Virtual Private Networks: Making the Right Connection / Edition 1

by Dennis Fowler, David Clark

Overview

Network-dependent companies are excited by the benefits promised by the virtual private network, including lower costs, greater flexibility, and improvements in connectivity. But they also have questions: What benefits are real? How can they be measured? What are the expenses and the dangers?

Virtual Private Networks: Making the Right Connection is an intelligent introduction written especially for business and IT professionals who want a realistic assessment of what a VPN can provide for their organizations. Covering advantages and risks, this book expands your understanding of what you can do with a VPN, while detailing all that implementing it will demand of you. With its help, you'll find your way through VPN hype to the answers you need to make sound decisions.


* Thoroughly explains VPN concepts and technologies, and examines the potential of VPNs as intranets, extranets, and remote access solutions.
* Covers essential VPN topics like tunneling, encapsulation, encryption, security, and protocols.
* Provides detailed points of comparison between typical VPN costs and the costs of maintaining traditional WANs.
* Offers frank consideration of the hidden costs and risks sometimes associated with VPNs, helping you decide if a VPN is right for you.
* Lists and assesses the software and hardware products you may need to implement a VPN.
* Discusses both Internet-based VPNs and VPN services offered by providers of "private" ATM and frame relay networks, detailing the pros and cons of each.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781558605756
Publisher:	Elsevier Science
Publication date:	05/21/1999
Series:	Morgan Kaufmann Series in Networking Series
Pages:	350
Product dimensions:	0.51(w) x 7.50(h) x 9.25(d)

About the Author

Dennis Fowler is a columnist for ACM netWorker Magazine, a founding member of both the Association of Online Professionals and the Internet Press Guild, and a former contributing editor with Computer Shopper magazine. He is particularly interested in the practical application of online technologies-and the Internet in particular-to create new opportunities for commerce and enhance global communication.

Table of Contents

1 Defining the VPN
2 How to use a VPN
3 The Downside to VPNs
4 Internet versus Other VPNs
5 Encryption
6 User Authentication, Authorization and Key Management
7 Tunnelling and the VPN Protocol Suites
8 Architecture
9 Planning Your VPN
10 Administration and management

Foreword

Dennis Fowler provides an insightful view to both the business benefits and technical requirements to VPNs. His examples of other customers' experiences with VPNs breathe life into the discussion.

Editorial Reviews

"Dennis Fowler provides an insightful view to both the business benefits and technical requirements to VPNs. His examples of other customers' experiences with VPNs breathe life into the discussion."
—From the Foreword by Susan Scheer Aoko, Cisco systems, Inc.

From the Publisher