Which service would you allow?

Please pardon a question that is off the Microsoft topic, but still
something we, as systems engineers, deal with.

Which remote demonstration service(s) would you allow people on your network
to use?

Our experience is that many large companies block access to GotoMyPC. We
cannot demonstrate software to them over it. GotoMyPC, for those who don't
know, creates an outbound connection on both client & server side, because
both are really clients of a server on the 'net. It will go right through a
default firewall (allow everything out, block everything inbound), but many
companies are blocking that outbound port.

So what services wouldn't they block? VNC? PCAnyWhere? WebEx? What about
having the person on the other end create a VPN to our VPN server (temporary
password), then using NetMeeting? Will most net admins block outbound
VPN's?

Thanks for your input on this.

Daniel Wilson

Kurt
Mon Oct 18 20:50:30 CDT 2004


VNC would be a bad choice because the data stream is unencrypted and
security is a simple password (OK, tightvnc uses a hash for the password,
but the session is still not encrypted). I suspect corporations block
outbound ports more as a reactive thing, i.e. when some user abuses their
privelege. So you're likely to find that what's available varies from one to
another. If a specific port is required by their personell, it usually just
requires a request, and a net admin can open it to a specific client.
GotoMyPC is a "man-in-the-middle" situation that will make most
administrators leary of using it. pcAnywhere or a Windows Terminal Server
session (interactive) should work, and likely would be better received.

...kurt

"Daniel Wilson" <d.wilson@embtrak.com> wrote in message
news:%23WkRjgUtEHA.4040@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> Please pardon a question that is off the Microsoft topic, but still
> something we, as systems engineers, deal with.
>
> Which remote demonstration service(s) would you allow people on your
network
> to use?
>
> Our experience is that many large companies block access to GotoMyPC. We
> cannot demonstrate software to them over it. GotoMyPC, for those who
don't
> know, creates an outbound connection on both client & server side, because
> both are really clients of a server on the 'net. It will go right through
a
> default firewall (allow everything out, block everything inbound), but
many
> companies are blocking that outbound port.
>
> So what services wouldn't they block? VNC? PCAnyWhere? WebEx? What about
> having the person on the other end create a VPN to our VPN server
(temporary
> password), then using NetMeeting? Will most net admins block outbound
> VPN's?
>
> Thanks for your input on this.
>
> Daniel Wilson
>
>