VPN Gateway Appliances &#151 Access Remote Data Like the Big Guys

Last week while installing a system for a new client, I securely accessed my company’s internal network from the customer’s site to make sure that the client’s server was showing up on our monitoring system. Doing so let me demonstrate to the client that we were already actively monitoring his new file server.

Although remote access might seem like magic, I used a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to extend my office network to my laptop using software built into its Windows XP operating system. My customers love the instant assurance that everything’s running smoothly, and being able to access my network remotely makes installations run that much smoother.




Virtual Private Networks
Before delving into how to install a VPN, it helps to have a basic understanding of the technology behind securing remote network access. When you’re using the Internet to send data between systems, the data is broken up into small pieces called packets. Each packet contains information that tells the network routers where to send the data.


A VPN creates an encrypted tunnel through the Internet that connects your computer (using special client software) to another network that has an access point &#151 commonly called a VPN gateway. The beauty of using VPN technology is that from user’s perspective, the security mechanism is completely transparent; it looks as if the computer is inside the company secured network and has access to all the internal network resources, even though the person making the connection is physically elsewhere &#151 possibly thousands of miles away.



VPNs for the Rest of Us


Given the large number of small businesses that would find these appliances attractive, the other major vendors will likely be marketing comparable products shortly. Be warned &#151 there are VPN gateways products on the market designed for home installations. They’re just as easy to install, but they allow only a very limited number of accounts and some of them have very slow access.

Configuring Your System

You need to plug the appliance into your network between your ISP provider’s DSL or Cable modem equipment and your internal network. If you don’t have a router or hub now, this device can serve that purpose. Once you turn on the VPN appliance, you can use any computer on the network to login to a Web page and complete your configuration and add user access accounts.

VPN is a secure technology, but as usual, you need to take basic security measure. When you’re configuring user account access on the VPN gateway system, always change the default settings and never use the default passwords.

You should also to give each person an individual access account. In practice, that means if your partner quits, you don’t have to change the access passwords for the entire office &#151 you just have to turn off the problematic account.


Client-Side Configuration


Adding a VPN appliance to your office network gives you a remote access solution that lets you and your staff to be more productive from anywhere in the world &#151 not a bad return on a few hundred dollars and an hour of your time.



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