Firewall issues with IWP

[Gawain]

Hi Guys,

I have gone through the documentation to enable IWP and seem to have got this working through the local LAN no problem.

However I want to be able to access this database from home, the problem is we're based in serviced offices and have a firewalled Corporate Network which I don't physically have access to (can't enable ports etc.)

All I want to do is to share the database online, but the IWP host setup doesn't allow me to choose the IP address (URL) configuration, it simply picks my local IP address (which obviously cannot be accessed from outside).

As I have no control over the Network with our office environment, can anyone advise me the best way to be able to access the database. I don't want to have to keep emailing the database to myself at the end of each evening and mailing it back again if I make any changes (this could have dire consequences if someone else changes data in between).

Many Thanks in adavance.

Gawain

[Gawain]

Anyone?

[Razumovsky]

Hi Gawain,

I believe you need to contact your Network administrator and have them setup a VPN to get you through the firewall (if you could do this on your own, then a firewall would not be that effective, no?). You will need a static IP for this.

Cheers,

-Raz

*Also, do you really want to access the database using IWP (accessing the DB over a browser with greatly reduced functionality, and much slower)? You can just use FM to "Open Remote" and access the DB just like you would on the LAN (with the right VPN address, of course).

Edited June 21, 2006 by Guest
added IWP question

[Gawain]

Thanks for your reply. However the problem is the people that manage our office's network aren't on site and are generally crap at processing network requests. I can certainly try asking though.

I don't neccessarily want to open via IWP but if I have no choice but to go through a VPN then you're suggestion of remote access would definately be better. I was just trying to think of simplistic solution without having to jump through hoops to speak with the network admin.

What about ODBC to our domain hosting - or is that a whole new kettle of fish?

[Razumovsky]

I think the whole point of a firewall is to prevent unauthorized access to the machines via any method. If you can accomplish this without going through your network administrator, then it would seem that they were not doing their job correctly.

[fmsteve]

Yep.

Either admin has to do a port forward to your PC (also requires a static IP, not DHCP)

If their WAN uses DSL then it likely does not have a static IP and requires a DDNS setup.

OR

Setup a VPN, also requires admin support.

OR

Go with a FM hosting service.

Those are all your choices.