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One of the hottest new technologies in the networking world is Virtual
Private Networking (VPN). VPN allows multiple
secure and private connections to your companies LAN from anywhere in
the world using the Internet. The connection is private, requiring a
username/password, and is secure using Point-to-Point
Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) or Microsoft's new Level
2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) over Internet
Protocol Security (IPSec). "Tunneling" or
encapsulating one protocol inside another, and by encryption a VPN
maintains privacy over the Internet.www.tartoos.com
The client computers connect to WAN Mini ports and virtual PPP
adapters with IP addresses issued by the VPN DHCP Server. These
adapters and addresses may be viewed from Command Prompt by typing
ipconfig/all after connections are established.
A note of interest, Microsoft's L2TP over IPSec does not support
Network Address Translation (NAT), so using NAT routers such as the
Netgear RT314 will not work. However, this router and others like it
will support VPN by using PPTP.www.tartoos.com
Once your Windows 2000 Server is configured for VPN and has an
Internet connection established, usually a T1 or larger pipe, all that
is required is a Windows NT or Windows 9x Client computer configured
for VPN and an Internet connection with a local ISP. Or if you would
like to create a VPN WAN, a second Windows 2000 VPN Server.www.tartoos.com
The Client computer makes a "local call" to the Internet and then
establishes a VPN connection to your LANs Windows 2000 VPN Server.
This eliminates the expense of long distance charges, designated 1-800
or "call back" numbers and hardware Modem pools required by the older
technology of RAS, Remote Access Service. RAS requires telephone lines
and restricts your connections to 56k or slower using analog modems.
VPN is not restricted to a 56k analog modem connection where ISDN, DSL
or Cable broadband is available.
Configuring the Server:www.tartoos.com
My first recommendation would be to feed your Server a lot of RAM as
this feature eats it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...
First go to the Administrative Tools, Routing and Remote Access. Add
your server if necessary. Then configure and enable Routing and Remote
Access with the wizard.
Select VPN Server, and
make sure on the next screen you see TCP/IP protocol has been installed.
Then select your proper
Internet connection.
The next screen allows you to select weather to use DHCP to issue IP
addresses or add a static pool. This service assigns virtual IP
addresses to your VPN connections and differs from your DHCP Server
issuing IP addresses to clients connected with cable to your internal
LAN. Some thoughts on planning at this point is advisable as the
default VPN DHCP selection will give you 128 WAN Mini ports for PPTP
and another 128 for L2TP. These values may be adjusted later from a
minimum of two and a maximum of 16,384. That's a lot of connections.www.tartoos.com
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