Remote Access
The Virtue approach
The need to provide flexible access to school ICT resources is an important factor in delivering a flexible learning environment. The costs of setting up, securing and managing this access can be high if not approached in the right way. Virtue can help you with this.
By utilising the tried-and-tested Remote Desktop Gateway (RDG) in Windows Server 2008 we have been able to help many schools and colleges deliver applications and other learning resources to students and staff outside their firewall, via a highly-secure connection.
VPN benefits without the configuration
RDG uses Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) over HTTPS to help form a secure and encrypted connection between remote staff and students on the Internet and the internal network resources located within your school to which they need to connect. This provides many benefits, including:
- Enables Remote Desktop connections to your network from the Internet without having to set up virtual private network (VPN) connections, so there is no need for any client configuration.
- Provides a point-to-point RDP connection rather than blanket access to the internal network. This enables a comprehensive security model that allows the administrator to control access to specific internal network resources.
- Can connect to internal resources that are hosted behind firewalls on private networks and across Network Address Translators (NATs)
- Since it uses port 443 for an HTTP SSL / TLS tunnel (which most schools and colleges have open for Internet connectivity), remote access connectivity across multiple firewalls is possible
- Uses your ISP connection instead of your network to send and receive data over the remote connection.
As a cost-effective infrastructure it delivers flexible and secure desktop and application access for roaming users, either when they are in the establishment or working from home. This is via a low-bandwidth connection (no data is sent over the network) and any device, enabling them to access their own data regardless of location.
