On 31 Jan 99, at 4:29, Bob Chapel wrote:
> Has anyone had any experiences (positive or negative) with
> Microsofts VPN program included with Win'98. I would like to be able
> to access my Network at a more reasonable price (I can dial in direct
> but I live quite a distance from the site and it is an expensive
> proposition)....we are on the Net and have our own domain registed
> with internic BUT we are being hosted by another site.....does this
> make a big difference??..also the connection is ISDN again...does
> this matter. I am rather a novice in this area and would be happy to
> take any suggestions for good reading material on the topic as well.
I don't think VPN solves your problem.
To recap: VPN inserts an encryption/decryption transport layer into
network traffic between two nodes, so that the content traffic cannot
be read. Typically, ordinary LAN traffic is implemented at two or more
secured sites, and VPN is used to connect them through the otherwise
insecure Internet.
To use VPN from home to work, you need to install the VPN software at
both ends, and you need to connect your home system to the net so the
VPN encrypted traffic can reach the work system's connection.
The reference to "hosted by another site" suggests to me that your
organization has a "web site" that lives on some ISP's machine -- i.e.,
your registered domain goes to the ISP and not to your office network.
In order to use VPN, you need a dedicated connection at the work end,
with a globally-assigned IP address (which is probably where you want
the domain name to point).
Odds are very good that your ISP can make all this happen -- for a
price. Since you probably want to avoid converting your entire LAN
from IPX to TCP/IP, you may want to consider the IPX gateway feature of
Microsoft's Proxy Server product (which also delivers a certain amount
of "firewall"[*] protection) to sit on the work end of this link.
Once you have such a link, you have the option of installing VPN at
the work side, and then using it from home on a local call to your own
ISP.
David G
[*] One principle of firewall implementation is that a firewall
machine should have no more than the minimum software on it to do the
job. Since Proxy Server 2.0 requires NT 4 Server SP3, IE 4, and IIS 4,
there is consern that vulnerabilities in these other components may
undermine its security as a firewall; a security professional is likely
to recommedn deployment of a dedicated firewall between this server and
the net rather than try to thoroughly "button up" this server.
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