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System Replication

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by kfrost

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Is there a way to have 2 machines (home laptop and office workstation) be identical. My boss doesn't want to have to lug his laptop to and from the office everyday. He would rather keep his laptop at home with his files on it and at work have a desktop that has the same files on it. Here comes the tricky part. Lets say he makes a change to a document on his home laptop, he than wants that change to occur on his work desktop. Is this at all possible? I know I could have him VPN into the office from home but technology and him don't get along. Is there any other way he could work from home without having to create a VPN connection? Any help will greatly be appreciated.

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by dumphrey

would be to put all his files on a server share, restricted to his use only, and encrypted as need be, and then he could access this from his work or home (over a vpn i'm afraid).
the issue comes down to replicating data between two machines in different physical and logical locations. The best way I know to connect 2 remote locations is with a permanent vpn connection between the 2 routers, avoiding the need for vpn clients, and providing constant access. The method for this depends on his home ISP and router, and your work equipment.
Even any synching software you find will need a reliable way for the two machines to talk.
Or, on a very basic level, buy him a big flash drive (or small 2.5 external USB hard drive) for all his files.
Another option requires an FTP server to be the "repository" for all his files and he would "synch" with that server from work or home.
Someone else may have a more elegant solution. But I fail to see how this will work without a vpn or central server.

by kfrost

I thought of giving him a 150GB external drive that he can carry between work and home. I think I will probably use that as a last resort.
I will take a look at creating an FTP server. Do you know of any free FTP server software that I can test with?
Thanks for the help.

by dumphrey

were on Linux, and as such were free... the trick is most likely the client, getting one that can automate the connection and synching directories would be nice.

Suggestions only:

Server:

http://filezilla-project.org/
OSS, solid features, cross platform, and they make a client as well.
http://www.xlightftpd.com/
Looked good to me, I like the integrated AD authentication. The secure FTP (would STRONGLY recommend this feature)is a big plus as well.

Client:
http://filezilla-project.org/

Slimline
http://www.internet-soft.com/ftpcomm.htm

Only free for home use:
http://www.coreftp.com/

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