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What Is Vpn?

Essay by   •  January 2, 2011  •  Essay  •  1,082 Words (5 Pages)  •  1,225 Views

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What is VPN?

Vpn is short for virtual private network that is constructed by using public wires to connect nodes. It is a technology that establishes a private or secure network connection within a public network. It's a way to use a public telecommunication infrastructure, such as the internet. It can provide remote offices or individual users with secure access to their organization network. It can be contrasted with an expensive system of owned or leased lines that can only be used by one organization. It enables the flow of traffic to travel securely over a public TCP/IP network. The goal of a vpn is to provide the organization with the same capabilities, but at a much lower cost.

The world has changed a lot in the last couple of decades. Instead of simply dealing with local or regional concerns, many businesses do not have to think about global markets and logistics. 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 reliable communications wherever their offices are. It accommodates the needs of remote employees and distant offices. This is a virtual private network. It provides highly secure, temporary, point-to-point through the public internet.

What makes up a VPN?

Vpn works by using the shared public infrastructure while maintaining privacy through security procedures and tunneling protocols. It uses the bandwidth of public networks, typically the internet or a service provider backbone network. The key of VPNs is tunneling; the practice of repackaging data from one network to another. Tunneling does not ensure privacy or security; just delivery. So that's why VPns must include addition function features so it can enhance the security.

A well designed VPN can greatly benefit a company. For example, it can: Extend geographic connectivity, Improve security, Reduce operational cost 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, and Provide faster ROI (return on investment) than traditional WAN. The features that are needed in a well design VPN are Security, Reliability, Scalability, Network management, Policy management. There are three types of VPNs.

They are Intranet VPN, Extranet VPN, and Remote Access VPN, but there are two common types of VPN: Remote Access and Site-to-Site Vpns.

Remote- Access VPN

Remote -access, also called a virtual private dial up network. It 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. Typically a corporation that wishes to setup a large remote access will outsource to an enterprise service provider. Esp provides the remote users with desktop client software for their computers. 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, connections between a company's private network and remote users through a third party service provider.

Site-to-Site VPN

Through the use of dedicated equipment and large scale encryption, a company can connect multiple fixed sites over a public network such as the internet. Site-to-Site can be one of two types: Intranet-based, or Extranet-based. If a company has one or more remote locations that they wish to join in a single private network, they can create an intranet VPN. When a company has a close relationship with another company, they can build an extranet VPN.

Security of VPNs

A well designed VPN uses several methods for keeping your connection and data secure: Firewalls, Encryption, IpSec, and AAA Server

Security Firewalls provides a strong barrier between your private network and the internet. You can set firewalls to restrict the number of open ports, what types of packets are passed through and which protocols are allowed through.

Security Encryption is the process of taking all the data that one computer is sending to another and encoding it into a form that only the other computer will be able to decode.

Security IPSec provides enhanced security features such as better encryption algorithms and more comprehensive authentication. IPSec can encrypt data between various devices, such

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