I am considering setting up a dedicated server with an ISP and giving people VPN access to the server to access the databases remotely from a local installation of FMP. Has anyone done this and have insight to share before I get started?

I did a a trial last year - it seems to work.

At the very worst you can re-think your plan if there are problems, although I doubt you can achieve anything better under your own steam.

Why are you using a VPN for this?

Steven

There will be private information saved on the server which will be accessed from moving, remote locations and then others will just access an interface developed in PHP. Actually, since this original post I have been working this out with DBDOM.Com with great success.

FileMaker Server itself can encrypt the data in transit. You do not need a VPN to do this.

Steven

The setup is a a server running Terminal Server and then a server hosting the database. People will be logging in from hotels, busses and slow connections. The customers want security on the connection to a specific workstation and not just security on the transfer of data.

OK, I see where you're headed with this. Be aware that the VPN can negatively impact performance. Just try it and see how it does. Allocate sufficient bandwidth for each VPN session.

Steven