Remote File storage or Transfer?

[peardog]

Hey Folks... I am looking for a solution that will allow me to Transfer large files to and from Work/home etc. I have tried FTP servers but with limited success.. and it seems the firewall I am behind at work is a bit picky. I use Logmein.com to get access to and from with no issues (great stuff!!) but cannot transfer files..
I was thinking of going back to UltraVNC.. but was wondering if you thought of a better way..maybe off site remote file storage etc..

Thanks for your ideas...

P

[ScratchMonkey]

Depends on the company firewall.

I'd suggest running a sshd server on port 443 at home. Then you can use scp (WinSCP is a good GUI Windows client) to access that port. To the company firewall, it will look like you're trying to access a secure web page.

Note, though, that the firewall will likely log the address you're trying to access. Some IT snoop may feed it up the food chain as "inappropriate/suspicious Internet activity" if connecting up to residential IP addresses is considered bad. (Home servers look a little like the zombies used to distribute viruses and trojans.)

BTW, how large is "large"? Can't you just use a USB memory stick? (I like my new microSD card I got for my phone, smaller than a fingernail and 2 GB of storage.)

[ThePromQueen]

Why don't you just purchase your own domain? That would probably be the easiest, I would think. For a few bucks a month you can just have your own website and you can upload/download from there.

[ScratchMonkey]

Doesn't Google have a backup service? If you backup to them, then restore from the other location, you've got file transfer.

[Bamboo]

Like he said above, how big a file are you talking about? And how much total?
Do you just want constant access you anything you have on your computer at either location, or just a certain number of files, and what kind of files are they (photo or other media, data files, etc)?

[peardog]

The File size and need is Random... could be a couple Hundred Meg ZIP/RAR...Could be a 1 gig ISO... (rare).. The Small stuff I just remote in and GMAIL it to myself.. The Sick thing is that I have my own Server/domain/etc... with very Little Limitations on myself...other then the University Firewall (I say firewall..but it's a packet inspection beastie..).. So technical limitations and Knowledge limitations are my only issues..
(I have a huge ass University Pipe and a 250 Static Ip's to play with..) My Server (Its a server but doesn't do any server THINGS) runs Server 2003... Optimally this box would act just like a NAS or something..

Thanks for your imput..

[ScratchMonkey]

Set up DAV on the server and use a web folder on the client. I'm guessing Server 2003 provides some kind of DAV server facility that can run on top of IIS.

I do this with Apache on Linux to provide the equivalent of FTP directories to vendors and customers. It's simple enough to set up on Apache, which means that setup on Windows is probably incomprehensible. (But you can do it with an incomprehensible GUI, instead of a comprehensible set of text config files.)

[thebonecollector]

many isp even block the default ftp port these days, when i had a windows 2003 server in the past, i was running serv-u (a ftp server software that work on windows 2003), i never had any issues with it and i'm often logged fromthe
risq network (for Réseau d’informations scientifiques du Québec, Quebec's Scientific Information Network).
The port 21 is often blocked by isp so i moved it to 2001 and i don't have issues anymore , ftp is probably the easiest way to store large brandwith file to your server. There are also different alternative on linux but on windows it's probably the easiest, you might need to tweak your connection mode from passive to active too .

another way would be to use a vpn , you can do it then with shared folder but it could be troublesome for very large file

[Twiggy]

You need to check your FTP directories and make sure that they can bypass your firewall

[Vinzalf]

I'd double check your company's Network Usage Policy. Every company I have worked for has been pretty relaxed about it, though it's still worded in a way that leaves that bit of doubt in your mind.

Moving files from company property to private property actually can get you into a lot of trouble, even the usage of logmein can get you into trouble. Unless you know 100% for certain the people who detect and decide whether your usage of work equipment for personal use is kosher, tread carefully.

That being said, there are numerous offsite storage services out there. It's up to you to check out the trustworthiness of any company to do this, depending on the sensitivity of the data being transferred.

Like, for example, I would not suggest using Jimmy's Free 10/100 backup service using port 80 for transferring your company's Master Employee Database... Because after all, you're the one who wants to benefit from it, not someone else =p

[peardog]

Thanks for the info Guys...

[thebonecollector]

if it doesnt work on windows 2003 you could consider moving your box on clackconnect (easy linux gateway solution) and transfert your file trough ssh