IMPLEMENTING A LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN)

BETWEEN REMOTE OFFICES USING VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK (VPN)

What challenges, benefits, cost and security implications there are

Sovello Hildebrand MganiIT Consultant - FUGIT Consult

Tanzaniasovellohpmgani@gmail.com

Outline:

Definitions: LAN, VPN, WAN, etc. Connecting distant-located offices: what options

there are. VPN: Advantages VPN: Options VPN: How it works VPN: Challenges

Definitions

LAN: (Local Area Network): covers a small area. Usually confined to a small building or several building concentrated at one place.

VPN: a private data network that uses existing telecommunication infrastructure.

VPN and Privacy: is achieved through the use of tunneling protocols and security procedures.

WAN: (Wide Area Network): covers a larger geographical area. It was the option for decentralized organizations before.

Connect distant offices

An organization can have offices distributed around a metropolitan.

Before, these offices would connect using leased lines: imagine there being 10+ branches of the same organization.

VPN came out as a solution. Each office needs to have its own internet connection so that VPN can create its tunnel through.

VPN: Advantages

Reduced costs: running costs, only startup costs may be high e.g. buying a server (only if need be)

Scalability: new offices can be added without having to worry about the capacity of the connection line. Only the internet is needed.

Flexibility: allows working from any point in time: at home, along the road, outside the country, etc.

Performance: the data transfer rates depends on the speed of the internet connection to the office.

Compared to the case of a leased line.

VPN: Options

Site-to-Site VPN: Remote Terminal:

VPN: How it works

There needs to be an internet connection. VPN uses existing telecommunications infrastructure.

VPN creates a tunnel through the internet from one office/site to another. The traffic through this tunnel is encrypted to protect any sensitive data.

Each network can connect to the main office’s network and then to the other branch offices.

Requirement: Internet connection, a VPN server for each location, and an IP address to authenticate to.

Picture: Courtesy of TechRepublic.com

VPN: Challenges

Cost: setup costs may be very large, however running costs are reduced to a minimum.

Security: though VPN creates a 'tunnel' in the Internet, it is still possible to be interfered if at all the network access credentials are not kept confidential.