Josh Vogler asks:
Does anyone know if there are any performance advantages of running remote desktop software such as LogMeIn or Splashtop over VPN software such as NeoRouter. On a side note, I’ve been told VPN software like that isn’t a true VPN anway… can anyone confirm this? When I use remote desktop over the internet as usual is it having to run through remote servers of the remote desktop company?
My thought was using the VPN software would make the remote desktop seem like it’s on a LAN and make a more direct connection, or am I then running off the VPN software company servers? Anyone know how these programs work, and if there’s any advantages to making the Remote Desktop think it’s on a LAN?
6 Answers -
muotechguy
July 22, 2012VPNs are slower, but more secure. No more to it than that.
NeoRouter is a VPN, its a different use. VPNs can be used to connect remote locations as if they were on the same network, securely. This is one use case. The other is to hide your identity, by making use of someone else’s servers who will not divulge your information. They’re exactly the same technology, but different applications – that’s all.
I can’t see any advatage to making remote desktop thinking its a lan – youre already dialling into the remote network anyway, and it IS on the lan at the remote location. However, a VPN would ensure the connection is secure, that’s all. It may be a requirement in many companies.
Marat Magomedov
July 22, 2012Josh,
I’m the CEO for Remote Utilities, so if you have any questions you would like to ask a remote access software vendor directly, you can ask me
muotechguy gave a good answer to your post. I would only add that if you have security in mind, then you can be sure (at least with Remote Utilities) that all the traffic sent between your computer and a remote one during a remote session is encrypted. That’s true no only about our product, but almost any other well-known remote control software on the market. In other words, if you want to be sure no one is going to intercept and read your data, you don’t necessarily use a VPN tunnel, since built-in remote access software capabilities will suffice.
>> Anyone know how these programs work, and if there’s any advantages to making the >> Remote Desktop think it’s on a LAN?
No rocket science here. There can be a direct connection or a mediated connection. A direct connection means that you use the IP address of a remote computer to connect to it. You can do so either in a LAN (using a lan ip, e.g. 192.168.0.100) or even over the Internet, provided that the remote PC has an external Internet IP address, or, if t is located behind a router, can be reached from the Internet using a so-called ‘port forwarding’ technique.
A lot of remote access software manufacturers these days, however, offer a mediated connection option because it is much simpler for a user to configure. In this case an intermediary server is used. TeamViewer, Logmein, and our Remote Utilities all provide such option. However, you can also use Remote Utilities for direct connection if you wish.
Speaking of advantages – a direct connection is always preferrable to a mediated one because of maximum speed. The downside is that you have to understand what an IP address and port forwarding is , and be able to configure your router on the remote end so that the remote PC could accept connections. Also, there are some situations when direct connection is not possible at all – for example, if your external IP address is a shared one and the router is located on your ISP’s side.
Hope that helps.
Oron
July 22, 2012The quick answer is no. VPNs have an overhead (encryption, authentication and potentialy longer route) so the connection will be slower, and require more resources both from your computer and from the host network. In terms of security, VPN is obviously a good thing, but most remote-desktop products are encrypted anyway.
Most remote desktop products work as “peer to peer” (that is, only the client and the controlled machine are involved in it) and there are no other servers involved except in establishing the original connection.
Josh Vogler
July 22, 2012Thanks for the replies. Since I’m not worried about the security of the data transferred over the connection, not using a VPN definitely is noticeably better. It’s only really noticeable when viewing video, but then it’s a huge difference. Over VPN I get 1-3 FPS it seems, and just using the built in internet locating of the remote desktop software video streams very smooth. At least with Splashtop, LogmeIn video streaming is rather horrible no matter how I connect.
Kunal Dhak
July 22, 2012Short answer is there is no advantage.Almost every remote desktop app comes with Encryption facility in every session So, using another private tunnel will rather overhead the connection between both end.
Igor Rizvi?
August 1, 2012Vpn =slower speed,but mroe security.Simple as that