VPN Between 2 offices

[SJamG]

Hi There,

We have a network at our office at the moment, running 2003 standard, and have 6 clients and have a Netgear Router (I know, not the best, but it works). At the moment I have an icoming connection on the 2003 server managing the VPN for the users when they VPN in from home. - All working great.

What we would like to do is connect our new office to the office #1.

Looking for a very simple solution, can i have a VPN server at the new office connecting to another 'incoming connections on the 2003 server in office #1?

Suggestions & help would be fab.

Thanks

SJG

 

[PainOfDeath]

Yes you could probably pull that off but it's a bit of a headache - my suggestion is to put two VPN-capable routers at both offices (one would replace your Netgear, unless that one is VPN-capable in which case you could keep it) and use those to do your branch office tunneling. Continue to use 2003 for your remote users if that is working for you. You could certainly use 2003 server on both sites and have them form a tunnel, but you will end up having to bypass firewalls etc. and I don't believe 2003 server supports IPSec tunneling. Go with a hardware VPN solution and save yourself a ton of hassle.

 

[SJamG]

What kind of routers would you suggest?

 

[burtsbees]

Myself, I would go with the Cisco ASA 5500 series, like a 5505.

Burt

 

[PainOfDeath]

Lots of vendors have suitable solutions - Sonicwall, Cisco, Nortel make the higher-end stuff. Netgear offers more affordable VPN solutions. Depends on your needs (how many users, are there existing firewalls you can use, etc.) as well as your budget.