Remote, Internet and LAN access to Ubuntu Server
 

Is there a safe way for me to configure my server for access from any internet connection as well as from my home/office LAN? I'd like to be able to access file shares, webmin, the router console behind my Gateway for maintenance purposes. Access to Server Desktop itself would be a bonus.

Thank you in advance,

J

Your best bet would be to use ssh. If the server has a dynamic IP you can use a dynamic dns (dyndns.org for instance). With ssh you have console access to the server as if you we're physically there (when configured correctly) and it's over an encrypted connection. To copy files to the client you can use scp. I don't think you'll get much more details if you don't mention you're distribution though.

[EDIT] Should have read the title. Sorry. Since you're using ubuntu on the server execute "sudo apt-get install openssh-server" (without the quotes naturally). Don't forget to configure port forwarding on your router. If the client is also and ubuntu distribution do ssh <server_ip> to access it. [/EDIT]

So, you want to access your computer through VPN or Virtual Private Network. Well, this is a good idea to do an R&D. Not sure about this. But I guess, you can achieve this by accessing through the IP address of your computer, which should be a public IP.

But, still I will try to find this answer.

@Zagzegel...His question was that he wants to connect to his home server from office. But even if he uses SSH to login, how can he? Coz his office firewall might not allow him to do so, right?

@falconite: I understood it as the OP wanting to access to a server that he was about to configure from anywhere in the internet including his home/office lan (he does say "from home/office LAN"). Which means office --connect-> server or home --connect-> server or anywhere --connect-> server and office/home are possibly behind a router. So in this case he can just configure the server to use the open ports of the office.

Do I need to add a service like DYNDNS.com or something? In the real world, I'm an IT salesperson, not a server admin. I'm trying to build a box for my family that will provide similar functionality to a competitive all-in-one shrink-wrapped distribution targeting this market. I beleive strongly in Linux as a product, but sometimes find it extremely challenging to configure the options I require when there aren't smart a$$ wizzards created to walk you through everything. I also understand that my lack of skills makes me a bit of an anomally.

I've spent enough time reading this board in the past few weeks to understand that there are certain companies and products that do not get mentioned by name - ever - for fear angering the masses. I'm going to need support from the group and I'm trying to remain vague, maybe too much so.

Is there a specefic thread that someone could point me towards that details what is required and how to build a stable, secure, Home Server?

J

How is the home lan that the server lives on setup?

cable/dsl modem --> linksys/dlink/etc gateway --> hosts including server?

If so, I would think confguring port forwarding on the router and ssh on the server would allow you to do everything you mention. With ssh you'll have access to the server's console just like a local login as well as sftp and scp for file copy, and someone smarter than me could probably tell you about X forwarding over ssh to get the remote desktop. If you have a dynamic IP address from your ISP then something like DynDNS would probably make your remote life easier although I find that so long as the device that connects to my modem (mac address) stays constant, then so does my IP address..

I have actually been thinking about this for quite some time. My solution is now complete and it's DD-WRT firmware on an old Linksys wrt54G router with openvpn built in. What used to be a plain old home gateway for sharing my internet connection and playing around on my LAN is now a full fledged VPN access server that allows me not just access to all of my LAN resources as if I were there, but also allows me (like right now) to sit on my front porch and surf the net using the neighbor's wifi and tunnell through the web so that I'm ultimately browsing from within my own LAN on an encrypted connection. Very neat and not very hard to set up at all.

Damgar - How can I configure this? Is there a thread or document somewhere?

The short answer is that I set up an openvpn server, which is probably available in Ubuntu's repositories, I personally had to build a Slackware package from the source code for the client side of things, but that's just how Slackware is :). Then I wrote a very simple script to launch the VPN.

I started with this thread, but that involves using your router as a server which may not work for you, although it was the perfect plan for me. I spent a lot of time here and specifically for the dd-wrt/router way I used this, which seems to be down at the moment. I'm no expert by a long shot, but if you get started with openvpn I'll try and help if I can. There are lots of tutorials around the web. I'll fully admit that there were moments where I just had to walk away, but once I got it going it works perfectly. I work for an ISP so I got a chance to test out my VPN under different bandwidth/latency conditions today from customer sites and there was nothing but success. My LQ blog has some useless rants about my experience. :)

Maybe Amahi is for you. It's complete home-server solution with ease-of-use in mind: everything is configurable from a web-interface.
http://www.amahi.org/

Damgar - Thank you for your post. I will read it and the corresponding links thoroughly before deciding how to continue... I AM CROSSEYED at this point. Almost makes me wish that Linux came with a pay for - Shrink-wrap version.

Tiemen3r - Thank you for the suggestion. I've read conflicting reviews of Amahi. Admitedly, I am not knowledgeable enough to know if they were fair or not. An all-in-one package sounds great to me at this point if it can make my life easier.

It's really less confusing than you might think, and pretty easy. If you just follow directions for one of the basic tutorials you'll have a basic vpn going pretty quick. If your LAN is already confgigured for the services locally the hardest part is done.