Jon, I'm quite knew to this too, so perhaps someone will correct me if this is wrong. As far as I understand it, a virtual network is where network devices on seperate physical lans behave as though they were all on the one LAN. This means that if, as we do, you have a number of sites, certain devices on your network can behave as though they are all on a single LAN, when in fact they are seperated by numerous leased lines, routers, firewalls etc. Why bother? Well, in our case, we need to have our servers at various sites behave as though they are all directly connected, with no NAT, filters, or anything else between them. We have two cards in each server - one on the "Local" LAN, and the other connected to the VLAN. The VLAN connections of the servers go to a seperate card in the GNAT Box (although you don't need to do this - it's only an additional security measure). The lines connecting the GNAT boxes are regarded as insecure, however it doesn't matter - the servers think that the only things existing on their VLAN network are other servers. They are totally unaware of all of the other hops which their traffic goes through.
We also have Switches with VLAN technology, which means we can use Switch Stacks to run discreet networks within our premises - any port on any switch on any stack can be assigned to any VLAN, rather than having to have seperate Switches for each LAN. You can use VLANs to connect devices across the Internet - a VLAN client on your computer encrypts your data, and passes it through the internet to another VLAN device, for example a server, or GNAT box. Again, your PC thinks it is on the same LAN as the remote device, is unaware of the inbetween steps, and most importantly, is secured from any other equipment which may pick up data packets on the way across the Internet. You could have a PC in London transparenetly behaving as though it was physically connected to a LAN in Edinburgh, using the Internet as a connector. Hope this helps a bit! Brian Adams > -----Original Message----- > From: Jon Schlegel [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: 11 October 2001 19:04 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Virtual Networks > > --------------------- Attention ----------------------------- > A digest version of this list is now available. > Send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED], with the following message: > subscribe gb-users-digest your_email_address > Then unsubscribe from this list. > ------------------------------------------------------------- > GNAT Box User Forum http://www.gnatbox.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi > Send postings to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Access the list archives at: http://www.gnatbox.com/gb-users/ > ------------------------------------------------------------- > Hello Everyone, > > I find the term "Virtual Network" pop up in the GB 3.2.0 manual a number > of > times mainly in the VPN sections. The concept is new to me. Can someone > explain Virtual Networks and how they relate to GNAT Box perhaps not just > in regard to VPN configurations but also in more general configurations if > > indeed that does apply? > > > Jon Schlegel > > ---------------------------------------------- > To Unsubscribe: send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with "unsubscribe gb-users your_email_address > in the body of the message
