NETWORK DESIGN

Network Design

Network Design

Virtual Private Network

This is a secure connection between two parts of a private network that uses a public network like the Internet to reduce costs.

A virtual private network - or VPN is a network that emulates a private network, but runs through the public network lines and infrastructure. The use of specialized hardware and software, a VPN can be established via the Internet runs. The use of encryption and a "protocol tunneling maintains privacy. Because public networks are used, the cost of a VPN costs a fraction of a traditional private network. Virtual Private Network or VPN, is a technology that allows people access to your office computer network via the Internet while at home or traveling. Access to a network in this way is known as remote access. (By comparison, another common form of remote access is making to the office network over a phone line.) But VPN is useful for more than just remote access. It can also be used to connect two offices separated by distance. A veces se denomina un "túnel VPN persistente", o una red de área amplia (WAN).

Remote Access VPN

A VPN is a particularly effective means of exchanging critical information for employees working remotely in branch offices, at home or on the road. You can securely deliver information between vendors, suppliers and business partners who may have a large physical distance between them. Since companies no longer have to invest in the infrastructures themselves, they can reduce their operational costs by outsourcing network services to service providers. VPNs can also reduce costs by eliminating the need for long-distance phone calls for remote access, as the customer only needs to put in the access point closest to the service provider.

With VPN, the integrity of its branch network remains intact, but can allow remote users to act as part of the branch network. After connecting through VPN, remote users can access files, print to printers, and generally do anything with their computers that would be able to do in the office.

However, the use of VPN is not the same as being in the office. Most office networks is very fast. Most Internet connections are not. Even the fastest DSL and cable are about one tenth of the speed of your office LAN average. This means that access to LAN resources will be much slower through VPN. So if you want to work with files on the file server in the office, you would most likely copy to your computer through the VPN connection. When you are finished working with them to be copied back to the file server. (It is easy to do this in Windows 2000/XP with the Offline Files feature.)

How it Works

In a small office network, VPN is most frequently applied through a router. Almost every small office that shares an Internet connection over a computer that already have a router of some kind, but most of them do not include VPN.

For example, the small office / home office (SOHO), Linksys routers ...