I understand that VPN tunnels are a form of PKI encryption that
encapsulates packets between two computers so that they can communicate
more securely over an untrusted network (i.e. the internet). What I don't
know is how to set one up. I've got a mostly Windows 2000 network with a
little Mandrake linux I'm working in as I figure things out. I have two
main desires for VPN, first is to secure the communcations our clients use
to remotely access our network which currently uses symmetric encrption,
and second to allow me to log in to the network from home in case of
problems or late night work with some degree of security. I plan to use
VNC for the home connection and I think I know enought to set it up to go
through ssh, but given that I'll be sending my admin password at times, I
don't think thats enough. What I'd like to know is if anyone knows how to
set up a windows or linux VPN, or where I could go to find that
information. I tried amazon.com but I didn't see any good books on the
subject. I do my own homework, I just need someone to point me in the
right direction. Also, my budget is basically non-existant so I can't
just rush out and buy a VPN appliance like a sonic wall box or something.
Eventually we plan to replace our cheap cayman DSL router with a Cisco
1720 but I don't know if it has any VPN capabilities. The worst part is
that I'm going to need to be able to explain how to do all this to our
client at the other end as well, so I need to get a pretty good grasp of
the practical parts, not just the theory.
