remote administration

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You may install the Windows 2000 optional Terminal Services.

Check to make sure that the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) port (port 3389) is not blocked at the firewall and that access to specific corporate segments is not limited to Internet Protocol (IP) or Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) network addresses. If these blocks are in place and they prevent remote connections, you must address them during deployment.

Please read the following articles for details (make sure that no space is inserted in the URL string),

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/guide/server/features/terminalsvcs.asp

http://www.microsoft.com/TechNet/win2000/dguide/chapt-16.asp

You could also consider having a PPTP server inside your DMZ and private LAN. Then from the "internet" you make connections to the PPTP server over protocol 47 and port 1723 (which would have to be open on your firewall).

Once you're authenticated on your PPTP server you can then be allowed either limited/controllable access to your network, or full access to your network (depending on how you configure RRAS).

Thanks

There is an adminmpak.msi on the server cd. This works really well from a 2kPro box.
Terminal Server in Remote Admin Mode has already been addressed, and I like that really well also.
If you install the msi, what you'll get is a complete set of tools to admin any 2k server on your LAN, with the ability to address any server on the fly (Remote Admin with Terminal Services requires you to log out of each server in turn to access another - or have a bunch of TS windows open at once).

I prefer the MMC route myself.

YMMV

Terminal services is a possibility, However, there is a nice software package out there that will probably be easier, and it's what I use. No, I do not work for the company that made it! It's called NetOp. Doesn't crash and is very fast with little bandwidth required. check it out at www.crossteccorp.com. Very easy to install. But it has a big pricetag. If your not willing to pay the money, the I beleive that terminal services is the way to go!

I agree that terminal services are a very good way of providing this level of remote control. However there are a number of other solutions that are quite straight forward. There are many free solutions as per some of the answers given above, but the easiest way to configure your windows 2000 machines for remote control without having to do any installs on any of your machines is to configure MS NetMeeting for remote control (this is a standard conponent on server and professional). The help files give full detailed instructions on how to do it - it is also the most straight forward to configure through a firewall as ALL the port numbers for this are standard and again easily extractable from the help files.

i should leave this open as everyone is giving postive imput - bloody great, as far as configuring the lrp box is concerned, its not a problem, except netmeeting ver3 isn't easily supported. Within the lan i mainly use the mmc tools (adminpak.msi) on a win2kbox like most of us use.

remotely thats basically the tools i need to access and remote file transfer. stability and security is my main concerns.

well i'm gonna get the laptop up, get the ball rolling. keep posting ideas by all means. thanks, julian

You can always try terminal services as well. The response time on that is pretty good. there is also a utility out there called RemotelyAnywhere. This will cost you money though.

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