New to VPN

[lazzerbiker]

First - I have never used a VPN connection before, so sorry about any stupidity arrising from my ignorance. I have been tasked with getting access for one person in my office to gain full access to our small office netork. To put things in perspective, we run a small office network through an adsl router (only four computers). The boss wants to be able to do work from home during and out of office hours. Is VPN the right thing to use? Is it possible with our limited setup? The PC's are all running MS windows, 1*2000, the others XP Home. The remote Laptop is XP.

Any suggestions on whether this is plausible or not, and where to go next (any good net resources?) would be appreciated.

Regards

Mark

 

[ChicagoTechNet]

Yes, you can setup VPN on windows 2000. quoted from

http://www.chicagotech.net

Basic VPN Requirement

User Permission. Enable a user to access the VPN. To do this, go to AD Users and Computers, select the user who need to access the VPN, click Dial-in. Check Allow access on the Remote Access Permission (Dial-in or VPN).

IP Configuration. The VPN server should have a static IP address and assign the arrange IP addresses to VPN clients. The VPN server must also be configured with DNS and WINS server addresses to assign to the VPN client during the connection.

Data Encryption. Data carried on the public network should be rendered unreadable to unauthorized clients on the network.

Protocol Support. The TCP/IP is common protocols used in the public network. The VPN also include IP, Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX), NetBEUI and so on.

Firewall Ports. When you place a VPN server behind your firewall, be sure to enable IP protocol 47 (GRE) and TCP port 1723.

Interface(s) for VPN server. If your network doesn't have a router or the VPN is also a gateway, your computer must have at least two interfaces, one connecting to the Internet and another connecting to the LAN. If it is behind a router, you just need one NIC.

One interface for VPN client. The interface can be a dial-in modem, or a dedicated connection to the Internet.


Robert Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Windows, Network, Internet, VPN, Routing and How to at

http://www.ms-mvps.com

 

[bkrike]

If you are going to hire a technician, then VPN is viable, however it is by far the most difficult remote access connection to set up for an end user unfamiliar with networking. If you are planning on setting it up yourself, then there are easier ways such as: remote desktop, PC anywhere, or the myriad of other software, hardware, or service based remote access solutions.

 

[lazzerbiker]

I'll take that on board. Thank you both for your replies. I'll do some more research and see what is viable.

Regards

Mark