3COM Officeconnect Secure Router

I just purchase a 3COM Officeconnect Secure Router, and would like to create vpn tunnels, but I am confused whether or not to use L2TP over IPSec enabled, PPTP Server enabled or IPSec enabled. I will be using my router to connect to a remote router so that I can monitor and troubleshoot the PCs that are connected on the remote router. Can someone help me with instructions tell the best out of the three options to do this.

Thank you in advance

Reply to
Peace
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L2TP combines PPTP with LTF (the best bits of both, I think therefore its fair to say its newer. IIRC PPTP is a Microsoft implementation whereas L2TP is a general standard now. You usually use something like IPSEC on top of it.

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PPTP vs. L2TP

While more widely supported than Layer 2 Tunnelling Protocol (L2TP), PPTP is giving way to L2TP as the tunneling protocol of choice because of L2TP's enhanced security features. However, establishing an L2TP VPN is somewhat more complex than setting up a PPTP connection. PPTP-based VPNs may also operate slightly faster because there is less processing involved in encrypting and encapsulating the packets. Under PPTP, the point-to-point protocol (PPP) payload packet is encapsulated inside a generic routing encapsulation (GRE) packet, which is then encapsulated inside an IP packet to which the data link header is attached. The packet is then sent across the tunnel.

Under L2TP, packets are encapsulated no fewer than four times and as many as six times, depending on the IPSec policy being used. Each time a packet is processed, overhead is added to the overall procedure, resulting in higher latency. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that L2TP provides additional levels of security through the use of DES and 3DES encryption as well as data authentication. However, if you're looking at a VPN from a strict standpoint of performance, L2TP may not be the best choice.

One point worth mentioning is the fact that PPTP relies on the TCP protocol, while L2TP uses UDP for typical communication. This can result in slightly lower performance capabilities for PPTP. Bear in mind, though, that since PPTP uses fewer levels of encapsulation, the total message size is smaller than with L2TP, which would tend to cancel this advantage.

As for setting up vpns, it depends what software, hardware you are using, and though I've read a bit how to do it in Windows 2000 I'm probably not the best person to ask as I've no experience of it.

kind regards,

Daniek

Reply to
Daniel Bennett

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