Using Project and Project Server Across Low-Bandwidth Connections

Project Web Access, the Web application portion of the Project Server application, can be exposed to the Internet to allow remote users to report progress through timesheets and to view project information. The recommended way to implement Internet connectivity is using basic authentication over Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Keep in mind that SSL places a heavier load on the IIS server and size your server accordingly if you plan on taking this approach.

In a multiserver environment, both Analysis Services and STS won’t be available to the Internet users, as these services require Windows Authentication. You can overcome this by adding a Virtual Private Network (VPN) solution so that users entering from the network have domain credentials to pass to these services. A number of VPN hardware solutions are available, and you can deploy Windows Remote Access Service (RAS) to provide remote users a domain logon. In order to expose any of the OLAP functionality through the Internet, you’ll need to set up SQL Analysis Services to respond to HTTP requests. The catch here is that this functionality is available only with the Enterprise Edition of SQL Server, which carries a hefty price tag. Typically, a VPN solution proves to be more economical for smaller companies, and it resolves the access issue for both Analysis Services and STS.

Although Project Web Access is very usable across the Internet or other low-bandwidth connections, Project Professional 2002 remains a Win32 application that requires a minimum of 10MB connections (LAN speed) to perform adequately according to Microsoft’s recommendations. Project Professional is simply not very usable connecting to Project Server across the Internet or slow WAN links for that matter. With a VPN solution or via SSL, it can be done; however, opening and saving project plans can be go-out-to-Starbucks-for-coffee slow! This arrangement is painful at best. It’s also problematic as latency in the network can cause the user session to timeout the SQL connection. Keep in mind that, once authenticated through Project Server, Project Professional talks directly to SQL Server across port 1433. This can be a substantial problem with your company’s security policies! If you’re willing to adjust the SQL timeout and suffer the long open and close times, then the way to use Project remotely is to employ the Save offline and Save online features. The best way to overcome this limitation is to deploy Project Professional on Terminal Services, Citrix, or another similar technology.