VPN over satellite link

[gmail2]

We're about to create a VPN to a remote office which uses satellite for their internet connection. I done a quick search on the forums but couldn't find much. Has anybody ever done this before? I'd like to know how successful it was because of the latency associated with satellite communications. Apparently there are several offices who want VPN's into our head office, all using satellite communication. So this first office will be a test. Would appreciate some feedback, and if anybody has any suggestions then I'd love to hear them

Irish Poetry - Karen O'Connor
Get your Irish Poetry Published
Garten und Landschaftsbau

 

[fs483]

In my experience, it's extremely slow. We have 2 sites (soon to be 3) that have vsat 128k/128k for 2 dozen users. It's extremely slow and pretty expensive. We would prefer using Citrix through VPN or SSL but unfortunately, we share the same bandwidth with 4 VOIP lines and MS Exchange traffic. We have since hired an expert in Satellite communication company to analyze the problem and offer solutions. Throwing more bandwidth may be the solution but the costs involved are pretty high. Are these sites in remote locations without any sort of broadband access ?

 

[gmail2]

thanks for your reply. I don't quiet understand when you say you would prefer use Citrix through VPN or SSL - i'm talking about creating a VPN here !! When you say you've hired a satellite comms company to alanyze the problem, do you mean the fact that it's slow or are you having other problems too? Regardless of how much bandwidth you throw into satellite, there's always going to be a certain amount of latency I guess anyway, so maybe there wouldn't be that much improvement?

As for broadband access at the remote sites - I don't know where they all are, the first one (which we're setting up as a test) is in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. From what I hear, it's a pretty mountainous area. So I doubt there's any DSL there !! However, from the e-mails I've seen so far, it does sound like they have ordinary analog telephone lines. If that's the case, then maybe they should scrap the satellite link and get a few ISDN lines instead. Then we could configure DDR instead. But maybe I'm wrong, maybe they use satellite for their phone lines too.

Irish Poetry - Karen O'Connor
Get your Irish Poetry Published
Garten und Landschaftsbau

 

[reissmann]

Our experience with bi-directional satellite and VPN has been the same...there just seems to be too much chatter and handshakes, possibly due to the 700+ ms latency of satellite connections(?). An SSL or remote control solution proved to work best over satellite.

 

[gmail2]

>> An SSL or remote control solution proved to work best over satellite

Thanks for the feedback reissmann. what do you mean exactly by remote control solution?

Irish Poetry - Karen O'Connor
Get your Irish Poetry Published
Garten und Landschaftsbau

 

[reissmann]

<what do you mean exactly by remote control solution? >

Either remote controlling a desktop that desides on the corporate network (VNC,...), or remote controlling a session that is local to the network (Citrix, Windows remote desktop,...).

 

[gmail2]

ah ... I had a feeling that's what you meant. Unfortunately that wouldn't work in this case, the VPN is for users to acces e-mail, intranet etc. All of which are on private network.

Irish Poetry - Karen O'Connor
Get your Irish Poetry Published
Garten und Landschaftsbau

 

[cltone]

There is an IPSEC vpn alternative for citris via satellite. It is at

http://www.endiiend.com.

They claim to allow enterprise applications like Citrix to run at full service speed via satellite, and have some pretty ringing endorsements.

 

[gmail2]

thanks for the reply but I'm a bit confused ... everybody keeps referring to citrix, which I'm not very familiar with but isn't it basically like windows remote desktop? It wouldn't really help in my case would it? Seing that this is mainly for e-mail and intranet access.

Irish Poetry - Karen O'Connor
Get your Irish Poetry Published
Garten und Landschaftsbau

 

[cltone]

Sorry, I misread the string. I thought that you were interested in running Citrix over satellite.

The company that I mentioned uses an optimization technology to overcome some of the issues that come up with running chatty applications in a VPN environment over satellite. If you are not satisfied with the user experience over satellite for your e-mail and intranet, it would likely help as well especially if it is Lotus Notes or Microsoft Exchange.

 

[Donkey1]

gmail2,

We have had a satellite VPN link running at a remote location for about 2 years now for access to the kinds of things you want.

When we first installed it we used an RDP connection and were quite disappointed with the results because of the latency. However, once we installed citrix metaframe on our TS the results were much better. Citrix has settings for caching mouse clicks etc and the performance was greatly improved - no noticable delay.

The users currently use an MS access database across the link without any problems. The can also use our intranet and have access to Outlook.

As I said though, investing in a Citrix server might be the best way forward via satellite unless you want your users constantly complaining about delays. See if you can get a trial version of citrix to install on your TS to test it first.

Regards, Andy.

 

[fs483]

As Donkey1 was saying regarding Citrix better performance, that's why I mentionned citrix. Sorry for the confusion. We hired a company to analyze if the physical equipment and technology used is appropriate. This equipment has been in service for 3 to 4 years and a lot of new technology has emerged since. It's extremely difficult getting the exact info from our current supplier. The reseller is in Norway, the provider is in Maroc, the sites are in Niger and Guinea, we (HQ) are in Quebec. We were getting different/conflicting/no info for anyone so we hired a company to locate the slowness. Putting more bandwidth would surely help but it's pretty expensive.

You didn't mention how many users in remote offices ? What's their Internet needs (a lot of browsing, exchange, ftp, application)...

 

[rotero]

review this:

http://www.sonet.at/dsdsl-vpn/dsdsl-vpn.htm

It explains very well why traditional VPN solutions are so slow over satellite links.
Our experience: Citrix works very well, but we have also tested NetScreen and Encore Networks VPN routers with great success.