Vpn folders, file operations and speed

[kartal]

Hi

Due to my daily work I need to deal with Vpn files and folder a lot and Vpns can be very slow. The server side settings is not something I can change, it is the company set the rules and the servers. To work as fast and efficient as possible  I always try to find the best way to deal with Vpn.

So far the ones I have tried that are slow or can not deal with the Vpn as good as I anticipate.

Slow managers

(with Supercopier, Fastcopy, standard windows file copy)
Total commander
Freecommander
Xyplorer (which is my main file manager)
Cubic explorer


 
The one I prefer

Q-dir (free) + Fastcopy is the best way to deal with Vpns. Not the best solution but in my tests these two gave me less headaches and wait times compared to other options

Most of the time my main complaint is file folder refreshes, or speed of simple file related operations. For example once I open a Vpn folder sometimes clicking a file to select can be slow in one of those in slow managers category. The right  clickcs gets even worse. Although Q-dir`s right click is not any faster than those in the slow lane, but overall Q-dir has provided better experience with Vpns.

It seems like there is nothing out there that is specifically optimized for Vpns or Ssh based file browsing

I thought that it might be  good idea to open a topic to share tips and tricks regarding working wirt Vpns

[Shades]

In my experience with (intercontinental) VPN connections the following:

Normally I hook up to Windows systems. And to manage those I use the MS RDP protocol, it is faster and more stable than whatever edition from VNC offers. Whatever I have to do locally on those machines is done with their standard explorer...again speed and stability. Moving data from those systems to mine, Filezilla FTP server and client combination works wonders.

Using a local tool on my system to look at folders through a VPN connection...meh, in case of Windows.

Linux, however...Midnight Commander is a basic file manager but it is really fast and very stable. For me, this is where Linux shines.

[Stoic Joker]

Normally I hook up to Windows systems. And to manage those I use the MS RDP protocol, it is faster and more stable than whatever edition from VNC offers. Whatever I have to do locally on those machines is done with their standard explorer...again speed and stability.

-Shades (April 14, 2010, 07:36 PM)

I'll 2nd that.

I hadn't thought of FTP for file transfers, but (I like it) it makes sense - Explorer over VPN is crap (too much overhead).

[kartal]

There are cases I can use RDP, so I do use for those. But the thing is that those are limited cases. Mostly I need to deal with files-folders from my computer to theirs or from their computers to my computers.

I cannot change the way they do stuff, so ftp or some other server side setup is out of the solution for me now.

I wish that there was an application that does work like an ftp client but works over VPN.

[JavaJones]

HFS can do a limited form of file upload/download over HTTP. Might be workable over VPN?
http://www.rejetto.com/hfs/

- Oshyan

[kartal]

No that wont work because there are already a lot of  projects setup with all mapped drives on both ends. The manual download upload needs to be minimized especially including a web browser into soluytion would be a nightmare

[Shades]

Lately I created batch scripts that handle the copying of files from a VPN PC to my own PC.

What I do:
1. First I create the VPN connection on my PC
2. On my own PC I start an FTP server
3. Then I use RDP to execute a batch script on the VPN PC that creates an 7zip archive from whatever I need and which is automatically FTP'd to my PC. On most Windows 2000+ PC's a very basic Microsoft FTP client is already available.

Granted my system only takes care of half your requirements. But I have to say that it is very convenient to run those kind of tasks automatically, you do get a lot more done during the day.