Best way to connect two remote sites?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jim Grossl
  • Start date Start date
J

Jim Grossl

What do you think is the best way to connect two sites over
a WAN connection (Frame Relay, 768 CIR, 1.54 Burst)? One site will be about
30 users using a Windows 2000 server based network, the other
will be a small 7 user peer to peer Windows based network. The small
7 user network will have to be able to access files and folders
on the remote Win2000 server, but not on any of the 30 remote users
workstations. We were trying to avoid installing a server at the 7 user
site.
There will be a Cisco router, and SonicWall firewall at each end. Thanks
very much for your input.
 
If you've got a Cisco at both ends, you can buy the IP Plus feature pack,
and use the point-to-point VPN capabilities on the routers themselves. Very
stable, pretty efficient, and easy to set up.
 
Must concurr with Kenwood - Sonicwall-to-Sonicwall VPN is a dream. Very easy
to set up, works like a champ. As long as the SOHO3 has the VPN addon
enabled (not sure about that model; check) it will work.
 
The SOHO3 is able to take the VPN upgrade. I initially leaned
towards a SonicWall VPN solution but was told by
several people in-the-know that using a Frame Relay
connection to another site that is using a Frame Relay connection
(did I mention that?) **and** both sites are using the same ISP,
pretty much negated any reason for using a VPN.
Needless to say, I was not happy about that. But their reasoning
was that the pipe went from one site, to the provider's Frame
Relay cloud and then to the other site. Effectively bypassing the
Internet.

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
 
"Provider's frame relay cloud"....This is a permanent/dedicated virtual
circuit?
This will protect you from outsiders, in that it's isolated, but it isn't as
secure as VPN. No encryption; ISP can see all your stuff.

Jim said:
The SOHO3 is able to take the VPN upgrade. I initially leaned
towards a SonicWall VPN solution but was told by
several people in-the-know that using a Frame Relay
connection to another site that is using a Frame Relay connection
(did I mention that?) **and** both sites are using the same ISP,
pretty much negated any reason for using a VPN.
Needless to say, I was not happy about that. But their reasoning
was that the pipe went from one site, to the provider's Frame
Relay cloud and then to the other site. Effectively bypassing the
Internet.

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
Must concurr with Kenwood - Sonicwall-to-Sonicwall VPN is a dream.
Very easy to set up, works like a champ. As long as the SOHO3 has
the VPN addon enabled (not sure about that model; check) it will
work.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
My thoughts exactly. Which is why if I have my way we will
go with a VPN.

So on another line of thought. Would you use RRAS to connect
the two networks? I need some way to allow remote users to
access files and folders.


"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
"Provider's frame relay cloud"....This is a permanent/dedicated virtual
circuit?
This will protect you from outsiders, in that it's isolated, but it isn't as
secure as VPN. No encryption; ISP can see all your stuff.

Jim said:
The SOHO3 is able to take the VPN upgrade. I initially leaned
towards a SonicWall VPN solution but was told by
several people in-the-know that using a Frame Relay
connection to another site that is using a Frame Relay connection
(did I mention that?) **and** both sites are using the same ISP,
pretty much negated any reason for using a VPN.
Needless to say, I was not happy about that. But their reasoning
was that the pipe went from one site, to the provider's Frame
Relay cloud and then to the other site. Effectively bypassing the
Internet.

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
Must concurr with Kenwood - Sonicwall-to-Sonicwall VPN is a dream.
Very easy to set up, works like a champ. As long as the SOHO3 has
the VPN addon enabled (not sure about that model; check) it will
work.

Jim Grossl wrote:
Right now we have a SOHO3 which will be upgraded to a PRO 200 on
our end, and the SOHO3 will be moved to the remote site.


I have the VPN add on with my SonicWall. Works great establishing a
VPN to a friends house to his sonic wall with 3DES, MD5 encryption.
Which SonicWall do you have?


What do you think is the best way to connect two sites over
a WAN connection (Frame Relay, 768 CIR, 1.54 Burst)? One site will
be about 30 users using a Windows 2000 server based network, the
other will be a small 7 user peer to peer Windows based network.
The small 7 user network will have to be able to access files and
folders on the remote Win2000 server, but not on any of the 30
remote users workstations. We were trying to avoid installing a
server at the 7 user site.
There will be a Cisco router, and SonicWall firewall at each end.
Thanks very much for your input.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
It's not that they care, it's the fact that there is the potential for
information to be viewed by unauthorized personnel, which is generally
unacceptable from an information security/assurance standpoint.

Greg Gast said:
Pardon my ignorance, but all of my WAN is running through Frame Relay. I can
understand using a VPN through the Internet, but why should the ISP care
about what's passing on the Frame circuit?

Unless, of course, you're passing nuclear secrets ... <grin> Hello, FBI !!

Lanwench [MVP - Exchange] wrote in message ...
"Provider's frame relay cloud"....This is a permanent/dedicated virtual
circuit?
This will protect you from outsiders, in that it's isolated, but it isn't as
secure as VPN. No encryption; ISP can see all your stuff.

Jim said:
The SOHO3 is able to take the VPN upgrade. I initially leaned
towards a SonicWall VPN solution but was told by
several people in-the-know that using a Frame Relay
connection to another site that is using a Frame Relay connection
(did I mention that?) **and** both sites are using the same ISP,
pretty much negated any reason for using a VPN.
Needless to say, I was not happy about that. But their reasoning
was that the pipe went from one site, to the provider's Frame
Relay cloud and then to the other site. Effectively bypassing the
Internet.

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
message Must concurr with Kenwood - Sonicwall-to-Sonicwall VPN is a dream.
Very easy to set up, works like a champ. As long as the SOHO3 has
the VPN addon enabled (not sure about that model; check) it will
work.

Jim Grossl wrote:
Right now we have a SOHO3 which will be upgraded to a PRO 200 on
our end, and the SOHO3 will be moved to the remote site.


I have the VPN add on with my SonicWall. Works great establishing a
VPN to a friends house to his sonic wall with 3DES, MD5 encryption.
Which SonicWall do you have?


What do you think is the best way to connect two sites over
a WAN connection (Frame Relay, 768 CIR, 1.54 Burst)? One site will
be about 30 users using a Windows 2000 server based network, the
other will be a small 7 user peer to peer Windows based network.
The small 7 user network will have to be able to access files and
folders on the remote Win2000 server, but not on any of the 30
remote users workstations. We were trying to avoid installing a
server at the 7 user site.
There will be a Cisco router, and SonicWall firewall at each end.
Thanks very much for your input.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Ezackly.
It's not that they care, it's the fact that there is the potential for
information to be viewed by unauthorized personnel, which is generally
unacceptable from an information security/assurance standpoint.

Greg Gast said:
Pardon my ignorance, but all of my WAN is running through Frame
Relay. I can understand using a VPN through the Internet, but why
should the ISP care about what's passing on the Frame circuit?

Unless, of course, you're passing nuclear secrets ... <grin> Hello,
FBI !!

Lanwench [MVP - Exchange] wrote in message ...
"Provider's frame relay cloud"....This is a permanent/dedicated
virtual circuit?
This will protect you from outsiders, in that it's isolated, but it
isn't as secure as VPN. No encryption; ISP can see all your stuff.

Jim Grossl wrote:
The SOHO3 is able to take the VPN upgrade. I initially leaned
towards a SonicWall VPN solution but was told by
several people in-the-know that using a Frame Relay
connection to another site that is using a Frame Relay connection
(did I mention that?) **and** both sites are using the same ISP,
pretty much negated any reason for using a VPN.
Needless to say, I was not happy about that. But their reasoning
was that the pipe went from one site, to the provider's Frame
Relay cloud and then to the other site. Effectively bypassing the
Internet.

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
in message Must concurr with Kenwood - Sonicwall-to-Sonicwall VPN is a dream.
Very easy to set up, works like a champ. As long as the SOHO3 has
the VPN addon enabled (not sure about that model; check) it will
work.

Jim Grossl wrote:
Right now we have a SOHO3 which will be upgraded to a PRO 200 on
our end, and the SOHO3 will be moved to the remote site.


I have the VPN add on with my SonicWall. Works great
establishing a VPN to a friends house to his sonic wall with
3DES, MD5 encryption. Which SonicWall do you have?


What do you think is the best way to connect two sites over
a WAN connection (Frame Relay, 768 CIR, 1.54 Burst)? One site
will be about 30 users using a Windows 2000 server based
network, the other will be a small 7 user peer to peer Windows
based network. The small 7 user network will have to be able
to access files and folders on the remote Win2000 server, but
not on any of the 30 remote users workstations. We were trying
to avoid installing a server at the 7 user site.
There will be a Cisco router, and SonicWall firewall at each
end. Thanks very much for your input.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
No, I'd just push for the Sonicwall idea. What objections are you running
into? It is so easy to set up, and did I mention CHEAP? Relatively speaking,
that is.

I prefer that all connectivity be handled by routers/firewalls and that my
servers & workstations not get involved in all that mishegoss - they just
use the existing connection established by the routers.

Jim said:
My thoughts exactly. Which is why if I have my way we will
go with a VPN.

So on another line of thought. Would you use RRAS to connect
the two networks? I need some way to allow remote users to
access files and folders.


"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
"Provider's frame relay cloud"....This is a permanent/dedicated
virtual circuit?
This will protect you from outsiders, in that it's isolated, but it
isn't as secure as VPN. No encryption; ISP can see all your stuff.

Jim said:
The SOHO3 is able to take the VPN upgrade. I initially leaned
towards a SonicWall VPN solution but was told by
several people in-the-know that using a Frame Relay
connection to another site that is using a Frame Relay connection
(did I mention that?) **and** both sites are using the same ISP,
pretty much negated any reason for using a VPN.
Needless to say, I was not happy about that. But their reasoning
was that the pipe went from one site, to the provider's Frame
Relay cloud and then to the other site. Effectively bypassing the
Internet.

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
message Must concurr with Kenwood - Sonicwall-to-Sonicwall VPN is a dream.
Very easy to set up, works like a champ. As long as the SOHO3 has
the VPN addon enabled (not sure about that model; check) it will
work.

Jim Grossl wrote:
Right now we have a SOHO3 which will be upgraded to a PRO 200 on
our end, and the SOHO3 will be moved to the remote site.


I have the VPN add on with my SonicWall. Works great
establishing a VPN to a friends house to his sonic wall with
3DES, MD5 encryption. Which SonicWall do you have?


What do you think is the best way to connect two sites over
a WAN connection (Frame Relay, 768 CIR, 1.54 Burst)? One site
will be about 30 users using a Windows 2000 server based
network, the other will be a small 7 user peer to peer Windows
based network. The small 7 user network will have to be able to
access files and folders on the remote Win2000 server, but not
on any of the 30 remote users workstations. We were trying to
avoid installing a server at the 7 user site.
There will be a Cisco router, and SonicWall firewall at each
end. Thanks very much for your input.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
No *real* objections. Just penny pinching. The remote
site already has a netgear firewall. But netgear states
that they are not very compatible, VPN wise, with other
vendors products. I've just been asked to make sure
we really need another SonicWall before we purchase it.
So I thought I'd bring up RRAS just to cover all bases.
I want filtering in place before data actually enters either
network. So RRAS was more or less just a "what-if" thing. :-)


"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
No, I'd just push for the Sonicwall idea. What objections are you running
into? It is so easy to set up, and did I mention CHEAP? Relatively speaking,
that is.

I prefer that all connectivity be handled by routers/firewalls and that my
servers & workstations not get involved in all that mishegoss - they just
use the existing connection established by the routers.

Jim said:
My thoughts exactly. Which is why if I have my way we will
go with a VPN.

So on another line of thought. Would you use RRAS to connect
the two networks? I need some way to allow remote users to
access files and folders.


"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
"Provider's frame relay cloud"....This is a permanent/dedicated
virtual circuit?
This will protect you from outsiders, in that it's isolated, but it
isn't as secure as VPN. No encryption; ISP can see all your stuff.

Jim Grossl wrote:
The SOHO3 is able to take the VPN upgrade. I initially leaned
towards a SonicWall VPN solution but was told by
several people in-the-know that using a Frame Relay
connection to another site that is using a Frame Relay connection
(did I mention that?) **and** both sites are using the same ISP,
pretty much negated any reason for using a VPN.
Needless to say, I was not happy about that. But their reasoning
was that the pipe went from one site, to the provider's Frame
Relay cloud and then to the other site. Effectively bypassing the
Internet.

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
message Must concurr with Kenwood - Sonicwall-to-Sonicwall VPN is a dream.
Very easy to set up, works like a champ. As long as the SOHO3 has
the VPN addon enabled (not sure about that model; check) it will
work.

Jim Grossl wrote:
Right now we have a SOHO3 which will be upgraded to a PRO 200 on
our end, and the SOHO3 will be moved to the remote site.


I have the VPN add on with my SonicWall. Works great
establishing a VPN to a friends house to his sonic wall with
3DES, MD5 encryption. Which SonicWall do you have?


What do you think is the best way to connect two sites over
a WAN connection (Frame Relay, 768 CIR, 1.54 Burst)? One site
will be about 30 users using a Windows 2000 server based
network, the other will be a small 7 user peer to peer Windows
based network. The small 7 user network will have to be able to
access files and folders on the remote Win2000 server, but not
on any of the 30 remote users workstations. We were trying to
avoid installing a server at the 7 user site.
There will be a Cisco router, and SonicWall firewall at each
end. Thanks very much for your input.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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