Remote Connectivity

Because of the expansion of networks in the world today, user demands for connectivity are increasing dramatically. Users require the ability to connect to network resources from remote locations, at home, and across the Internet. This tutorial will introduce you to a number of methods to allow remote users to connect to the network.

As companies expanded and joined an increasingly global market, the need to interconnect offices became crucial to business operations. The Internet is now based on this concept: making information accessible to anyone in the world, from any location. To enable remote installations to communicate with each other and to provide redundancy in case of war, the first truly remote network. As ARPANET began its transformation into what is now known as the Internet, universities began using it to interconnect and share information and resources. Now, a large portion of the world population uses the Internet for information exchange and research.

Today, companies use networks to interconnect remote sites. They also provide dial-up access to their users to enable them to connect from home or from hotels while on the road. This increased connectivity helps increase productivity and allows the use of additional communication channels. Many technologies we take for granted today implement these concepts. For example, telephone systems use complex networks to enable us to call almost anyone in the world. E-mail is used to send messages and files through the Internet to reach anyone who has access to these services. As with any technology that we come to depend on, remote connectivity has become a part of our everyday lives.

Companies also use features such as Terminal Services or Remote Desktop to connect to systems over a TCP/IP connection and remotely manage those systems or run applications from a particular system. Terminal Services has become a core network service that is required by most organizations and is discussed in this tutorial.