July 29, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Hi,
I've posted a couple of questions earlier because I'm branching into DBA work from working as a developer and starting a small business offering people Remote DBA services.
I want to be very careful and am still researching the various ways of implementing this. While I'm very comfortable with SSMS and believe I can troubleshoot any problems that come up there, I'm still trying to work out the best way of reliably connecting to a client's server.
For my own servers, I usually log in with RDO or connect directly to the server from SSMS using Windows or SQL authentication. For my purposes, that is usually sufficient.
I'm not sure how SECURE such a setup is, however. One person mentioned in response to an earlier post that they use Citrix products to do this. Citrix is really, really expensive--especially for a small business just getting started out.
I'd really appreciate people commenting on a) approaches they use, b) security vulnerabilities of RDO/SSMS directly, and c) any potential lower cost alternatives to Citrix.
Thanks,
Ron
July 30, 2009 at 1:08 am
There are several approaches and I've seen around all flavours of solutions, but I still think the best way is setting up a strong VPN and then work over it with Remote Desktop and SSMS on the client's network.
This doesn't mean you will have to log in to the SQL Server machine directly: it could be a front-end computer in the client's LAN with sufficient rights and firewall rules that allow connecting to the server.
Other solutions require complex management or could lead to misunderstandings when security issues arise.
Just my two cents...
Gianluca
-- Gianluca Sartori
July 30, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Is it customary for the customer or the remote DBA provider to furnish the VPN? I was thinking of setting up a VPN with SSL for my practice so clients without a VPN can connect to it. I'm assuming, however, that most clients prefer to furnish their own VPN/SSL.
Ron
July 30, 2009 at 1:21 pm
There is a product called log me in rescue which is great and is relatively inexpensive. you will only need one license if you are on your own. from that you can setup a session and all the client has to do is enter a 6 digit pin (which you generate on your machine) and you have a connection made for you straight into the machine.
other than that VPN is the way to go.
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