One of the common uses for Mergic VPN is to remotely HotSync a handheld with a PC that's behind a firewall. This allows you to update your mail, calendar and other information any time from any place. This article describes the steps necessary to set-up for remote HotSync operations over a VPN connection. It also includes tips to make remote HotSyncing faster.

Step 1. Configure your PC for a Network HotSync Operation

When you're connecting over a VPN connection it appears to HotSync that you're connecting directly over your local network. So, HotSync must be configured for Network access.

1. Click on the HotSync Manager icon in your Windows system tray.
2. Enable the Network item on the menu.
3. Click on the HotSync Manager icon again and choose Setup.
4. Click on the Network tab and verify that your name is checked.

   

5. Click OK.
6. Now perform a HotSync over cable. This step copies your PC's connection information to your handheld.

At this point your PC is ready to perform a network HotSync. You'll need to leave your PC turned on and, if it supports power management features that can make it inaccessible over the network, such as standby or hibernate mode, then you'll need to make sure those features are disabled.

Step 2. Have Mergic VPN Auto Connect when Remote HotSyncing

This step is optional but if you do it then you won't need to launch Mergic VPN and connect each time you do a remote HotSync. Cable based HotSync operations will not be affected by the Auto Connect feature.

1. Launch Mergic VPN from your handheld.
2. Tap the Auto Connect popup trigger (between the password and VPN Server settings).
3. If automatic connections are disabled then tap Enable automatic connections.
4. Scroll through the list of applications until you can see HotSync, then tap it to check it.

   

5. Tap OK.

Step 3. Configure your Handheld for a Network HotSync Operation

1. Launch HotSync from your handheld.
2. Tap the Menu icon to display the Options menu.

   

3. Tap Modem Sync Prefs and then tap Network.

   

4. Tap OK.
5. Tap the Menu icon again and this time select Primary PC Setup from the Options menu.

   

   If you performed the HotSync at the end of the step for configuring your PC for a network HotSync operation then you should see the name and IP address of your PC. If not, enter the IP address of your PC in the Primary PC Address field.
6. Tap OK.
7. Tap the Menu icon again and select Conduit Setup from the Options menu. The Conduit Setup dialog allows you to turn off applications that you don't want to synchronize remotely. If the application doesn't have a conduit on your PC then it doesn't matter if you uncheck it or not but it's probably easier not to worry about that and just uncheck everything that you only want to synchronize over cable. This can really speed up your synchronizations, especially if you can eliminate things like downloading web pages or documents for offline viewing.

   

   Note: Every time you add a new application to your handheld the default is to HotSync the application remotely. So, if the application has a PC conduit and you don't want to HotSync it, you'll need to re-enter the Conduit Setup dialog to uncheck it.

8. Tap OK.
9. Tap Modem and then tap Select Service.

   

10. If you have a device with Palm OS 3.3-4.1, other than a Treo, you will need to make sure that the service is configured for VPN connections. To do this tap Service and select your Internet Service. If your Connection is not set to your Mergic VPN connection then tap Connection and select the correct connection.

    

Step 4. Try it!

That's it for setup so, if you enabled HotSync as an Auto Connect application in Mergic VPN, just tap the HotSync icon to start the synchronization. If another application hasn't already connected to the network then HotSync will automatically disconnect when the synchronization is complete. Since synchronizations can take a while this allows you to start the HotSync and forget about it without incurring unnecessary line charges.

If you don't plan to enable HotSync as an Auto Connect application then you need to launch Mergic VPN and Sign In to your private network before doing the HotSync. When the synchronization is over you'll need to manually disconnect from your network by using the disconnect command from Network Preferences or from Mergic VPN.

Synchronization over slow remote connections is not nearly as fast as a cable based synchronization. The next section will give you some ideas about how to speed up your remote HotSync operations.

Making Your Remote HotSync Operations Faster

Remotely synchronizing computing devices never seems fast enough. This is especially true when dealing with a slow wireless network. Here are some tips that can really help:

• One simple way to speed up your synchronizations is to remember to do a cable based synchronization before leaving your PC. This can significantly reduce the amount of data that must be updated when you do the remote HotSync.
• Actually we've already covered this suggestion, but it can help if you use HotSync's Conduit Setup option to reduce the number of applications that are synchronized while your remote.

  Several applications that really slow down synchronizations don't make sense while your remote. For example, they may just save web pages that you can load as you need them or they may download or check for updates to documents that you know won't change while you're away from your PC.

  The other way to use Conduit Setup is to make changes based on your current need. For example, if all you want to do is check your mail then temporarily disable remote synching for everything other than the Mail application before you start the HotSync.

• The other part of the HotSync operation that takes a long time is the backup process. Backups are certainly a necessary part of synchronization but when you're remote, backing up every time you HotSync is not usually necessary. It would be nice if HotSync would allow you to control remote backups in the same way it does conduits but this is not the case.

  One solution to this is Blue Nomad's BackupBuddy. BackupBuddy is a replacement for the default backup conduit provided with the Palm Desktop and it has an option that allows you to "Skip backup during modem HotSync". You won't have control of which applications get backed up while you're remote but a lot of your dynamic information such as your mail and calendar data can be updated on both the PC and the handheld by their conduits before the backup process begins. So, unless you're away from your PC for a long period of time, you probably don't want the overhead required by the backup process while you're away from your PC.