Information on Accessing NAV Remotely

Dynamics 365 Business Central/NAV User Forum
1

Hi,

I have taken over IT Manager duties for a NAV server: V5 using MS SQL. Users are non-technical and I have no NAV experience.

Currently our users Remote Desktop in ACROSS THE INTERNET and use the C/SIDE Client on the Remote Desktop.

Simply, is there a better way of doing this?

I have not found a suitable information resource on this, and my NAV users cannot help.

It just seems a poor way of running NAV across the Internet. I just want to be pointed in the right direction.

Forgive the ignorance of this question on a technical forum, but I have spent many hours googling and could not come up with any definite.

Regards, Pieter Bruinsma

2

This is the one and only way. Terminal Services (Remote Desktop) or Citrix.

3

Hi,

In my organization we are using the remote desktop client (RDC) too and works very well. When you say “Currently our users Remote Desktop in ACROSS THE INTERNET” you are talking of users placed on the same LAN/WAN or using a VPN?

If you are using Windows Server 2008 you have the possibility of allow users to use the server applications through a web page (see picture below). It uses the remote desktop client but the users "fee"l like they are working on their PC applications.

1513.nav.png
1513.nav.png1279×771 102 KB

Best regards,

ZP.

4

Thanks for the replies…

Unfortunately our Windows 2003 server is hosted in the US. Our users are spread around the world. No VPN.

Thanks for the tip re Windows 2008. My background is mainly Linux so that insight was useful.

Best regards, Pieter

5

Are you having any issues as it runs right now or are you simply looking for other alternatives?
If it works and there are no issues, what’s to fix?

6

There are currently really only 2 remote access solutions. Using the win32 client, you have to use an RDP/Citrix solution so that the client runs on the network. Trying to run the client over a VPN is almost always MUCH too slow. The second is some sort of web portal. It used to be “Employee Portal” but that has been discontinued. I’ve seen similar light entry solutions developed using NAV2NET and ExpandIT. NAV 2009 R2 says the RTC will be able to connect remotely, so we will see.

7

Are you having any issues as it runs right now or are you simply looking for other alternatives?
If it works and there are no issues, what’s to fix?

No specific issues, other than sensitivity to internet traffic (e.g. World Cup streaming).

General issues are that it is too slow - slow for batch input because every character is sent, so any lag makes input a pain.

Of course we could rent a dedicated SDSL line etc. However, to some degree that is missing the point.

What we really want is to run a full web client accessing a server in the cloud.

I do not want a rent a server, and I do not want to worry about Fat Clients. Our company has SMALL locations around the world, but a very minimal IT staff (and that will not change.)

8

There are currently really only 2 remote access solutions. Using the win32 client, you have to use an RDP/Citrix solution so that the client runs on the network. Trying to run the client over a VPN is almost always MUCH too slow. The second is some sort of web portal. It used to be “Employee Portal” but that has been discontinued. I’ve seen similar light entry solutions developed using NAV2NET and ExpandIT. NAV 2009 R2 says the RTC will be able to connect remotely, so we will see.

Thanks for the info…