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By Bradley Mitchell, About.com Guide
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See More About: vpn netw ork protocols

Virtual private network technology is based on the idea of tunneling. VPN tunneling involves establishing and maintaining a logical netw ork
connection (that may contain intermediate hops). On this connection, packets constructed in a specific VPN protocol format are encapsulated w ithin
some other base or carrier protocol, then transmitted between VPN client and server, and finally de-encapsulated on the receiving side.

For Internet-based VPNs, packets in one of several VPN protocols are encapsulated w ithin Internet Protocol (IP) packets. VPN protocols also
support authentication and encryption to keep the tunnels secure.

Types of VPN Tunneling

VPN supports two types of tunneling - voluntary and compulsory. Both types of tunneling are commonly used.

In voluntary tunneling, the VPN client manages connection setup. The client first makes a connection to the carrier network provider (an ISP in the
case of Internet VPNs). Then, the VPN client application creates the tunnel to a VPN server over this live connection.

In compulsory tunneling, the carrier network provider manages VPN connection setup. When the client first makes an ordinary connection to the
carrier, the carrier in turn immediately brokers a VPN connection between that client and a VPN server. From the client point of view , VPN
connections are set up in just one step compared to the tw o-step procedure required for voluntary tunnels.

Compulsory VPN tunneling authenticates clients and associates them w ith specific VPN servers using logic built into the broker device. This network
device is sometimes called the VPN Front End Processor (FEP), Network Access Server (NAS) or Point of Presence Server (POS). Compulsory
tunneling hides the details of VPN server connectivity from the VPN clients and effectively transfers management control over the tunnels from
clients to the ISP. In return, service providers must take on the additional burden of installing and maintaining FEP devices.

VPN Tunneling Protocols

Several computer network protocols have been implemented specifically for use with VPN tunnels. The three most popular VPN tunneling protocols
listed below continue to compete with each other for acceptance in the industry. These protocols are generally incompatible with each other.

Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)

Several corporations worked together to create the PPTP specification. People generally associate PPTP with Microsoft because nearly all flavors of
Windows include built-in client support for this protocol. The initial releases of PPTP for Window s by Microsoft contained security features that some
experts claimed w ere too w eak for serious use. Microsoft continues to improve its PPTP support, though.

More - About PPTP

Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP)

The original competitor to PPTP for VPN tunneling w as L2F, a protocol implemented primarily in Cisco products. In an attempt to improve on L2F, the
best features of it and PPTP w ere combined to create a new standard called L2TP. Like PPTP, L2TP exists at the data link layer (Layer Tw o) in the
OSI model -- thus the origin of its name.

Internet Protocol Security (IPsec)

IPsec is actually a collection of multiple related protocols. It can be used as a complete VPN protocol solution or simply as the encryption scheme
within L2TP or PPTP. IPsec exists at the netw ork layer (Layer Three) of the OSI model.

Next page > About PPTP > Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

See also - VPNs - Test Your Know ledge

Related Searches netw ork access server internet protocol ip vpn protocol vpn protocols protocol format server connectivity

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