TABLE OF CONTENTS Virtual private networking (VPN) has grown in popularity until it has become a standard for companies that have telecommuters, executives, and salespeople who need network access when on the road, and/or partners and customers who need access to resources on the corporate network. The purpose of VPN networking is to allow remote access to resources on the corporate network that would otherwise only be available if the user were directly connected to the corporate LAN. With a VPN connection, the user has a "virtual" point-to-point link between the remote VPN user and the corporate network. The user can work as if he/she were on site; applications and services running on the users' computers treat the VPN link as if it were a typical Ethernet connection. The Internet over which the client is connected to the corporate network is completely transparent to the users and applications.
One of the major advantages of using a VPN connection instead of a client/server Web application is that VPN users at remote locations can potentially access all of the protocols and servers on the corporate network. This means your users can access the full range of services on Microsoft Exchange Servers, Microsoft SharePoint Servers, Microsoft SQL Servers, and Microsoft Live Communication Servers just as they do when they are directly connected to the network at the corporate location. VPN client software is built into all modern Windows operating systems. A VPN user does not need any special software to...
