative would be for you to use Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) You would need to enable RDP server support on your home system, which you can do through the Windows GUI or from a command prompt. If you do it via the GUI method and are using Microsoft Windows Firewall as a host-based firewall on your home system, firewall rules should automatically be configured. If you have some other firewall software running on the home system, you may need to manually configure it to allow connectivity from remote systems via RDP. You would need to port forward port 3389 on your home router/firewall to the home server. You could also port forward the RDP connectivity through an SSH connection, but it is encrypted. However, at least for Windows 7, though I'm uncertain about Windows 8, you needed the Professional, Business, or Ultimate versions of Windows 7 rather than the Home version to set up the system as an RDP server.
