VPNs

[Severian596]

Hi everyone, I'm not asking for a really detailed response because I haven't done much homework myself, but my stepson is curious about Virtual Private Networks (VPN).

Does anyeone have any experience with them? Any sob/happy stories about them? Are they difficult to set up or troubleshoot?

TIA

[Player0]

Well, they are getting easier these days. It more depends on why you want to use it? Connecting home to office on a static vpn, or doing a temporary vpn with use of a client, etc.

[Severian596]

I believe Shane wants to help some people create a VPN between an external computer and a business LAN.

[Player0]

Best bet would be to set up a static VPN connection. Install a VPN capable router at both locations, and set up a tunnel between them. Make sure to use strict passwords.

Only people on the LAN side of either router will be able to talk to the other location, and you dont have to putz around with running VPN client software.

Static VPN is great because you can access the business lan from home just like your right on the same local network. its all transparent.

Using a VPN client most often means that your PC has to disconnect from the internet to connect to the LAN (because it needs to change IPs). There are ways around it with two NIC cards, but... its not my fav way.

[Severian596]

Very helpful! Thank you very much Player0, that's just the kind of info I was looking for. I'm not sure of the capabilities or methods of VPNs and just wanted a yay/nay story or two to help contextualize things.

Two static routers definitely sound best. I know Shane said they already have one.