the ultimate online exercise system!

Leaf is an extraordinary product – it amazes me that so few people know about it or mention it – and for the small business that is moving to a virtual model, with employees working remotely or from home, it is one of the best existing solutions to the far-from-resolved Collaboration Challenge (pace Microsoft SharePoint, with which I have wrestled to the point of psychosis!).

VPN solutions

We’ve looked at many VPN (Virtual Private Network) solutions over the years – SSL-Explorer was one of the very best, but alas, it has now been bought up by Barracuda Networks, and the latter have recently discontinued the actual software, instead selling the product as a hardware solution. I’m sure it works very well, but it’s ridiculous overkill for the average small business. There is an open-source development fork, in the form of Adito, but it demands considerable user expertise to set up (as does the Community edition of SSL-Explorer, which is still available but no longer under development).

Others mention OpenVPN in tones of awe. There’s no doubt OpenVPN is an amazing product, but it’s murderous to set up unless you’re an experienced network administrator. Having said which, experienced network administrators swear by this open-source, no-price tool.

Hardware solutions

Then there are the various software solutions built into Cisco and NetGear products. Again, these tend to expect a fairly high level of administrative competence – if you’re not comfortable with domains, subdomains, or IP and Mac addresses, you won’t be very comfortable with these "professional" solutions.

Peer-to-peer?

The whole peer-to-peer space offers another approach. There are some impressive tools here, but many of them are tainted by file-sharing associations. One of the best from the business point of view is Collanos Workplace, which seems to be stabilising quite nicely, after an irritating product update which appeared to be unable to find the members of a workgroup even hours after they had all logged on.

Leafy joy, Leafless pain…

And then there is Leaf, which combines the best of peer-to-peer concepts with impressively solid security and flexibility. Leaf Networks run the authentication server for all Leaf clients, but they do not interfere with the flow of data in any way whatsoever – that’s right, the actual data flows directly from one client machine to another, using the ‘virtual’ network adapters that Leaf sets up when it is first launched. There is no need to synchronise with some central server lurking somewhere far away.

Currently available only for Windows XP and upwards (although a Linux client is promised), Leaf is a simple piece of client software that must be installed on each machine that is going to use the virtual network. Each user will also require a Leaf ID, which is swiftly acquired by registering on the Leaf Networks website. Once registered, you can launch the Leaf client and log on. Then it’s simply a matter of creating a "network", which will include members you choose from a list, and deciding which folders and files you want to share with the members. Any member can add a folder or folders to the virtual network, assigning permissions to the list of network members as seems appropriate. You simply won’t see folders or files you don’t have permission to access – by far the best solution to file sharing, in my view.

To access files and folders shared by another member of the network, you simply click on that member’s name, and a list of options unfolds below it. If you click on ‘Shared Files’, Leaf will ask you if you wish to create a shortcut to the folder you want to access on that member’s computer. Once you click ‘yes’, you find you have a new "virtual" folder under a new "My Leaf Folders" entry in your Explorer window.

But Leaf goes further. Leaving aside the ‘Game server’ option (sorry, we’re more interested in the boring, corporate stuff), it also allows you to set up a ‘Private Network’, which goes much further than simple file sharing. With the private network option enabled, you effectively open up servers to members of your newly created network. And security is still high on the agenda, because you can choose to assign permissions for the ‘Private Network’ to individual members of your Leaf network. Or indeed, simply create a new Leaf network and use that instead.

Each machine on a Leaf virtual network is assigned its own IP address, from a 5.1.x.x range that appears to be Leaf’s own. Servers can be accessed via these addresses as if they were on the same LAN. Compared to conventional VPN setups, even those based on SSL rather than IPsec clients, the convenience is difficult to overstate.

Speedy sharing

The permutations are endless, but what makes Leaf especially attractive is the sheer speed of the file sharing. Leaf only uses a central server to register network members – once you’ve logged in and your virtual IP number has been assigned, all data is passed between the computers on the virtual network directly, without intermediary. Working remotely suddenly feels exactly like working on the company LAN, with very little lag, despite the fact that Leaf communicates over encrypted connections. Leaf ascribes this speed to their special, proprietary "virtual" network adapter. However it works, it does it very well. What’s more, it’s very reliable – only once have we had a problem with our own Leaf setup, when the central Leaf server was down. The problem was quickly resolved by an e-mail to technical support.

Best of all, of course, is the fact that this impressive technology is free. Of course there is a potential downside – how long will Leaf continue to be free? How long will Leaf continue to exist? Or be developed? Despite the many awards Leaf has garnered, these are all the usual questions you have to ask, usually without any clear answers to be had, when you commit yourself to using a solution like this. So you have to weigh up: does the sheer convenience of the Leaf solution outweigh the various unknowns that surround it. In our case, the answer is yes. You might apply different criteria or parameters… but even so, I’d strongly advise you to give Leaf a go…

Essential links

You’ll find the actual Leaf software here.

Yes, it’s completely FREE!

More on Leaf Networks here.