How do I connect two offices with Win2003 Server using the Internet as the conduit?

We have two offices. We have Win2003 Server at both locations. Both are connected to the Internet via seperate ISP's. We would like to share info in some of the folders and perhaps backup each system to one another.

There are many options. It sounds like you want to set up a site-to-site VPN tunnel, but this can be complicated. Also, if both your offices have Dynamic external IP addresses, it could make things even more challenging.

There is a security consideration, too... when you are connecting 2 servers over the internet, you are at least theoretically exposing those servers to all the unwholesome characters on the internet, so make sure you are paranoid about the security policies and steps taken to protect those machines (and, by implication, the rest of your network).

If you have dynamic IP addresses, register for a few free dynamic dns entries at dyndns.org, or if you're espescially motivated, you can buy your own domain name and have both machines listed under that domain name. You'll have to install the dynamic IP agent on your Win2k3 machines to get that to work.

For a simple, secure VPN tunnel, I recommend building a L2TP (Layer 2 Tunnelling Protocol) over IPSec bi-directional tunnel on your servers using RRAS (Routing and Remote Access Service). If your machines are domain controllers, this could become a bit tricky... strongly recommend against doing this on domain controllers anyway.

Use the following link for the VPN component how-to:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.asp...

Remember to access the other site across the VPN link, you must add a route to the client's and server's routing tables, (if your Win2K3 server is already acting as a gateway, that will be unnecessary).

In general, I agree with the other user's suggestion about a VPN. That is the standard way to go. There are several VPN protocols. The other user suggested L2TP (Layer Two Tunneling Protocol). But you may not need this; IPSEC may be sufficient. One thing you'll have to decide is whether to have the VPN set up at the servers (server to server) or at your routers (router to router). Which way to go may depend on your budget and what router hardware you have. You really should get someone experienced at doing this in either case as an initial VPN setup can be very frustrating if you have no experience in it.

An alternative way is to ask your ISP to set up a private VPN for you, which avoids your having to do much at all technically. This only works if you have the same ISP at both locations (which you don't have right now) and you have a fairly sophisticated ISP (e.g. AT&T or Verizon). Smaller ISP's do not offer this service.