Starting a VPN Connection

To initiate a VPN connection over the Internet, the user must first connect to the Internet. If the user has a broadband connection, the VPN session can be immediately started. If the user has a dial-up Internet connection, the connection must be started before the VPN connection can be established.

The following procedure outlines the steps involved in connecting to a VPN server over the Internet.

1. Click on Start, right-click on My Network Places, and select Properties to open the Network Connections folder.
2. Double-click on the VPN connection icon.
3. For broadband connections, the VPN client is prompted to enter a username and password.
   Supply the required information and click on Next.
4. For dial-up connections, the VPN client is prompted to enter a username and password only if the computer already has an active Internet connection. Otherwise, the user is prompted to first start an Internet connection. Click on Yes to start the Internet connection. Once the Internet connection is established, the VPN client asks for the username and password.

As with dial-up connections, once the connection is established, the user is able to access resources on the VPN server and on the network to which the VPN server is connected.

Setting Up a Windows XP Professional VPN Server

In addition to providing a client VPN connection to a VNP server, Windows XP Professional has the ability to act as a VPN server that can support a single incoming VPN connection. While not generally appropriate for the corporate settings, this capability may be of interest to smaller companies or home networks.

Note Windows XP Professional can only support a single incoming connection. If a dial-up connection has already been set up on the computer, the connection must also be used to double as a VPN connection.

The following procedure outlines the steps involved in setting up Windows XP Professional to act as a VPN server using an existing incoming connection.

1. Click on Start, right-click on My Network Places, and select Properties to open the Network Connections folder.
2. Right-click on the Incoming Connection and select Properties. The Incoming Connections Properties dialog appears.
3. Select the Allow others to make private connections to my computer by tunneling through the Internet or other network option in the Virtual private network section.
4. Click on OK.