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Need Basic VNP Help

Greetings,

I know next to nothing about VPN, but I guess I'm gonna learn soon cuz one of our clients wants it in order to ftp data back and forth. I've done some reading and I have the gist of VPN but....

The client is asking what our VPN hardware is and what the external IP is etc. He says he's running checkpoint evironment. Do both ends of the VPN need hardware or routers? I thought I could just configure a VPN connection on my XP to his office. If he is the VPN server why would he be asking these questions. I've got to email him back and don't want to sound like a dummy.

Hitherto, clients had just been ftp'g data to server space we've rented on the internet. Then all of our employees ( all 5 of us ), could download the pieces we needed. This worked fine as most of us work at home. Can the company renting the server space setup a VPN for us that we ( my company and our clients) can all access.

Oh yeah, one last thing. Do I need a static IP to connect to his VPN.

Thanks,

Jim

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Rob Williams

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Jim Singelis

ASKER

Thanks,

You pretty much answered all of my questions. If the client insists on a site-to-site connection and we have to invest in a VPN router can you give me any kind of ball park as to what the cost might be. (remember we're a small office - 4 or 5 concurrent users would be a lot).

I kind of get the feeling that the installation is something I shouldn't attempt myself; am I correct in assuming that someone who knows what they're doing could set it up in one day?

Thanks again,

Jim

oh yeah - one last thing. The office currently uses DSL. Is that going to be a problem?

Rob Williams

If you have multiple concurrent users in one location, you will want to to use the hardware solution rather than a software client. You can purchase a VPN router for well under $200 US. The low end unit I like is the Linksys RV042 which is just over $200. However, you may be limited by the unit the main office is using. There is no question the best and easiest solution is to use a matching brand, but in many cases it is possible to get 2 different manufacturers products to talk to one another. If they are using Checkpoint you are probably looking at about $350 for an entry level unit with appropriate licensing for 5-6 users, but that is just an educated guess.
If someone else has configured the existing unit, you will pretty well have to have them configure the remote one, or at least have some assistance as you will not know the exact configuration, pass phrases, and access to certificates, if they use them.

As for your DSL, that is no problem. Two notes though; if it is a PPPoE connection, make sure "keep alive" is enabled, not a bad idea anyway, and if your modem is a combined modem and router, it should be put in Bridge mode rather than NAT. This allows all traffic to be passed through to the router which then establishes the connection. The mode is not a concern with basic modems, as all traffic is passed through by default.

--Rob
ps, thanks for the points.