Time Frame

[Cogen]

I don't have any experience with VPN's, however I have a client that would like me to give him some quotes regarding VPN's. If possible, could someone give me a estimate on how long it would take someone with no experience on VPN's to do the following ...

1)Require VPN set-up and working
2)VPN for 100% image of server at an offsite computer (Do we require additional software?)

... It's a small company that probably has 5-10 internal client lan computers, and one or two servers.

 

[John Lewis]

Not a lot to work with here . . .

What OS are you dealing with (both sides)? Do you have a choice here, or are the computers existing?

What kind of connection are you dealing with?

What level of security is required?

I get the idea that you are setting this up to backup the server to an off-site computer?

 

[Cogen]

Thank you very much for the reply mhkwood.

Unfortunately I don't have a choice. They would like me to upgrade their existing internal server to NT Server 2000, and would like an off-site backup computer to be running NT Server as well.

I'm not that great with networking, so I'm not sure what kind of connections are possible, but I presume this would run over the regular internet.

I havn't talked to them regarding security, however I assume they would like a fairly secure settup, since it's an engineering company.

I havn't read too much material on VPN's yet (I will today), because most of my experience has come from straight programming, and I'm trying to figure out if I'm out of my league accepting a contract like this (before getting into all the technical aspects). Hopefully it's not too difficult, because I would like to broaden my knowledge.

Brad

 

[John Lewis]

The actual VPN configuration is not really all that difficult, and you really have the ideal situation to start with, at least as ideal as you can have in a Windows environment.

The endpoints will need to be configured on both sides with the RRAS wizard. Once you get started, it asks the questions, you fill in the blanks. To get an idea, take a look at

http://www.onecomputerguy.com/w2k/w2k_vpn/w2k_vpn.htm

. Looks like you don't need to route to a remote network, which removes one difficulty. Also sounds like you will only have to deal with one client which you will have full control over. If you were trying to setup for multiple users to connect from their homes or the road, it would become more complicated due to the variety of client configurations possible and the general ability of client users to really mess things up.

You will have to configure the internet connection for the off-site machine. You will also need to make sure that your ISP allows the necessary protocols to traverse the network, usually not a problem with commercial service. Any existing routers or firewalls will need to be able to pass/forward the protocols as well.

If I were to do this -- going on a limb here -- I would figure two hours for the VPN server configuration and two hours for the client configuration. If you go with PPTP, you should come in well under that, even for a first try. If you need to go to IPSEC, I would probably pad it a bit more, just to cover.

The internet connection would require additional time, and I would do that only at an hourly rate because to a large degree you are at the mercy of the ISP. Good ISP with an easy installation could be done in 1/2 hour, bad one could go on for days. If you have to establish a new connection at the existing site, may be further complicated if they need you to set up NAT so they can have internet access from other computers on the LAN. If internet service is existing there, you will have a firewall and/or a router to configure. Too many variables to say how long that whole process could take.

If you have to setup the new box, you will need to add for that. Time involved there will depend entirely upon the configuration.

Not sure about the ghosting across the VPN, either. Never tried. I have several sites that backup across the network, but it is a traditional backup and not a full runnable image of the server. I get the idea that is what you really want here. You might ask in forum96 (W2K server). Someone there may have a better idea.