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How do you set up a VPN

By pricepd ·
Our network is Windows 2000 at the main office and NT at the branch office. Branch and main offices both have about 15 users. We are not presently connected except the branch office has 1 dial up connection (3com 1500 RAS) to get to the internet through our Main office T1 line. We have a Cisco 2600 internet router connected to a T1 line.

What is the simplest way to get a VPN set up between branch and main? I am planning to get DSL at the branch office. I have a spare Cisco 1700 router that I could use at the branch office, but I am not sure if you can use the Cisco 1700 router with DSL or not.

Will the cisco routers I have now be compatable with PPTP or L2TP? Or do I need to get a VPN module for my cisco 2600 internet router?Can I use Windows 2000 VPN as the server?

As you can tell I have a lot of questions.

Can anyone help?

Thanks,
Preston

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How do you set up a VPN

by umbral-echo In reply to How do you set up a VPN

A VPN uses tunnelling to do its job, meaning that devices that route IP do not even see the PPTP protocol doing its job. To a router a VPN connection is just another IP frame so you shouldn't need any additional router configuration.

Windows 2000can be a VPN server. This is set up using Routing and Remote Access, found in the "Administrative Tools" on the Start menu. Windows Help gives a long and very detailed description of setting up VPN connections in Windows 2000. It is a long topic so I suggest you look it up there to get all the facts. No one could possibly explain it to you in this short space.

If you are connected directly to the Internet through a T1 line with no firewall, and you plan on setting up DSL to connect all your other machines to the Internet the VPN would provide a secure means to access your extranet (branch office) but only if you set up some sort of firewall. The correct way to do this would be to put a VPN server as the gateway on both the branch officeAND the main office. If you set up a demand-dial connection that uses the VPN it will connect automatically whenever ANY of the PCs on your network tries to connect to the other network.

With no firewall (Proxy server) the traffic between the twonetworks might be encrypted but Internet hackers can access your network via the routers anyway, so security is compromised.

L2TP will require a certificate server and IPSec to provide encryption. PPTP is the better choice if you have no certificates.

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How do you set up a VPN

by pricepd In reply to How do you set up a VPN

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How do you set up a VPN

by joshg In reply to How do you set up a VPN

The 1700 will not run on DSL. The 2600 can do IDSL. You can run VPN's over any IOS. PPTP works under the standard IP feature set as well as L2TP as of IOS 12.0(1) for the 2600 routers.

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How do you set up a VPN

by pricepd In reply to How do you set up a VPN

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How do you set up a VPN

by pricepd In reply to How do you set up a VPN

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