I use a Linux server with two features that allows me to access my files as SMB mounts over the Internet.
1. VPN - MS PPTP
This is a must because you don't want everyone to see your data through the IP packets. On the Linux SMB server, I run PopTop (pptpd). You can get the software at www.poptop.org. You can log in from Windows, Mac and Linux machines. I'm pretty sure that FreeBSD, Solaris and other UNIX' should have support. Then, its just a matter of running Samba to provide SMB file services.
On Windows machines, you can just map the drive or through network neighborhood and get to the data. Double click on the file and you are using it. None of this upload and download, sync and other xxxx things. If you are sharing a Word document for example, Windows also takes care of locking it so others knows they should not write to the file.
An added bonus is that you can set up IP Forwarding on the Linux VPN server and all traffic from your client cannot be observed. This protects your privacy if your are doing things like web browsing, webmail, IM, etc. This is not to imply you are doing anything bad, it just protects your privacy, say if you are consulting for 2 companies and reading webmail from one while working at the other's site.
Make sure you set up pptpd to use encryption for both passwords and traffic.
2. VPD - A product from my company.
This is optional and probably is needed only if your SMB server is not hosted on your premise.
Since I have my server at a data center and it is backed up by them, they can see my data. Therefore, I need a superuser independent encryption mechanism. At the same time, I don't want to explicitly encrypt and decrypt each time I use a file.
I'm not trying to sell anything. I just want to caution people about data on the Net. If someone else can get to your server, you need to encrypt your data.
I use a product from my own company, VPDisk Pro. This software provides on-the-fly encryption. I just start smbd and nmbd with the proper keys each time I reboot my machine. Alternatively, you can automate this step, but it is less secure.
Combining this with VPN, you get seamless secure SMB/CIFS file access over the Internet. Both the IP traffic and data on disk are encrypted.
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I use a Linux server with two features that allows me to access my files as SMB mounts over the Internet. 1. VPN - MS PPTP This is a must because you don't want everyone to see your data through the IP packets. On the Linux SMB server, I run PopTop (pptpd). You can get the software at www.poptop.org. You can log in from Windows, Mac and Linux machines. I'm pretty sure that FreeBSD, Solaris and other UNIX' should have support. Then, its just a matter of running Samba to provide SMB file services. On Windows machines, you can just map the drive or through network neighborhood and get to the data. Double click on the file and you are using it. None of this upload and download, sync and other xxxx things. If you are sharing a Word document for example, Windows also takes care of locking it so others knows they should not write to the file. An added bonus is that you can set up IP Forwarding on the Linux VPN server and all traffic from your client cannot be observed. This protects your privacy if your are doing things like web browsing, webmail, IM, etc. This is not to imply you are doing anything bad, it just protects your privacy, say if you are consulting for 2 companies and reading webmail from one while working at the other's site. Make sure you set up pptpd to use encryption for both passwords and traffic. 2. VPD - A product from my company. This is optional and probably is needed only if your SMB server is not hosted on your premise. Since I have my server at a data center and it is backed up by them, they can see my data. Therefore, I need a superuser independent encryption mechanism. At the same time, I don't want to explicitly encrypt and decrypt each time I use a file. I'm not trying to sell anything. I just want to caution people about data on the Net. If someone else can get to your server, you need to encrypt your data. I use a product from my own company, VPDisk Pro. This software provides on-the-fly encryption. I just start smbd and nmbd with the proper keys each time I reboot my machine. Alternatively, you can automate this step, but it is less secure. Combining this with VPN, you get seamless secure SMB/CIFS file access over the Internet. Both the IP traffic and data on disk are encrypted.