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Need basic understanding of Site to Site VPN

Hi,

We have our network (sbs 2008) configured, with terminal services (member server 2008 R2), we connect to the internet via static ip. We have access to another static IP.
There is a business that has applications running with data that we wish to be able to access.
Is it possible to install these applications on our TS and then use site to site vpn to retrieve the data ?
I just need a very brief and basic overview of how this is done if someone could help.

Im thinking something like this for our side..
1st static > router > sbs network + member servers
2nd static > 2nd router configured for vpn > terminal server member

what considerations do i need to consider ? like i said before, a basic overview of how i could acheive this would be great

Thanks

NetEngineerFox

From what I can gather by your question, when you say "there is a business" I am assuming you mean that the applications you need to access are at the remote site.

Site-to-site VPN can be accomplished in many ways. Essentially you are creating a tunnel between the two locations, over the public IP cloud. Now, you can do this using VPN hardware, microsoft RRAS, and many many other methods.

Let's assume you have the tunnel already established. The two sites would be able to communicate with eachother, as if they had a point-to-point WAN etc. The router doesn't care if it is a tunnel, or a ppp connection, it just knows the route, and will send the traffic.

If the applications are hosted on the remote side, you would need the TS server there. You could configure remote app, or connect directly, it really depends what you are looking to do. Remote app is a really great option. Install the applications on the TS, build the remote app deployment packages using the TS console, and deploy via GPO or manually to the client desktops. The clients then get an icon for the application, and it is completely seamless. The user has no idea they are connecting to a TS if it is set up correctly.

I guess you just have to decide what method to use to create the tunnel between the locations (RRAS, VPN hardware appliance, the firewall, the routers). As long as you have static IPs at both ends, you should be good to go.
site2sitevpn.jpg

lost_in_data

ASKER

Hey , thanks for your reply. Sorry I wasnt more clear bout what I want to connect too. Its a 3rd part company who has data stored on their network which we would want to view, this data is viewed via programmes which they have. So for us to view it we would need to obtain the programmes ourselves and then link to their data.

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NetEngineerFox

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lost_in_data

ASKER

Thanks, that cleared that up in my head, no i can speak to the people who know more about this than I !