What is Virtual Private Network

VPN (Virtual Private Network)

Learn how to setup vpn, step by step instructions, how virtual private network works, windows configurations, and hardware and software requirement in the virtual private network. A virtual private network is a private network that uses public network (Internet) and maintains privacy and security procedures through encryption and other security procedure. VPN’s provides an alternative dedicated private network connection for the offices and companies.

Many businesses around the world are using VPN to connect their office servers from other locations such as home etc. Virtual Private Nework uses PPTP (Point to Point Tunneling Protocol to allow Windows and Mac users to connect to the PowerElf servers from the other locations.


PPPT provides a secure 128bit encrypted connection from the local computer to the VPN server. In VPN, not only the data is encrypted but the source and destination network address is also encrypted.
VPN uses internet as a medium to connect to the remote networks and sites and allows virtual connections.

Virtual Private Nework is an alternative method to connecting the office network or a LAN. Internet is a public domain and anyone with a computer, a phone line, modem and internet service can access it.

VPN uses a set of the security methods, such as encryption, passwords, firewalls and other security procedures. VPN may be composed of a number of servers and sites.

The most common Virtual Private Nework is a remote-access VPN, which creates a secure tunnel from your computer and your company’s server.

In some cases you don’t even need to have internet access but you only need a computer, telephone line, modem and software, which network administrator might have installed on your computer or you will be provided with the instructions that how to configure PPTP.

After successfully configuring the PPTP, you will be able to dial the company’s server and access it by creating a VPN. In Virtual Private Nework, remote computers act as they are in the same and secure local network.
There are a number of advantages and disadvantages of the VPN connections.


Advantages

• It allows and makes you able to connect and access your company’s computer, while you are at your home or other remote location. This is the same way as you access your company’s computers in your office.
• It is almost impossible for someone to interfere or intrude in your VPN network tunnel
• You can even connect to your company’s network from all over the world if you have installed and configured VPN client software on your laptop.

Disadvantages

The setup of the Virtual Private Nework connections is comparatively more complicated than the normal network connections. VPN can work around the network products of different companies but connecting to a non-NETGEAR product will add some difficulty.

You will have to follow the company’s own policies and procedures while connecting to its network through VPN. VPN goes between a computer and network or a local LAN and a remote network using routers. Each end of the connection is an VPN endpoint. The connection between the two VPN networks is called VPN tunnel.

All NETGEAR router supports VPN pass through. Pass through means that a router does not stop VPN traffic. The purpose of VPN is to prevent the data between two computers or networks being altered.
The whole purpose of VPN is to prevent data being altered, so, for example, a pass through router that is also running NAT will break the VPN connection.

VPN Essentials

For setting up the Virtual Private Nework connection you need the basic equipment and the VPN account from your Internet Service Provider. The latest operating systems like Windows 2000, Windows 2003 server or professional does not require the separate VPN client software. But if you have old operating systems like Windows 95/98, you will require additional software for VPN.


Hardware

• PC with the processor speed of more than 300 MHZ.
• RAM: 128MB although 64 MB is the minimum support but it may limits many features and of VPN.
• 1.5 GB available disk space.
• A dial up, cable modem, ISDN or any type of modem is required. The modems with more speed and good for faster transfer of data.

Software
Any Virtual Private Nework client software.

Internet Account

You will require a VPN account with your ISP with a password and dedicated IP address for the security connection and encryption purposes.


Virtual Private Nework Accessories

An increasing number of businesses are opting for the VPN solutions. Different vendors are adding the different functionalities in the hardware and software such as encryptors in the hardware. Some are adding security and firewall related capabilities both in software and hardware.

Virtual Private Nework Working

There are many aspects of the working of the VPN and it depends on the software, hardware and the architecture of the VPN connection. Each VPN connection type has it own features with respect to security, scalability and quality of service. There are 2 main types of the VPN connections such as individual computer to LAN and LAN to LAN connections.

The purposes of the protocol involves in VPN are as follows. • The encryption of data at the sending end.

• Creation of a tunnel where data in the form of packets is encapsulated in the form of TCP/IPnetwork.
• The decryption of the data at the receiving end.
• Other security measures included password security, firewall and the encryption of the host and remote computers or networks IP address.

Introduction to Home Computer Networking-Basic Setup

Here you will get the basic Introduction Home Computer Networking-Basic Setup, wireless access point, lan troubleshooting, lan connectivity, dsl modem, gateway device, vpn and wi-fi. Computer Networks exists for more than 30 years and only recently they have become more popular at home both in forms of wired and wireless networking. Now many computer literate people from all over the world wish to have a computer network at home. There are many advantages and usage of a network, which we have described in the other sections of this website. 

Millions of people have adopted the home network and now they are looking for the more advanced technology in the home networking and that is “wireless home networking”.

We will discuss the various basic and advance aspects of the home networking considering that no prior knowledge of the network technology. We will briefly explain the setup, troubleshooting, installation, network devices used and other aspects of the home networking. 

Today in the age of Information technology, it’s not difficult for someone to have more than one PCat home.

If I apply this situation to you (that you have more than one computer at your home) then most probably you would wish to have access on the data and resources like, hard disk, printer, modem of the other PC and you can even access the broadband Internet like DSL or cable modem and you can also play a multi-player network game. All this is possible by just connecting and configuring the two computers at your home. There are several ways to do the home networking but all it depends on budget, security needs and nature of your work.

Your cable/DSL modem plugs straight into the computer. The computer is exposed to the public Internet (indicated by the color red). There is no connection for more than one computer. You only have one IP address from your ISP. 

If you have a broadband Internet connection at your home like DSL or cable net then you can share your internet connection with more than one PC at your home by installing the network card in each PC and configuring the hub/switch or a router.

If you have two PCs at your home and you want to share your internet connection with the other computer then you can simply share the internet connection by following these steps.

1. Connect two PCs with CAT5 cable and make it a cross over cable.
2. After connecting both the PCs, assign a different IP addresses by going in the properties of the LAN card like 100.100.100.1 and 100.100.100.2 or you can assign any other IP address. (Please note that these IP addresses that you use for your home networking are the private IP addresses and they have nothing to do with the IP address that are used on the internet (public IP addresses).
3. After assigning the IP addresses install software on the computer one, which will be used for sharing the Internet connection and this will be called proxy software (and your computer one will act as a Proxy Server). The more common proxy software is Wingate, Win Proxy and Internet connection sharing (ICS). ICS is by default installed in Windows operating systems and can be configured separately.

Internet access by using a hardware router/gateway/firewall device

In this situation, you have to install a hardware router, which will be act as a gateway. Your router will be connected with the public IP address, which will be assigned to your by your ISP and hub/switch will be attached to the router. All the other PCs in your home or small network will be directly attached to that hub or switch.

How to setup the Gateway Device

Gateway device – There are different gateway devices available from different companies like

dlink.com, linksys.com, netgear.com and Cisco systems. Each device has difference setup configurations but the basic purpose of all these devices is the same. 

The Gateways have a number of common features and functions such as NAT (Network Address Translation) that translate your public IP address into the private IP address on your network, DHCP server, PPP. Before buying any gateway device, make sure gateway device must have all these features.

Some advance gateways have the following features.

• wireless access point
• VPN
• print server
• DMZ (make one PC available to the Internet but still protect it through the firewall
• multi-port
• Content filtering

Most advance gateways comes with integrated hubs or switches and if your gateway don’t have the functionality of a hub/switch then you will have to buy a hub/switch for your home network. Before buying a hub/switch you should consider the two main things 1. it should support dual peed i.e 10mbps and 100mbps and 2. it should have maximum available ports. 

Cat5 cable – For setting up a home network, you will need a several pieces of the CAT5 Ethernet cables. These cables can be used in the different scenarios like for connecting the two PCs (if you have a two computer network) and if you have more than two computers then each computer will be directly connected with the hub/switch or gateway device. The most commonly used cable for computer networking is Cat5 cable. 

Once you have all the required things like cables, hub/switch, LAN cards etc. then install a network card in each PC. You must make sure that each card is properly installed and is not showing any signs of conflict with the other network devices.

How to connect two computers wirelessly

In some recent years, wireless networking solutions have became very popular. There are several wireless technologies exists to support the wireless networking. 

These technologies include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and infrared. Wi-Fi connections can reach at a greater distance than the other wireless solutions that are mentioned above. Many new PCs and Laptops now have the built-in capability of the Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi can be used with or without network fixture. In the two computers Wi-Fi networking minus a fixture also called ad-hoc Wi-Fi.

Bluetooth technology supports high speed wireless connectivity and communication between the two computers without the need of a network fixture. Bluetooth is commonly used when networking a computer with the consumer’s cell phone or handheld device. Bluetooth works well if both the devices are in the same room or location. While networking among the handheld devices consider the Bluetooth technology solution. 

Infrared networking exists before the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth technologies on the Laptops. Infrared wireless connections only work between two computers and do not require a fixture. Infrared networking is relatively fast so consider using it if your computer supports it and you don’t have the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth features in your computer.

Introduction to the Network Communication Devices

In this tutorial you will learn get the basic introduction to network devices such as nic adapters, routers, hubs, switches, modems, communication cables, lan/wan routers, gateway and other devices. A network is consists of a larger number of the communication devices. The simplest device that is used in the communication is the NIC adapter which is attached with the every computer in a network. If you want to build a LAN, you will need to have computers, hubs, switches, network adapters, UTP/STP cables, routers, internal/external modems, connectors, cable testers and clipping tool.  

On the other hand if you need to build WAN, you will need to have routers, switches, dedicated or leased telephone lines such as ISDN lines, frame relay connection and other types of wan communication connections. 

There are different communication mediums such as Ethernet cables, copper wire, coaxial cable, fiber optic cables, leased telephone lines and ever air is also a communication medium for the satellite communication. The most common networking medium is the LAN is the Ethernet cable (UTP/STP), which is used in the star topology. Hub is a central device of a network and every computer in a network is directly connected with the hub.

If the hub fails to work, the communication between the computers stops till the hub again starts working. Hub broadcasts the data to its every port, and then finding the destined computer, the data sent toward it. The switch is an advance form of the hub similar in functions but the advanced switches has a switching table in them. A advanced switch stores the MAC address of every attached computer and the data is only sent to the destined computer, unlike the hubs where data is sent to all ports. A router is a key device in the internet communication and wan communication system. A router has software called routing table and the source and destination addresses are stored in the routing table.

A router connects two logically and physically different networks. Router finds the IP address of the next hop (next router) and the data is sent toward it and so on. The well known routers developing companies are Cisco systems, Nortel, DLink and others. Every ISP, banks, corporate offices and multinational companies use routers for LAN and WAN communications and communication in their private networks. A gateway can be device or software in a network.

A gateway device connects the LAN with the internet. A gateway is directly exposed to the internet so it should be securely configured and in and out traffic should be monitored. If you are using DSL connection, you must need a DSL modem in your network. The telephone line is connected with the DSL modem and UTP/STP cable attaches your computer with the DSL modem. Modems are the devices that are used to modulate and demodulate the data. They convert analogue signals to digital and digital signals to analogue so that signals can travel on the telephone lines.

There are certain types of the cables that are used to connect two or more computers in a network. Fiber optic cable acts as a backbone between the ISPs and corporate offices. Data travels at the speed of light on the fiber optic cables. The cost and the installation cost of the fiber optic cable is very high but it is becoming very popular in the home networking and LANs also. In the local area networking, 10baseT/CAT5 cable is most commonly in use.

A server is a computer in network that provides services to the client computers such as logon requests processing, files access and storage, internet access, printing access and many other types of services. Servers are mostly equipped with extra hardware such as plenty of external memory (RAM), more data store capacity (hard disks), high processing speed and other features.