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Thursday, July 7, 2011

How to Configure a VPN

Virtual Private Networks (VPN) allow users working at home, on the road or at a branch office to connect in a secure manner to a remote corporate server using the public Internet. VPN server or host is a computer that accepts VPN connections from VPN clients. A VPN server or host can be a NT/W2K server or W2K/XP Pro. VPN client is a computer that initiates a VPN connection to a VPN server or host. A VPN client can be an individual computer running MS Windows NT version 4.0, Windows 2000, 9x. VPN clients can also be any non-Microsoft Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) client or Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) client using IPSec.

Steps

(1).Basic VPN Requirement

  • User Permission. Enable a user to access the VPN. To do this, go to AD Users and Computers, select the user who need to access the VPN, click Dial-in. Check Allow access on the Remote Access Permission (Dial-in or VPN).
  • IP Configuration. The VPN server should have a static IP address and assign the arrange IP addresses to VPN clients. The VPN server must also be configured with DNS and WINS server addresses to assign to the VPN client during the connection.
  • Data Encryption. Data carried on the public network should be rendered unreadable to unauthorized clients on the network.
  • Protocol Support. The TCP/IP is common protocols used in the public network. The VPN also include IP, Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX), NetBEUI and so on.
  • Firewall Ports. When you place a VPN server behind your firewall, be sure to enable IP protocol 47 (GRE) and TCP port 1723.
  • Interface(s) for VPN server. If your network doesn't have a router or the VPN is also a gateway, your computer must have at least two interfaces, one connecting to the Internet and another connecting to the LAN. If it is behind a router, you just need one NIC.
  • One interface for VPN client. The interface can be a dial-in modem, or a dedicated connection to the Internet.

(2).Configuring VPN in Windows XP Professional

  • For configuring the VPN connection, you need to have a static IP address of the remote computer of your company and the host name. You can configure the VPN connection in Windows XP Professional by the following method.
  • Click Start > Control Panel > Click Network and Internet connection > Click Network Connections.
  • Here you need to create new connection and click next.
  • Here click Connect to network at my work place click next.
  • Click Virtual Private Network and click next.
  • Here type the meaningful name for your company or any other network connection and click next.
  • Here click Do not dial the initial connection and click next.
  • Here type the hostname and the IP address of the computer to which you want to connect.
  • Press next and then press finish.
  • (3).Installing VPN in Windows 2000 Professional

    • Make sure that you are connected to the internet and you are also connected to the LAN.
    • Start > Administrative Tools > Routing and Remote Access.
    • Click the server name in the tree and on the action menu click Configure and Enable Routing and Remote Access and click next.
    • Click Virtual Private Network (VPN Server) in the common configurations and click next.
    • In the remote client protocols, make sure that the TCP/IP is included in the list. Click yes to all available protocols and click next.
    • Select the Internet connection that will connect to the internet in the internet connection box and click next.
    • Select the Internet connection that will connect to the internet in the internet connection box and click next.
    • In the Managing Multiple Remote Access Server select this option No, I dont want to setup this server to use Radius Server Now. Click Next > Click Finish.
    • Now right click on the Ports node and click properties now click WAN mini port (PPTP) and then click configure.
    • Type the maximum number of the allowed simultaneous PPTP VPN connections to this server.

    (4).Configuring VPN Server in Windows 2000

    • You can configure the VPN server further by the following methods.
    • Start > Admin Tools > Routing and Remote Access.
    • Right click the server name and then properties.
    • Select Enable this computer as a router on the general tab.
    • Here you have the choice to select Local Area Routing or LAN or Demand Dial Routing click ok and close all the dialog boxes.

    (5).Configuring VPN Connection in the Client Computer

    • Start > Settings > Network and dialup connection.
    • Make new connection.
    • Click next and then click connect to a private network through Internet.
    • Click Automatically Dial this initial connection and select your dial up internet connection from the list.
    • If you use cable modem then select Do not dial this initial connection.
    • Click next.
    • Here type the host name and the IP address of the remote computer to which you want to connect.
    • Type the descriptive name of the connection and click next.

    Tips

    • If your VPN client cannot find servers or cannot ping computernmae, you may need to add DNS and WINS into your VPN server. For example, to add DNS and WINS on a Cisco Firewall PIX, add vpdn group 1 client configuation dns dnsservername and vpdn group 1 client configuration wins winsservername.
    • If you have Windows 2003 server as VPN server, you can assign a static IP under user's properties. If you use other Windows OS as VPN server, you may want to create a DHCP reservation.
    • If you are running w2k/xp pro setup for a domain controller, you will have a option to "log on using dial-up connection" on logon screen after creating a VPN/dial-up connection. In the Log On to Windows dialog box, the user can select the Log on using dial-up connection check box. After clicking OK, the user is prompted to choose a network connection.

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