Visio data connectivity with DynDNS service?

[Gustavo]

Hi all.

Has anyone tried Visio data connectivity to an external database trough the DynDNS service? How was your experience?.

I'm trying to connect my Visio file to a MS SQL server in a computer in my corporate network, and it work fine as long as I'm in the same domain. If I try to make a connection to the SQL database trough internet, I can't "see" the IP of the computer where the sql database is. So I'm guessing that if I use a DynDNS service I'll be able to do it. Has anyone can share any experience about it?

Best regards

[Nikolay]

Some thoughts. Using dns (in particular, dynamic dns) you can identify the computer (give it a logical name)
Like, use "my.cool.server.com" instead of "124.40.67.20". But nothing else.
if you could not connect to the target computer before by ip address, you won't be able to connect using logical name as well.
If your server is not exposed to the internet by admins, you won't see it outside of the organisation network. In most organisations, internal servers are not exposed outside, and do not have public ip addresses that can be used to connect to those directly from internet.

Typically you use VPN, to connect to organisation network from internet (it makes you organisation's network available to your computer, using secure protocol, transparently to the applications. It is visible as a separate network adapter connected to your organisation's network) . You may need to ask for VPN access, to be able to work "from home", this technology is specifically designed to support remote workplaces, and used for decades in majority of organisations. When you connect using VPN, you see all the things in the organisation network as if you were in the office.

If you work in a small organisation, and you are allowed to configure such things yourself, the easiest way to get it up and running is to use something like hamachi vpn (called now LogMeIn) https://www.vpn.net, (free up to 5 computers)

Other than that, you can copy your database to some other server (like azure sql), that IS exposed to the internet, or install sql express for examl,e on your computer, and create a copy of the database on your own computer. The second option is also very common development scenario.

Note that it can be that to copy a database like that you don't need admins, if you have enough rights for that database. It depends on the organisation policy, if it is okay to make copies of the database and then take them home

Am i missing something?

[Gustavo]

Thank you for your insights Nikolay. They're very helpful. It's my first time working with Visio as a data-trough-internet client, and I wasn't sure if Visio is intended to work in that environment.

In my case, now I can't move the database to an other server, or server service exposed to internet like azure or my personal computer, because the database is already feeded with a server-client application, eventhough it's still in development phase. And it is hosted in computer in a big corporate environment, being difficult to get the network admins respond to my demands timely or repeatedly. So I'm going to give Hamachi VPN a try. I'll keep you posted with the results.

[Gustavo]

Hamachi VPN worked like a charm in my case. I installed it in the database server which wasn't visible to internet, and the Visio client machines.Once you create a network, It gives you a fixed IP for all computers in the network trough the Hamachi network, with access among them, which you can reference in the Visio clients, to link the data from the database server to the Visio clients. Great tool to pass trough the corporate network.

I know this would have to be an abc to a network engineer, but I hadn't used the Hamachi tool until now.

Thank you very much Nikolay!