First, I'm very new at working with a server, so please pardon my ignorance
as I learn.

I've managed to set up a small network and all computers on the network have
access to the files/folders they have permission to access. I'm able to
control the users through the file server without any problems so far.

Now, I have clients outside the network that need to securely access certain
shares. Is it possible to set this up through the file server? So far, the
only way I've been able to do this is through IIS, by setting up an SSL
website that requires a login. The bulk of the files are pdf files. The
client sets up a "New network place" to the secured site and is able to login
and access their files. The irritation is that everytime they open a new
file, it requires the login and password again unless they keep IE open and
select another file from the folder. It makes sense to me because they are
making a new access request from the ssl site. Another concern is that I've
been told that just because the site is ssl, that does not protect any file
transfer because they are not encrypted. From my reading, I understand that
through the File Sever, the client could encrypt and decrypt the files.
It also seems redundant to me that I have a file server, but must also run
IIS. Or, will the file server only work on the local network? If so, how
can I set up my clients to be able to access the local network file server?

The answers I need are more detailed than you can probably provide. I do a
lot of reading and "trial & error" to figure things out. So, if someone
would be kind enough to give me a yes or no to what I want to do and a few
basics, or refer me to any articles that will help me, I would be very
grateful!

Thank you in advance for your time and sharing your knowledge.

Jim

There are numerous way to give remote users access to internal resources, one
of the most common methods would be to utilze Vpn technology which would
allow the user access as if they are on the local lan.

"Jim" wrote:

> First, I'm very new at working with a server, so please pardon my ignorance
> as I learn.
>
> I've managed to set up a small network and all computers on the network have
> access to the files/folders they have permission to access. I'm able to
> control the users through the file server without any problems so far.
>
> Now, I have clients outside the network that need to securely access certain
> shares. Is it possible to set this up through the file server? So far, the
> only way I've been able to do this is through IIS, by setting up an SSL
> website that requires a login. The bulk of the files are pdf files. The
> client sets up a "New network place" to the secured site and is able to login
> and access their files. The irritation is that everytime they open a new
> file, it requires the login and password again unless they keep IE open and
> select another file from the folder. It makes sense to me because they are
> making a new access request from the ssl site. Another concern is that I've
> been told that just because the site is ssl, that does not protect any file
> transfer because they are not encrypted. From my reading, I understand that
> through the File Sever, the client could encrypt and decrypt the files.
> It also seems redundant to me that I have a file server, but must also run
> IIS. Or, will the file server only work on the local network? If so, how
> can I set up my clients to be able to access the local network file server?
>
> The answers I need are more detailed than you can probably provide. I do a
> lot of reading and "trial & error" to figure things out. So, if someone
> would be kind enough to give me a yes or no to what I want to do and a few
> basics, or refer me to any articles that will help me, I would be very
> grateful!
>
> Thank you in advance for your time and sharing your knowledge.
>
> Jim
>
>