There is a need to access data at a branch office and in turn the other branch office is requiring access to a SQL DB. There has been some talk about possibly introducing a VPN or using our current TS. Questions regarding security are my concern. I want to make sure that we use the most secure option, while knowing the pro and cons of each solution.
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If you're talking about slowing down the local network then it should not. If you're going to VPN in and then access the SQL DB directly, then of course this will eat up some of your Internet bandwidth. If you're going to VPN in and then connect to your TS server before your SQL DB, then this won't be much of an issue.
Windows Ipsec isn't easy to use as a 3rd party is. A VPN will allow ALL traffic to be encyted between two points... TerminalServices/Remotedes
Everything, except the username, in a TS/Remotedesktop session is encrypted. After authentication, each and every packet is encrypted with RC4 stream cipher, a decent cipher. But right at first, the user name for TS/RD is plain-text.
VPN can be very fast depending on the cipher it uses, DES is very fast, not that secure by todays standards, but even the average hacker wouldn't know what to do with such a tunnel. Most VPN's will use 3DES, SHA-1, RSA, RC4/5, BlowFish or AES
Win2k/Xp/2003 native IPsec protocol supports DES and 3DES ... each one of those can use SHA1 and MD5 to check integrity
http://www.microsoft.com/t
http://technet2.microsoft.
RD/TS:
Pro
Encrypt "remote control" traffic, video, keyboard, mouse traffic are all encrypted from terminal server to client pc and vice versa
Con:
Can't encrypt SQL traffic between host
VPN:
Pro
Encrypts all traffic between two points and or host's
Con:
Added overhead to PC's connecting to one another.
Recommend VPN offload
Using firewall or router to offload any added overhead, pc/servers have no added overhead
-rich
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: leewPosted on 2006-10-01 at 15:56:47ID: 17639985
The most secure option will be to use a VPN to connect, then likely a Remote Desktop connection