First time on here so please be gentle!

I have setup a small school network with a Ubuntu 12.04 Server for use as a fileserver mainly. I have managed to set the server up (all command line based - no GUI) and setup the Samba shares, which works really well internally. Internally, the school have a combination of Mac's and Windows machines and they can all access the shares happily.

The school has a fixed IP ADSL connection and I have added a route in the router to allow me remote access to the server using SSH (port 22). That also works well. All good so far!

What I now want to do is allow remote access to the shares. I have done a bit of reading and thought I had found the answer with SSHFS but I am still non-the-wiser.

So, my basic questions is:

• In Windows, how can I map to the Ubuntu shares across the internet through the router?

• In Mac OS, how can I add the remote share across the internet?

The school used to have a Windows server and the users were used to creating a VPN and then pulling up the share folders etc, but I'm unsure how to do this with the Ubuntu server. I assume I need to add another route through the router too allow for SSHFS or something similar?

Thanks in advance...

Donald