What exactly is required to install VPN?

[daytraitors]

Excuse my ignorance, but is DSL or Cable REQUIRED to setup VPN?

I have two offices and am trying to link the data between them. Someone suggested I look into VPN as a solution.

I asked Linksys what to do, and they wanted me to buy all this equipment. I'm not raking in the bucks yet, so I'm trying to avoid investing in 2 VPN routers ($250) and paying for 2 Cable connections; since it's a business, Cox wants me to pay $400 installation and $185/mo plus tax! I couldn't believe it when I heard it. I know there has to be a better solution. This is a lot of money just to exchange a few kilobytes of data between the two offices three times a week.

Can I just configure a VPN server at one office and dial it with a modem at another office or at home? Or, is it necessary to pay the exorbitant fees for broadband?

Do I need broadband at both locations or just one?

HELP! ;P

 

[John Lewis]

What you need in the way of a connection really depends upon what you need to move.

If you are really just moving a few kb three times a week, you may be well servered by a simple dialup networking server at one end. You would dialup to that server when you need to send/received data. It would be possible to setup a VPN over top of this, but not really necessary as you would effectivly have a private network anyway. The VPN would be needed if your data was traversing the public internet.

You didn't say what you were running at your locations, but any recent (and most not so recent) version of Windows will work for a server, as will Linux.

 

[daytraitors]

I'm trying to use XP on all office computers to avoid running multiple OSs. I have eight computers in the main office and four computers in the satellite office. I have a 54g NIC in all computers and a single 54g router in each office. I want to access all of my computers regardless of which office I am in, but if I am limited to connecting to one remote computer at a time b/c I'm using analog modems, I might be able to live with that since I'll be saving $200/mo.

Here's what I have working so far. . .
- two independently working wireless LANs
- AOL dialup
- printer sharing
- one win2k machine that I "upgraded" to XP doesn't seem to give me full control over my permissions, so I can list some directories but not access the files.
- weird modems that won't answer when I call.

I accessed the networking tool in XP and set it up to "accept incoming calls," but the computer didn't pick up when I dialed it. Is the problem b/c of my modem or my config?

I know that one of my Conexant modems will NOT work with ANY software except for AOL under WinME and XP. Is AOL causing a problem? The modem won't be recognize if I install it in other PCs. Weird. Now, it's not even working in the original PC anymore.

What (software) tools do I need to setup the dialup server? What am I doing wrong? Someone recommended PC Anywhere, but if XP already has a dialup server, what good is PC Anywhere?

Thanks

- day

 

[John Lewis]

Hard to tell why you are having problems with the dialup portion, especially with an internal modem. It's really not that hard to get to the point that it will answer, and with some of your other statements, I would begin to suspect modem problems. A modem in the average computer these days never sees an incomming connection, so manufacturers concentrate less on the ability of a modem to handle incomming connections. Add to this the fact that you are using winmodems, then throw AOL in there, this could be a long ride.

First things first, though. Understand that if you do get it working, it is going to be slow. It is possible to link the two networks together with routing, but it will not be of much use. Your original post says 'few kilobytes of data between the two offices three times a week'. Should be fine for that but I wouldn't suggest routing the networks over the connection.

If you do want to continue with the dialup, you should buy an external modem for at least the receiving end. The lights become valuable in diagnosing dialin problems.

Ditch AOL, at least on the dialup server. Tends to take control of the whole dialup networking system. Not good in general, but it will cause some real problems there.

If you want a broader connection between the two networks, broadband is your best bet. The numbers you quoted aren't really that bad. If you currently have extra phone lines for internet access, you could eliminate those. You won't really need to pay AOL anymore either as your cable company becomes your ISP. You have to take those things into account when deciding what the true cost of the cable service is.

I haven't used pcAnywhere in a long time, but the general idea is that you can use it to dial into a remote computer, take control of the desktop and transfer files back and forth. If it works as well as it used to, it would be a good alternative to dialup networking, but you are still going to have to deal with your modem issues.