Creating a VPN Connection

A VPN connection is a connection that is established using the Internet as the communication infrastructure for the connection, as opposed to a dial-up connection. VPNs allow the Internet to be used as a secure channel for communication with corporate networks.

One of the advantages provided by VPN connections is that they can greatly reduce a company's long distance phone bills while still providing secure remote communications. If the client computer's connection to the Internet is made using a broadband connection, the bandwidth available to the connection can make it many times faster than a dial-up connection. In addition, if a broadband connection is used, the user can remain connected for long periods of time without the worry of being disconnected, as is often the case with dial-in connections.

VPN connections are secured by encrypting data before sending it out over the Internet. The receiving computer on the other end of the connection decrypts the data back into its original format. Microsoft Windows XP Professional supports two different WAN protocols that can be used when creating a VPN connection.

The older protocol is the PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol). PPTP uses PPP-encrypted communications to establish VPN connections. Alternatively, the L2TP (Layer-2 Tunneling Protocol) can be used. By default, this protocol does not encrypt data. However, it can be configured to use IPSec (Internet Protocol Security), which provides stronger security for VPN connections than PPTP.

Creating a Client VPN Connection

Like dial-up connections, a VPN connection is established between two computers. If the VPN server is configured to allow it, the VPN server can provide access to the local area network to which it is attached. The following procedure outlines the steps involved in configuring a VPN client connection.

Click on Start/All Programs/Accessories/Communications and then New Connection Wizard. The New Connection Wizard appears.

1. Click on Next.
2. Select Connect to the Network at My Workplace and click on Next.
3. Select Virtual Private Network Connection and click on Next.
4. Type a descriptive name for the connection and then click on Next.
5. The next screen asks how the Internet connection is to be established. If a broadband connection is to be used, select Do not dial the initial connection. Otherwise, select Automatically dial this initial connection and select the dial-up connection user's ISP from the drop-down list. Click on Next.
6. Type the hostname or IP address of the VPN server and click on Next.
7. The New Connection Wizard displays a summary of the information that it has collected. Click on Finish.

An icon for the VPN client connection is created and placed in the Network Connections folder. By default, Windows XP Professional sets the VPN client connection to automatically detect the type of encryption that is to be used when establishing a VPN connection. The following procedure outlines the steps involved in manually specifying the type of encryption that the VPN connection is to use.

1. Click on Start, right-click on My Network Places, and select Properties to open the Network Connections folder.
2. Right-click on the VPN connection and select properties.
3. Select the Network property sheet.
4. Select one of the following options from the drop-down list in the Type of VPN section.
   • Automatic
   • PPTP VPN
   • L2TP IPSec VPN