Web Hosting stoke

So I made the switch today to a new host....and got bitched out by the owner of my current host. Damn she served me up a mouthfull but hey the numbers dont lie:
$3.95 a month for
3 Gigs / 1 Email
50 GB of Bandwidth
CGI-BIN / PHP Support
MySQL Database
http://www.ipower.com/webhosting.html

My big question to all you web server nerds.

I'm also getting for work a dedicated unmanaged server that I can remote PC into. I have to do all the software loading and configuring which isn't a problem but where I lack the knowledge is this:

I want to ODBC with MS Access into the live MySQL database at random times to do data feeds and fixes. Will a simple VPN product provide me the security I need? What other software do I need to load onto this MS2003 server? I've looked on the ipower.com website but it does not mention Virus Protection or Firewall even once. I assume that this server will be behind their firewall because I asked tech support about the ODBC and port 3306 and they said they would open it for a dedicated server only.

VPN and security Software reccomendations please. Otherwise I'm just running a PHP driven website and serving HTML. That's all.

OK,

So you are looking to upload data from your local system / laptop to the server in the data center. The best way to accomplish this is to transfer the data to the server and then process it to import the data once it is on the server via a bcp or scheduled load.

If it was me, I would load the data file ( access , txt , csv , whatever ) to the server via ftp to an dataupload directory that is scanned every 10 mins for new files that would auto load the data into the database then move the file to a completed directory. if you need the data transfer to be more secure, create a logon protected secure upload section of your website that is SSL'd and code it to accept the http upload and put it into the same directory and process it the same way.

Win2003 does have an extra software firewall you can activate on the Lan connection, be careful here so as not to lock ,yourself out and test any changes you want to make on a local piece of hardware first. I would activate routing and remote access and use the vpn software you get with win2003. If you've never set it up before, test it on a local machine. You shouldn't need to buy any software as win2003 server has it all for ya.

I would install a some virus protection but i wouldn't install something like norton internet security as this is not recommended for enterprise products and is too invasive on a system. Ok for home use when the user is someone who knows nothing about computers but way too conservative for a web server. Something like etrust antivirus would be fine.$30 all in


just to recap.
1. You don't need any extra software for vpn, win2003 has routing and remote access. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/com...uy/cg0601.mspx
2. you have a firewall on win2003 server that you can activate
3. get etrust for your virus protection, cheap and good.
4. Upload your data first, then import into your databse. Simple and easy. ODBC is not secure or encrypted therefore will allow people to snoop your data upload.
5. test everything to do with firewall setups on a local machine to ensure you don't lock yourself out of your server.

Thanks Wildstyle,
Just what I was looking for.