iPad and iPhone Users Remote Access to the Network

Users have been accessing your network from the inside by connecting to a wireless network router within the network. But to get full value out of the iPads and iPhones, you may also need to let some users access the network from outside via virtual private networking (VPN). By using VPN, you can establish a secure tunnel through an insecure public network (usually the Internet), connecting the users securely to your company's network.

This tutorial shows you how to connect the iPad and iPhone to your network via VPN. To create the virtual private network (also abbreviated to VPN) connection on the iPad or iPhone, you can either install a configuration profile containing a VPN payload with the correct settings, or set them up on the device manually.

In many cases, you can snap the iPad and iPhone straight into your existing VPN by giving them the right settings. In other cases, you may need to adapt the VPN's setup to suit the iPad's and iPhone's needs. We'll start by looking briefly at these needs, move on to the details of setting up the connection, and then go through several essential troubleshooting moves for VPN connections. We'll also touch upon how to take remote control of computers on the network using the iPad or iPhone.