Is this possible?

[Konner15]

I have a business and i want to do a certain something, can you tell me if its possible.
I want to be able to have people run an application using my data from a server.
I want to build a computer using a kit i bought and use that computer as a server without buying $600 server software for that computer.


I have a bunch of pictures and i have someone make a website for me using those pictures to send to a client, the person im sending it too doesnt want to buy the software i need him to use.
So i need a server that someone can run my application off of and use my files without sending them to them specifically, and they wont be at my office so i would need it accesible from a distance not just a wireless network
is this possible?
Konner15

 

[mattjw916]

Learn to use Fedora (or whatever other flavor of Linux you prefer). Most Linux distros come with free versions of software that can do just about anything you can imagine, e.g. you don't need to drop $600+ on Adobe Photoshop to edit some images.

Your requirements are so non-specific I doubt you are going to get much help here though.

 

[Konner15]

basically i want to run a server from a desktop i am going to build. i want someone to be able to run an application, such as dreamweaver and access my .jpg files on that database. with the Dreamweaver application running from the server.

 

[dashpuppy]

Remote desktop ? On a machine ?

 

[Konner15]

Remote desktop is very slow thats what im using now but need something better , i need a better longtime solution and was hoping a server could run that way,
my school has applications running off of their server i'm just not sure how to do that and not sure if i can make a desktop into a remote server.

 

[dashpuppy]

so let me get this straight, you want to build a server so some person can see / use the software that they don't want to buy ?

 

[Konner15]

thats not completely the reason, i want to be able to access that server from any computer im on so that i can use my own software, the business is just one of the reasons.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Basically a free alternative to Citrix?

The only thing I can think of is VNC. In Linux, it's session based so you can have multiple users VNCed into a server and they have their own desktop. It's very slow compared to Citrix/RDP though. I'm not sure how they make RDP so fast compared to other remote desktop solutions. I suppose if said server is hosted in a data center on a high end connection and your users have a high end connection it wont be an issue to use VNC.

 

[dashpuppy]

thats not completely the reason, i want to be able to access that server from any computer im on so that i can use my own software, the business is just one of the reasons.

you want to edit photos over a remote connection ? are you crazy ?

 

[Konner15]

I don't like the Remote Desktop idea because they can access anything i have on my computer, i want them to only be able to access the photo files and the application i put on the server .

 

[Konner15]

you want to edit photos over a remote connection ? are you crazy ?

Dreamweaver is being used to create my websites using my photo's , i never said it was being used to edit them. I don't really know what my website admin does to create them but he uses Dreamweaver to do so

 

[dashpuppy]

ohh, so your web site builder guy doesn't want to buy the software to build you a website ?

 

[Konner15]

That's besides the point....
I want to know, can i run a desktop as a server and use it to access my applications and run it and have access to my files without using Remote desktop software.

 

[jadams]

Windows server with terminal services. Create a user with access to only certain folders. Give that user access to login remotely too. Deploye remote apps through the terminal server.


done.

 

[Konner15]

how much does Windows server with terminal services cost?

 

[jadams]

more than the $600 you're trying to save, but i assumed you already had a license. sorry.

if you have a college email address head over to dreamspark.

 

[marley1]

Logmein or teamviewer usually perform faster then remote desktop. I would not want to do any heavy work over it though

 

[stiltner]

Windows Server 2008 R2 Trial
180 days

Work fast

 

[C7J0yc3]

Better yet, you could just have your server running SFTP and have the person use gimp etc to edit the photos on their own machine. They will take the photos off your machine, edit them locally, and reupload them. If you use Ubuntu or whatever your favorite linux distro is then the server side will be free, and gimp is open source, so again that will be free. The only cost associated would be if you decided to get a SSL cert signed by a online CA for the SFTP server.

 

[Konner15]

Better yet, you could just have your server running SFTP and have the person use gimp etc to edit the photos on their own machine. They will take the photos off your machine, edit them locally, and reupload them. If you use Ubuntu or whatever your favorite linux distro is then the server side will be free, and gimp is open source, so again that will be free. The only cost associated would be if you decided to get a SSL cert signed by a online CA for the SFTP server.

Your acronyms confuse me, whats SFTP?
Whats a "distro?
Sorry im not computer savy

 

[Dangman]

Your acronyms confuse me, whats SFTP?
Whats a "distro?
Sorry im not computer savy

SFTP = Secure FTP
distro = Linux Distribution. I.e Ubuntu, Fedora, etc

Do note that what you want to do is against the Dreamweaver EULA:

2.4 Server Use. You may install the Software on Computer file server(s) within your Internal Network only
for use of the Software initiated by an individual from a Computer within the same Internal Network only
as permitted by Section 2.2. The total number of users (not the concurrent number of users) able to use the
Software on such Computer file server(s) may not exceed the Permitted Number.

By way of example, the foregoing does not permit you to install or access (either directly or through
commands, data or instructions) the Software: (a) from or to a Computer not part of your Internal Network,
(b) for enabling Web hosted workgroups or services available to the public, (c) by any individual or entity
to use, download, copy or otherwise benefit from the functionality of the Software unless licensed to do so
by Adobe, (d) as a component of a system, workflow or service accessible by more than the Permitted Number of users, or (e) for operations not initiated by an individual user (e.g., automated server
processing

So even if this was all possible, you simply cannot do it from legal/ethical standpoint.

So either find another web developer who actually has a legal copy of Dreamweaver, buy it, or find another software (cheaper or free) that'll allow you to create your website

 

[Jesse B]

SFTP is "SSH File Transfer Protocol".
A "distro" is short for "distribution", which is what a certain version of Linux is referred to as; Fedora and Ubuntu are examples of this.

EDIT: Beat to it

 

[Konner15]

So even if this was all possible, you simply cannot do it from legal/ethical standpoint.

So either find another web developer who actually has a legal copy of Dreamweaver, buy it, or find another software (cheaper or free) that'll allow you to create your website

Like i said before, the web developer is only one reason i want to do this, and i want to be able to do it for myself too
I'm not the only owner and a partner would also like to be able to do this ,
So without thinking about using dreamweaver, Is it possible to setup a desktop computer to run as a server that can hold my files and run a application remotely and be able to remotely access the files?

 

[Dangman]

So without thinking about using dreamweaver, Is it possible to setup a desktop computer to run as a server that can hold my files and run a application remotely and be able to remotely access the files?

Well if it's allowed with the EULA of the software that you're running, yes it is possible to run an application remotely. I count 6-7 options already presented in this thread as of this post.

But again, it's all down to EULA issues.

 

[Konner15]

Better yet, you could just have your server running SFTP and have the person use gimp etc to edit the photos on their own machine. They will take the photos off your machine, edit them locally, and reupload them. If you use Ubuntu or whatever your favorite linux distro is then the server side will be free, and gimp is open source, so again that will be free. The only cost associated would be if you decided to get a SSL cert signed by a online CA for the SFTP server.

Is there a Step-by-step somewhere on how to do this?

 

[InvisiBill]

Do note that what you want to do is against the Dreamweaver EULA:

2.4 Server Use. You may install the Software on Computer file server(s) within your Internal Network only for use of the Software initiated by an individual from a Computer within the same Internal Network only as permitted by Section 2.2. The total number of users (not the concurrent number of users) able to use the Software on such Computer file server(s) may not exceed the Permitted Number.

By way of example, the foregoing does not permit you to install or access (either directly or through commands, data or instructions) the Software: (a) from or to a Computer not part of your Internal Network, (b) for enabling Web hosted workgroups or services available to the public, (c) by any individual or entity to use, download, copy or otherwise benefit from the functionality of the Software unless licensed to do so by Adobe, (d) as a component of a system, workflow or service accessible by more than the Permitted Number of users, or (e) for operations not initiated by an individual user (e.g., automated server processing

So even if this was all possible, you simply cannot do it from legal/ethical standpoint.

Getting a bit off topic, but I think this might be a gray area. Assuming you purchase valid licenses for anyone who would be using the software, the "Internal Network" bit is somewhat ambiguous. It's allowed when I'm in the office plugged into the office LAN and run it from the Citrix server. When I'm at home and VPN in to work, I get an IP from the work LAN, so I guess I'm on the internal network and therefore it's still allowed. However, if I connect to the CAG's public IP and run the published Citrix app that way, I don't have an IP from the work LAN and therefore it's not allowed. Or am I allowed because I'm authenticating as an internal user of the network?

I think at least the spirit of this is to keep people from hosting a copy of the software for general public use. I don't think it's their intention for the same PC at the same location running the same app off the same Citrix server to be allowed via one shortcut and not via a different shortcut that connects in a slightly different way. Rather, I think this is a case of them trying to cover their bases to prevent unauthorized use, but the legalese hasn't kept up with modern technology.

Assuming Konner15 had the proper licensing for the person to use the app, I would hope that minor technical details of the remote connection wouldn't invalidate that license. I'm not a lawyer, and this may still be against the letter of the EULA, so it's at your own risk. I'm just applying some technical knowledge and common sense (further proof that I'm not a lawyer) to the situation.

Better yet, you could just have your server running SFTP and have the person use gimp etc to edit the photos on their own machine. They will take the photos off your machine, edit them locally, and reupload them. If you use Ubuntu or whatever your favorite linux distro is then the server side will be free, and gimp is open source, so again that will be free. The only cost associated would be if you decided to get a SSL cert signed by a online CA for the SFTP server.

Is there a Step-by-step somewhere on how to do this?

Based on all your other posts, this isn't what you want. This is a way to work around the original request. Rather than running the software remotely, C7J0yc3's suggestion involves copying the files from your computer to his, having him do whatever he needs to do to the files, then he'd send the new files back to you. He would still need to have/buy any software needed to actually work on the files. Likewise, this wouldn't help you and your partner to run any software remotely either.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_Desktop_Services has info on what you're trying to do. This is "thin client terminal server computing". The server machine runs the actual program, and the clients just connect to it and display the screen and send keyboard/mouse inputs. All the hard work is done on the server rather than the client. This is nice because it means you can have 100 people connect to a server to run a program rather than having 100 beefy PCs each with a copy of the program installed. It'll take a beefy server to handle this, but it should still be cheaper than 100 beefy PCs and you only have to deal with 1 installation rather than 100. You still need to following the licensing requirements of the app, which may include restrictions against this sort of thing.

Other than RDP/VNC/etc. as already stated, I'm not aware of any cheap, easy solutions for doing this. To do this right, you'd need a good server and the software and licenses to handle the Terminal Server connections (to connect so that you can run the app). All of that is far beyond the $600 mentioned. If you wanted outside access to this, you'd also need to set up a VPN so remote users could connect to your LAN or have the server software support some sort of internet publishing of the hosted app.

In short, no. There's no cheap, easy way to set up remote access locked down to a single Windows app that I know of.

 

[schnell]

So basically you are trying to buy one copy of software and allow multiple people to use it via remote desktop or something else instead of buy one copy per person? You know this is illegal right?

 

[Konner15]

So basically you are trying to buy one copy of software and allow multiple people to use it via remote desktop or something else instead of buy one copy per person? You know this is illegal right?

i dont like the use of multiple people, it would be a computer owned by me and my partner and we would have payed for the software we are using ,
I understand now that the web admin cannot use my server to do this now but i would still like to do it so that i can run my own applications off of the server remotely.
i have a netbook and it cannot hold all the application i would want to use in its memory, so i would install them on my server then remotely access it on the netbook and run the application from the server on my netbook
there has to be some legal way to do this since my school has Adobe Apps all installed on the server and not on the computers so they adobe apps run via the server.

 

[Dangman]

i dont like the use of multiple people, it would be a computer owned by me and my partner and we would have payed for the software we are using ,
I understand now that the web admin cannot use my server to do this now but i would still like to do it so that i can run my own applications off of the server remotely.

Well if it's just you and your partner, then RDP, Logmein, teamviewer, or VNC would be your best bet here. Not exactly what you want but it's significantly cheaper (as in free basically).

there has to be some legal way to do this since my school has Adobe Apps all installed on the server and not on the computers so they adobe apps run via the server.

Well InvisiBill has covered one way your school may have done it which is Terminal Server. And by way of Red Squirrel's post, another way your school could have done this was via Citrix. It could have also been done using Application Jukebox from Endeavors Technologies. Alternatively, it could also be due to your school your school using Adobe's softtware with a Software As A Service (SaaS) licensing/setup.

Basically it's gonna cost you a lot of money to do what you want: run applications remotely from a server without using remote desktop.

Getting a bit off topic, but I think this might be a gray area. Assuming you purchase valid licenses for anyone who would be using the software, the "Internal Network" bit is somewhat ambiguous. It's allowed when I'm in the office plugged into the office LAN and run it from the Citrix server. When I'm at home and VPN in to work, I get an IP from the work LAN, so I guess I'm on the internal network and therefore it's still allowed. However, if I connect to the CAG's public IP and run the published Citrix app that way, I don't have an IP from the work LAN and therefore it's not allowed. Or am I allowed because I'm authenticating as an internal user of the network?

I think at least the spirit of this is to keep people from hosting a copy of the software for general public use. I don't think it's their intention for the same PC at the same location running the same app off the same Citrix server to be allowed via one shortcut and not via a different shortcut that connects in a slightly different way. Rather, I think this is a case of them trying to cover their bases to prevent unauthorized use, but the legalese hasn't kept up with modern technology.

Assuming Konner15 had the proper licensing for the person to use the app, I would hope that minor technical details of the remote connection wouldn't invalidate that license. I'm not a lawyer, and this may still be against the letter of the EULA, so it's at your own risk. I'm just applying some technical knowledge and common sense (further proof that I'm not a lawyer) to the situation.

Yeah now that you've explained it, it is a bit of grey area.

 

[adam30k]

i dont like the use of multiple people, it would be a computer owned by me and my partner and we would have payed for the software we are using ,
I understand now that the web admin cannot use my server to do this now but i would still like to do it so that i can run my own applications off of the server remotely.
i have a netbook and it cannot hold all the application i would want to use in its memory, so i would install them on my server then remotely access it on the netbook and run the application from the server on my netbook
there has to be some legal way to do this since my school has Adobe Apps all installed on the server and not on the computers so they adobe apps run via the server.

If you're on a private network you can usually run apps on different computers by browsing to the directory on the other computer through Windows Explorer through regular file sharing. That's how most schools do stuff like that.

 

[FrostBite]

OP, as many people have posted and ignoring the legality standpoint, it can be done. The problem though is that, and don't take this the wrong way, it seems you have no clue what you are doing beyond the setup you currently have. You really have only a few options really:
- Learn this stuff
- Pay money
- Continue using remote desktop
You keep on mentioning that your school can do it. Absolutely they can, but they pay a considerable amount of money, spend a lot of time, and have IT people doing the work. I understand that you are coming to a computer forum under the specific Networking subforum, but really, we don't have a whole lot to work with. Now, factor in the issue of legality, which obviously many people are commenting on, you can see why there is no guide either.

While your current solution may not be the most appealing, at least it works, heh. If you are worried about people having access to everything, make them an account restricting access to everything, but the program and files that they need.

 

[Aus10]

Yeah i agree u cant compare what the school does, they pay tons of money to the companies to do all that stuff. Im confused on the company and even what you want to do honestly.
You want to put files and a software on a computer and run them on diffrent computers?