I have read a number of VPN connection questions here, but must admit I am still a bit confused. Our setup is as follows: We have a Sonicwall 2040 firewall at our main office. I have 5 remote locations, 3 with T1 internet connections and 2 with DSL connections. Main office uses the ip addresses 192.168.2.xxx with a subnet of 255.255.255.0.
What I am thinking that I want to do is have persistent VPN tunnel between the branch offices and our main offices. Take for example one of our remote, DSL locations and call it location A. If I am a user sitting at location A and I want to connect to the Terminal Server at our Main location (call it MAIN) can I do so over the VPN as opposed to the public intranet? The key is I am trying to make the VPN operation seamless to the end users. I do not want them to have to start a VPN client on their local machine if I can avoid it.
1) Is there a appliance (maybe the Sonicwall TZ170 or TZ190) that can look at where a user is trying to go and route the packet appropriately?
2) For example if user at Location A clicks on an icon on their desktop to RDP into the terminal server at MAIN, the firewall says "Ahh, this is a listed IP address/route, I will use the VPN tunnel for this connection"
3) However if user at location A then minimizes that window and wants to go to Yahoo or some other website, then the firewall says "I don't recognize that address, just send it out over the router to the internet."
4) Is what I am describing called "Split Tunnelling?"
5) Can the appliance act as the DHCP server for that site?
6) If the main location is using 192.168.2.xxx with a subnet of 255.255.255.0.
would a range of 192.168.3.xxx with a subnet of 255.255.255.0 work for location A or do they have to be in the same subnet?
7) Am I forgetting anything in this discussion?
Thanks and please forgive any really silly points, I am truly not very experienced with setting these connections up.
Start Free Trial
