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I want to set up 5 powerful computers to run Mechanical Engineering software in my home office, and give remote access to my contractors on a daily basis. Which remote access works best for me? (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by imp0ster666@alien.top to c/homelab@selfhosted.forum

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I am an independent contractor that contracts out to my interns that are spread around the whole country. I am still a small business that would like to make an efficient and affordable setup. So far, I have figured that for $500 a piece, I can buy pretty good refurbished PC from ebay and set up my software on them. What is the best bang for buck remote access I can deploy to have very smooth remote access system going on? I have read that windows RDP is a free option. Is there a exponentially better paid option that won't break the bank for me? What would you guys recommend?

Another reason I want to do this is that we don't have to deal with file transfer back and forth. I would like to keep the files in these computers. This bring me to my next question. Is it possible to set up a single drive that contains all the files and no matter whichever computer they have remoted in, they would save the files in one central location?

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[–] funkbruthab@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If you want 5 pc’s to be able to be accessed remotely, rdp is definitely usable. I use it to access my home pc from work.

I have a netgear Orbi mesh network for my home (would have gone with other networking hardware knowing what I know now), but it has a built in vpn server.

You could get a router that supports vpn, and then set up access controls for the rdp protocols on each desktop, and give your interns the vpn configuration information needed so they can vpn into the network and rdp the machines “locally” without opening up the rdp port to the internet. Just make sure you segregate those computers from the rest of your personal network, the parts you wouldn’t want anybody to have access to.

Depending on the software you’re using, it might make more sense to set up a hyper visor type system, where you have one machine powerful enough to run 5 virtual machines, and then you can grant access a few different ways.

Either way, if this is big money, it might be worth it to hire a consultant to help point you in the right direction with what you even need to learn.

[–] imp0ster666@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for the input. I am definitely a small business at the moment. I don't want to rack up expenses. I was planning on spending 2-3k on refurbished hardware from ebay and try to get advantage of all the free software I can use. That's why I was using to RDP in the first place. If I can buy a refurbished "powerful" machine to run 5 virtual machines within the same budget, I am all for it.

What kind of consultant do I even need? I don't know where to start

[–] funkbruthab@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I sent you a message