Windows Remote Desktop on Server 2003

I have server 2003, I have setup basic windows remote desktop which allows me 2 user per session max, .. Now I can log in from the lan each PC, and the server, but from out side, sometimes i can do it and sometimes i can't.. for some reason, don't know why, it allows me in there from my home PC once i have someone log on the PC, and if you lock it or its locked you can't get it ... it wont allow me... any suggestions on how to fix this.

Thanks
DNG

 

dng,

How are you getting to the server from the outside? Do you VPN to a router and then connect? If you are doing that, how do you connect once in the VPN, by IP address or node name. If you are using Node name, you probably won't be able to connect since netbios won't be working across the WAN unless enabled. Try to connect by ip address.

 

I have a Netgear VPN Router & Firewall.. I connected with IP, i type in my ip and connect.. my it wont work now...

 

My guess is the problem is bandwidth. If you've got ADSL your upload bandwidth will only be about 256k. Opening multiple desktop sharing sessions, you are trying to pull a lot of data up that pipe. With the extra overhead of encrypting all that traffic to get it over the VPN, that's a fair amount of work.

The simple answer may be to have less sessions open at any one time.

Another option may be to use a PC inside the network as a host, and connect via that PC to others within the network (I do this when I work from home - connect into my office PC, then open sessions on that pc to systems around the office). That way it is the internal host PC running all the connections, and you only have a single connection to that PC over the WAN/ADSL link. Running a desktop sharing instance within another desktop sharing instance, works surprisingly well.

Other options are to try other remote desktop software. Either something with a smaller footprint like Tight VNC or a more efficient system like NetOp. NetOp also have a gateway solution that allows you to use a single host within the network to route connections to the rest of the network.

 

errors

Are you getting any errors, the bandwidth with regular dsl is fine, can you ping the server from your home over the vpn??