Creating and Implementing Virtual Private Networks: The All-encompassing Resource for Implementing VPNs - Softcover

Wilson, Casey; Doak, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1576104303 ISBN 13: 9781576104309

Publisher: Coriolis Group, 1999

Synopsis

A guide for network administrators, MIS managers, information technologists, and technicians with experience in networking. Shows how to create and maintain a Virtual Private Network (VPN) that allows companies to send data across the Internet through an encrypted "tunnel." Screenshots and step-by-step examples are used to further explain concepts. Wilson has researched design and installation of data interfaces. Doak is a professor of electronics and computer systems technology at the College of the Mainland in Texas. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

About this title

Review

The time has come, the Walrus said, for virtual private networks (VPNs). Such networks allow the geographically distributed elements of an organization to share files and other resources over what acts like a connection to a local area network (LAN) but is really a secured link across the open (and inexpensive) Internet. The authors of Creating and Implementing Virtual Private Networks understand that VPNs have potentially huge appeal, and they set out to explain the technologies that make them possible. In doing so, they focus on Microsoft's Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) and Novell's BorderManager, since those are the most accessible VPN technologies.

The book works through LANs and wide area networks (WANs) and then explains how VPNs can combine the strong points of each (security and geographic flexibility, respectively) with the cost-effectiveness of the Internet. It discusses emerging VPN standards, including Layer 2 Transport Protocol (L2TP), Layer 2 Forwarding (L2F), and the IP Secure (IPSec) standards that have come from those standards and PPTP. The authors walk you through two solutions to the same organization's VPN needs: one based on Novell NetWare 5 and BorderManager and one that uses Windows NT 4 and PPTP. The direct comparison of the two solutions on the same problem is helpful and should help you decide which scenario (if either) fits your needs. --David Wall

Topics covered: Technologies for implementing virtual private networks (VPNs) in both generic and proprietary terms. The authors emphasize Microsoft's Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) and Novell's BorderManager, but also cover the emerging Layer 2 Transport Protocol (L2TP), Layer 2 Forwarding (L2F), and IP Secure (IPSec) standards. VPN architecture gets attention, as do universal problems like cost-effectiveness and security.

About the Author

Peter Doak (Texas City, TX) has more than 20 years experience in the computer field. He has been a tenured associate professor in electronics and computer systems technology for more than eleven years. At the College of the Mainland in Texas, Doak is administrator for the courses in Electronics Technology, Microcomputer Systems Specialist, and Industrial Instrumentation.

Casey Wilson (Ridgecrest, CA) worked for 37 years as a civil servant with the federal government. Part of his work in infrared technology was designing and installing data interfaces between computers and infrared radiometers. Since becoming a freelance writer, his articles have appeared in national and regional magazines, two of his scripts have been produced for television and he has edited an anthology.

Edition details

• Publisher: Coriolis Group
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1576104303
• ISBN 13: 9781576104309
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 576