CAn I use SAMBA for remote access to files?

[Glenstr]

I'v read the wiki on enabling SAMBA on my WHR-HP-54 router running dd-wrt 2.3 sp2, but it's not clear to me what it is exactly I can do with this. What I want to do is have a repository at home that I can retrieve files from or upload files to. Rather than set up an ftp server I was wondering if SAMBA could work for this.

I've set up a shared folder on my pc, then enabled SAMBA from the management/administration tab, put in the <ip_address/share_name> in the appropriate box as well as the user/computer. But what exactly does this do? The doc's pretty well stop at this point. Should I be able to see that share through the router interface?

Or would I be better off using ftp for this purpose? If so, set it up on the router or just have a pc as an ftp server.


thanks

ps. I thought I could hamachi for this, but my experience with it so far is it's to flaky and unreliable, althought I've heard the pay version is better..

[fastpakr]

What kind of problems has Hamachi given you? It's been pretty stable for me.

[Glenstr]

What kind of problems has Hamachi given you? It's been pretty stable for me.

It's just to hit and miss for me, there are times it wont login, it takes forever to see shares on remote pc's, sometimes it just gives up altogether even though I can still ping it, and other times it just craps out when I try to copy a file across. Sometimes even though it is running on both machines they just don't see each other, or one of them can't see the other but the other can see it.

I am running 1.0.15 on each machine.

I posted on their BB sometime back, thats where I heard that the premium version works way better.

[M/Q]

What about remote desktop? You more than likely already have that.

[Glenstr]

I'm assuming you are talking about XP remote desktop?

I only use it for remote control within my home network, ie. if I'm upstairs on my laptop and I want to do something on my main pc downstairs then I'll use remote desktop. If I want to remote control a pc from outside I have logmein running on all of them, I've not tried remote desktop over the net yet. Logmein will allow file transfer with the paid version, but I don't do enough of it to justify going to the paid version, and I have enough monthly payments as it is. Does XP remote desktop allow file transfer? I've never used it for that, if I want files from another pc on my home network (when I'm on the home network) I just use \\pcname\c$ (or d$,e$ etc.)

In any case, I was curious how the SAMBA on dd-wrt was supposed to work, but I may just opt to make one machine an ftp server and use port forwarding on the router. I'm even considering getting one of the Asus 500 series routers that have 2.0 USB ports and just plugging an external USB drive into it for a central repository I could access from anywhere.

[M/Q]

The two most secure choices would be the paid version of LogMeIn or the Asus with an USB drive. Remote Desktop does all of this but you have to open a port to the internal machine. Last and inherently least secure approach is a FTP server. I will personally chastise you immensely if you do that. 8-)

[Glenstr]

I thought you could lock down ftp to be fairl secure, we run an ftp server where I work and we are are a lot more secure than my home LAN. Most of the vendors I deal with also have ftp sites where I routinely get updates or send database exports to as well.

In any case, the Asus routers are not that pricey, and it seems like a pretty good alternative.