3
« on: 2020-03-17, 22:11:34 »
Hi All,
With the current situation I think many of us may find ourselves having to work remotely.
With our kind of work this can be technically challenging so any kind of information share on this topic may help another out.
If you would like to share your setup and how it's working for you/your company and any tips to working remotely I think this could be beneficial.
Personally tested are two types of systems
Windows Remote Desktop + VPN
VPN
Draytek router setup with PPTP VPN that use the draytek smart VPN client on the user side.
Avoiding using the built in windows 10 VPN as we have found there can be varied bugs, ie sometimes the connection only starts if you go into the setting>vpn>connect instead of just connecting through the bottom right network icon on your screen
Remote Desktop
The once connected login via remote desktop connections. I have personally found that the remote desktop app from the Microsoft store seems to hold a connection better but can't prove this yet.
Some things we are working around.
The subnet our users were on was the same as our work, this causes regular interruptions to the connection. To get around this we have added a subnet mask into our VPN draytek client. If anyone requests more info re this I can do a detailed post.
Remote desktop freezes, closing and opening the connection resolves this.
In group policy we have added wait 'keep alive connection interval to 1' & automatic re connection enable
Computer Configuration -> Policies -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Remote Desktop Services -> Remote Desktop Session Host -> Connections
Citrix Workspace
We also use citrix virtualization to log into virtual machines and have found this can provide a lot better performance/stability but I have to say the setup is still tricky,expensive and can have problems as well. Teradici comes highly recommended if you are going along this route.
Support
Zoho Assist
For support I have found this to be a godsend, it's not too expensive and allows remote access at all times to any computer you install it on. You can remotely reboot power on ect ect as well as provide support links co workers can click on to get support at home. Obvious alternatives, anydesk/team viewer.
Communication
Discord is actually proving to be an amazing tool to keep the office chatting and together. Easy to setup split into meeting rooms people can jump around I highly recommend this.
Slack, Zoom, Google hangouts being some other alternatives.
That's all for me now. I will post any further findings in case it can help anyone.