atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums VOIP Phones & IP PBX Networking VPN QUESTIONS

I need to steup a vpn and have never done it before. Can anyone recommend a place to get good clear instructions for this? I know there are many variables, but I am after a good basic explantion that I can work from. Keep in mind, I am a phone man , not a computer guy. (read: Keep it simple and don't skip steps)

Every VPN device is different to set up - you'll need to find information for your specific device(s) that will be creating the VPN. I'd recommend that you stick with one make and model for building the VPN if at all possible (getting multiple vendor's VPNs to talk to each other is a very complex project).

I'd probably recommend hiring a contractor to help you out with the first few (or if you will be working with a network that is more complex than just a DSL/Cable modem and a handful of computers), or at least have on-call if you run into issues. VPNs can be either really easy or really complex - they are almost always one extreme or the other, and my experience says they tend towards really complex more often.

I will try to explain IPSec VPN in a nutshell.

To setup a site to site VPN you need two end point devices. These are the "VPN Peer Gateways". Their purpose is to terminate the IPSec VPN tunnel. There are many options for this. They range from community/opensource such as Vyatta Router to much more expensive devices like CheckPoint VPN-1, Juniper, or Cisco.

Each side needs to agree on a set of parameters when they do the tunnel negotiation. This is usually called phase one and phase one.

Phase One (sometimes called IKE / ISAKMP) contains:

pre-shared-key
type of encryption (3des or AES-128)
type of hash algorithm (md5 or sha1)
lifetime (default of 86400 secs)


Phase Two ( sometimes called IPSec SA negotiation) contains

type of encryption (3des or AES-128)
type of hash algorithm (md5 or sha1)
lifetime (in seconds)
a local subnet that should be encrypted/allowed
a remote subnet that should be decrypted/allowed

When the negotiations are complete there is now an IKE cookie and an IPsec SA.

The packets come into the gateway from your internal network. If they match the local and remote subnets they are encrypted and sent across to the other side.

Thats the real basics of it. If you want some help send me a PM and I can try to assist you.

Regards.

You should be able to follow the manufacturers instructions. Hopefully there is the same equipment on both ends, as that will make it much easier.

I assume you are talking about a hardware ptp solution.

You are getting in hopelessley over your head. Follow the manufacturer's instructions? Okay yes but it will take you several years to get enough background to do that. Perhaps you should try performing surgery on yourself. The odds of succeeding are better.

You know how the telephone guys get all riled up when the computer guy starts to mess with phones and they are way in over their heads and more likely to cause trouble than good? Well it goes both ways! :nono:

If you want to learn more then here ya go.....

https://compnetworking.about.com/od/vpn/a/vpn_tutorial.htm

https://www.howstuffworks.com/vpn.htm



Theres tons of resources on the internet.

Now now play nice people.

you may be able to pull this off with our help but you need to be a lot more specific. i mean on tv ordinary citizens manage to land jet airliners all the time. if you believe that is realistic, then give setting up a VPN a try.

First of all tell what you want to connect by VPN: one whole site to another whole site, a whole site to specific remote computers, or specific computers to specific remote computers? Or are phones and phone systems involved?

The Neatgear Prosafe VPN Firewall FVS31v3 is what I'm using from my office to 3 other locations. It works well and I had no problems setting it up.

There's a built in wizard that walks you the basic set-up and if you have problems, they will give you tech support over the phone at no cost.

Good luck but you shouldn't have any problems. It's not that hard!!

Thanks Tony3866 that is good to hear. Thanks tito I will check out those resources. Unfortunately, if us phone guys don't become computer guys, we will be like the silent movie actors who refused to make the jump to talkies.