Remote-Access VPN, all about it?

Posted by The Popular News Today on Wednesday, June 8, 2011

By Nemanja Djuric


Many companies have facilities spread out across the country or around the world, and there is one thing that all of them need: A way to maintain fast, secure and reliable communications wherever their offices are. The world has changed a lot in the last couple of decades. Instead of simply dealing with local or regional concerns, many businesses now have to think about global markets and logistics.

But maintaining a WAN, particularly when using leased lines, can become quite expensive and often rises in cost as the distance between the offices increases. A WAN had obvious advantages over a public network like the Internet when it came to reliability, performance and security. Until fairly recently, this has meant the use of leased lines to maintain a wide area network (WAN). Leased lines, ranging from ISDN (integrated services digital network, 128 Kbps) to OC3 (Optical Carrier-3, 155 Mbps) fiber, provided a company with a way to expand its private network beyond its immediate geographic area.

As the popularity of the Internet grew, businesses turned to it as a means of extending their own networks. First came intranets, which are password-protected sites designed for use only by company employees. Now, many companies are creating their own VPN (virtual private network) to accommodate the needs of remote employees and distant offices. Basically, a VPN is a private network that uses a public network (usually the Internet) to connect remote sites or users together.

Instead of using a dedicated, real-world connection such as leased line, a VPN uses "virtual" connections routed through the Internet from the company's private network to the remote site or employee. In this article, you will gain a fundamental understanding of VPNs, and learn about basic VPN components, technologies, tunneling and security. There are two common types of VPN. Remote-access, also called a virtual private dial-up network (VPDN), is a user-to-LAN connection used by a company that has employees who need to connect to the private network from various remote locations.

The telecommuters can then dial a toll-free number to reach the NAS and use their VPN client software to access the corporate network.A good example of a company that needs a remote-access VPN would be a large firm with hundreds of sales people in the field. Remote-access VPNs permit secure, encrypted connections between a company's private network and remote users through a third-party service provider. A well-designed VPN can greatly benefit a company. For example, it can: Extend geographic connectivity, Improve security, Reduce operational costs versus traditional WAN. Reduce transit time and transportation costs for remote users. Improve productivity, Simplify network topology, Provide global networking opportunities, Provide telecommuter support, Provide broadband networking compatibility, Provide faster ROI (return on investment) than traditional WAN. What features are needed in a well-designed VPN? It should incorporate: Security, Reliability, Scalability, Network management, Policy management and etc. The ESP sets up a network access server (NAS) and provides the remote users with desktop client software for their computers. The telecommuters can then dial a toll-free number to reach the NAS and use their VPN client software to access the corporate network.A good example of a company that needs a remote-access VPN would be a large firm with hundreds of sales people in the field.




About the Author:



{ 0 comments... read them below or add one }

Post a Comment