VPN (Virtual Private Network

See Also

• Firewall Settings
• Vpn
• Windows Firewall

How Stuff Works

• Basic VPN
• Setting the DMZ

WARNING

• Using the WRONG POWER SUPPLY will blow your unit.  Make sure the correct one is installed!!!!
  

Idea Behind a VPN

Hackers online may be viewing your data. Information like sales, quotes, PO's payroll, and financial records or passwords can be captured or sniffed by someone outside your organization. IP Packets do not encrypt their payload so, once captured, passwords and other sensitive information can be viewed.

Firewalls are becoming a required networking component for preventing outsiders from entering a network. This means staff and employees can't access files and office resources from home. Fortunately, most firewall systems include a VPN solution that allows an authenticated user to securely pass through the firewall and access internal resources. The VPN component also encrypts the data between the user and the VPN server, securing the connection to the office LAN.

Site-to-Site VPN

• Some lumberyard configurations require sharing information across multiple LANs. Initiating a secure VPN tunnel between two office gateway devices allows sites to share information across the LANs without fearing that outsiders could view the content of the data stream. This site-to-site VPN is a one-to-one VPN tunnel. Two servers or routers set up an encrypted IP tunnel to securely pass packets back and forth over the Internet. The VPN servers create a logical point-to-point connection over the Internet. Routing can be configured on each gateway device to allow packets to route over the VPN link or out the default network link.

Client-to-Site VPN

• When a client requires access to a site's internal data from outside the network's LAN, the client needs to initiate a client-to-site VPN connection. This will secure a path to the site's LAN, allowing the client to access a private network address (see RFC 1918). The client-to-site VPN is a many-to-one VPN tunnel. One or more clients can initiate a secure VPN connection to the VPN server, thus securely accessing internal data from an insecure remote location. The client receives an IP address from the server and appears as a member on the server's LAN.

Cost of Ownership

• VPN can reduce wide area networking costs by eliminating the need for private dedicated connections (i.e. Leased lines, Dedicated lines, Point-to-point, multi-point).