Specifications

WAN Configuration 4-17
4.6 Configuring a Virtual Private Network (VPN)
VPNs are IP-based networks that use encryption and tunneling to give users remote access to a secure LAN.
In essence, the trust relationship is extended from one LAN across the public network to another LAN,
without sacrificing security. A VPN behaves similarly to a private network; however, because the data travels
through the public network, three types of security mechanisms are required: confidentiality, integrity, and
authentication.
• Confidentiality (through public-key or secret-key cryptology) ensures the privacy of information being
exchanged between communicating parties.
• Integrity ensures that information being transmitted over the public Internet is not altered in any way
during transit (by using hash codes, message authentication codes, or digital signatures).
• Authentication (with password authentication or digital signatures) ensures the identity of all
communicating parties.
A diagram of a typical VPN situation is shown below, where there is a VPN tunnel created between two
WS2000 switches across the WAN. The diagram shows the settings for both switches.
The WS2000 Network Switch provides VPN technology with a variety of security and setup options. Select
Network Configuration --> WAN --> VPN from the left menu to create a VPN tunnel.