Windows Forum

Ask something
Discussion Locked

How to set up VPN?

0 helpful
9 replies

by radiodave 1 view

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.
I'm used to Win98, but need to set up VPN to access a remote office LAN. Can I just buy Windows 2000 Server (say with 5 user licenses), install it on a spare computer (with DSL access), press a few buttons and have VPN? Will I need to buy/download anything else? Excuse my ignorance, but its really hard for a 2000/NT newbie like me to tell from browsing around if Windows 2000 Server is complete out of the box, or if you have to add all sorts of stuff to get it to do what you want. I have sucessfully installed the VPN client in my Win 98 computer.

9 replies

by dfloyd

I don't know about VPN for Win2000 but you might consider a small VPN server that is designed just for VPN and doesn't have all the security issues like a Win2000 OS. I use a product called WatchGuard Firebox which is a firewall/VPN server together. They also sell a small 10-user VPN box for under $1000 that looks like a simple solution that would be secure and easy to manage.
Just a suggestion.

Darryl

by radiodave

Good suggestion, but I'd still like to try a software solution, hoping it will be cheaper. But WatchGuard at $1000 could be cheaper than $500 for a computer & $500 for Win 2000.

by mckaytech

Ah, if you're looking for cheap, here's the deal. Get a 486 or lowend Pentium with about 16meg of RAM, a floppy, two NICs and no hard drive. Then download an LRP router floppy image from one of the sources at www.linuxrouter.org.

Configure it with Secure Shell (sshd) and Seattle Seawall and you're done with that part of it.

Then on the client end, install TeraTerm Pro with the SSH extensions.

Total hardware cost for the first one I did: about $40 (I scrounge a lot). Total software cost: $0 Performance is very, very good across a cable modem.

One thing to remember about Windows2000 is that the hardware requirements are not light and the chances of it running well on a $500 computer are not very good. Also, the W2K upgrade can be obtained for a little less than $500 street price but the full version is almost twice that with 5 CALs. So I'm guessing a functional and legal installation would price out at closer to $2k. For that kind of money, you can get a dedicated hardware VPN solution that really is plug-n-play.

paul

by radiodave

Linux still scares me. TeraTerm will run on Win98, but the instructions are minimal & no mention of VPN. I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to figure out all the configurations for both without a lot of help. I hope Win2K Serve doesn't turn out to be just as hard!

I'll try your solution someday (I already have the lowend hardware). For now, I'll try Windoz. The $500 price (actually $399) is teh academic version (nice to be a student).

Wish I could split these points. Everyone was helpful, but I'll give Paul the thumbs up for the most detailed anwer.

by lynx

Yes you can do VPN on win2000 Server and win2000 Professional thisout any additional software or hardware. You can also do a VPN on Win98 with special software like Wingate or Arvit for less price.

by radiodave

Maybe not WinGate - from their web page: Q.Will WinGate work with VPN?
A.No, WinGate only supports TCP/IP protocol. VPN requires PPTP.
(Others like WinProxy & Sygate Office do suport VPN clients, but still need a VPN server)

I can't find any listing of Arvit??

Thanks you for reassuring me that Win2K server should do the trick without buying anymore extras.

by lynx

Yes you can do VPN on win2000 Server and win2000 Professional thisout any additional software or hardware. You can also do a VPN on Win98 with special software like Wingate or Arvit for less price.

This discussion is closed to new replies.