FTP necessary?

We will be using connecting our 2 sites through 2
firewalls, and having push subscribers.
I'm new to this type of network infrastructure so please
excuse my naive questions
(1) does this mean that we will be using a VPN?
(2) Do we have to use FTP for initialization or can we use
the normal fileshare (with/without VPN)?
Many thanks,
BB
1) not necessarily, you could get away with only having ports 1433 and 21
open. A VPN will encrypt communication end to end and will allow you to open
more ports.
2) You do not really want to use the file copy/UNC based method over the
internet as the ports you have to open will expose your server to security
threats. You should use FTP in instances like this, even though FTP isn't
the most secure method either, but it doesn't expose your server to been
exploited. Your data may be readable by hackers however. You can lock this
down to a degree.
If you use a VPN you are protected against hackers.
So with a VPN you don't have to use FTP, without a VPN you should.
Hilary Cotter
Looking for a SQL Server replication book?
http://www.nwsu.com/0974973602.html
"BB" <anonymous@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1b2601c4a0d7$e843d970$a601280a@.phx.gbl...
> We will be using connecting our 2 sites through 2
> firewalls, and having push subscribers.
> I'm new to this type of network infrastructure so please
> excuse my naive questions
> (1) does this mean that we will be using a VPN?
> (2) Do we have to use FTP for initialization or can we use
> the normal fileshare (with/without VPN)?
> Many thanks,
> BB
sql