How Do I Get Remote Access to timeSensor® LEGAL?

How Do I Get Remote Access to timeSensor® LEGAL?

There are two possibilities to access timeSensor LEGAL remotely:

  1. Direct connection to the server through VPN
  2. Indirect connection to the server through a terminal server

You can combine both methods.

Direct Connection to the Server over Internet

For security reasons, you should only connect directly to your database server through VPN (Virtual Private Network). Ask you IT administrator to set up a VPN. It will let you and your team establish a secure connection (secure traffic tunnel) to your firm's network. Once a secure connection is established, you can access timeSensor LEGAL as usual.

Speed is usually lower through a VPN connection then within your local network. It is influenced by two things:

  • latency
  • bandwidth

Latency is an expression of how much time it takes for packets of data to get from your workstation through the internet to your server. It's expressed in milliseconds and can be measured with a PING command. There are various things that can impact latency:

  • network technology (copper line, WLAN, fibreglass)
  • actual distance between locations
  • number of hops (router, switches, firewalls) between locations

Let's assume you want to find out if you're getting a sufficient work speed between your home and the firm's server. Use a PING command to measure latency to your firm's firewall.

Both Mac OSX and Windows let you do that. For Mac, open the network utility and enter your firewall's IP address in the tab "Ping". The following is a real example for a connection over a distance of 120 km, copper line at the firm and fibreglass at remote location:

For Windows, choose "Run" in the Start menu, then type in "CMD". In the terminal window, enter the IP address of the firewall. This will also give you the latency:

In a properly configured local network, latency should always be lower than 1 ms. For a remote connection, latency should remain in the one digit area. If latency is higher than 30 ms, working will become sluggish as the server's response time will get slower. If latency is in the three digits, you access the system remotely anymore.

Bandwidth is less critical than latency. You should be able to work well with a relatively small bandwidth but a short latency. A large bandwidth will be useless if latency is high. Bandwidth will be useful if you work with documents, e.g. if you're opening larger Word documents and downloading them to your workstation.

At the firm, bandwidth should be at least 50-100 Mbit/s download and 10Mbit/s upload. At the remote location, 20 Mbit/s download and 5 Mbit/s upload should be enough. In general, upload speed is more important than download speed at the firm , whereas download speed is more important than upload speed at the remote location. This is because more data will travel from the firm to the remote location than the opposite.

Modern fibreglass technology brings download rates of up to 500 Mbit/s and upload rates of up to 50 Mbit/s at affordable prices. This kind of bandwidth will make working remotely almost like working within the local network.

Indirect Connection to the Server via Terminal Server

If you do not have access to a solid internet connection, e.g. while travelling, you may consider a connection through a terminal server. For this method, you will need a machine within your firm's network that will function as a terminal server. Remote locations will not access the database server, but only the terminal server. The terminal server will set up a virtual workstation for the remote location. This virtual location is accessed and controlled remotely by the remote location. Since data transfer is limited to screen, mouse and keyboard, this kind of access is much faster. Even a 3G connection will yield sufficient results, and distance will only play a minor role.

Larger firms often only give staff access through a terminal server. Staff will no longer have data on their personal computer - all data will remain at the firm. This increases security. You may also consider this option if you wish to implement a BYODpolicy without compromising security.

timeSensor LEGAL has been tested with various terminal servers. Windows users often use Citrix or Microsoft. Another option is citius, which can virtualize your entire firm's IT infrastructure based on the technology. For Mac OSX, iRAPP is an interesting option.



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