Windows 2000 Server Brings VPNs To The Masses.Windows 2000-- which, barring manufacturing delays, should be available by the time you read this--will for the first time offer users native Windows VPN (Virtual Private Network) A private network that is configured within a public network (a carrier's network or the Internet) in order to take advantage of the economies of scale and management facilities of large networks. support. Windows 2000 VPN and remote access services (communications) Remote Access Services - (RAS) A service provided by Windows NT which allows most of the services which would be available on a network to be accessed over a modem link. will be included in the Server, Advanced Server and Datacenter Server editions of Windows 2000, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Microsoft officials. Windows 2000 VPN offers the common VPN feature set, including a connection management utility and a security module with policy-and protocol-based access control. Redmond has also added load balancing The fine tuning of a computer system, network or disk subsystem in order to more evenly distribute the data and/or processing across available resources. For example, in clustering, load balancing might distribute the incoming transactions evenly to all servers, or it might redirect them across multiple servers and multiple connections from multiple ISPs, a helpful feature. Microsoft has implemented Layer 2 Transport Protocol (L2TP (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol) A protocol from the IETF that allows a PPP session to travel over multiple links and networks. L2TP is used to allow remote users access to the corporate network. ) and IPSec for secure remote access via tunneling. For less secure connections, Multilink PPP is available. In addition, Windows 2000 includes full PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) A framework for creating a secure method for exchanging information based on public key cryptography. The foundation of a PKI is the certificate authority (CA), which issues digital certificates that authenticate the identity of and CA (Certificate Authority) support. In order for remote clients to take advantage of Win 2000's server-side VPN features, however, they must be running Windows 2000 Desktop (formerly NT Workstation). Microsoft has not indicated if the company intends to add VPN functionality to Windows 98 in an upgrade or service release, but this would be a welcome step; many remote and home-office workers don't use NT. Further, OEMs are likely to continue shipping 98 on all systems for the home, at least until Windows 2000 "consumer" ships. Windows 2000 Server (Standard edition) with 10 CALs will retail for $1,199; upgrades from NT Server 4.0 or 3.51 plus 10 upgrade CALs will be $599. Windows 2000 Professional Desktop (formerly NT Workstation) will retail for $319; upgrades from Win 9x and NT Workstation (4.0 or 3.51) will be $219 and $149 (after $70 rebate), respectively. Full (and complex) pricing information can be found at www.microsoft.com/windows2000. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion