Designing Access Controls

Make Decisions about Remote Access (VPN)

Table 3-29. Endpoint Compatibility for Remote Access

OS

 

Native Capabilities

With VPN Client

Windows Vista

PPTP

IPsec with IKE

 

 

L2TP/IPsec

Vendor client

 

 

Secure Socket

 

 

 

 

 

Tunneling Protocol

 

 

 

 

 

(SSTP)—not discussed

 

 

 

 

 

in this guide

 

 

Windows XP

PPTP

IPsec with IKE

Windows 2003 Server

L2TP/IPsec

ProCurve VPN Client

Windows 2000

 

 

Other vendor client

Macintosh OS X 10.3 or later

PPTP

IPsec with IKE

 

 

L2TP/IPsec

Vendor client

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 or

IPsec with IKE—you

IPsec client

 

later

 

must install ipsec-tools

• Free S/WAN for Linux

• SUSE Linux Enterprise 9.1 or

IPsec with IKE

IPsec client

 

later

 

 

• Free S/WAN for Linux

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although remote users often connect with their own endpoint, you can require them to install a vendor VPN client rather than use their endpoint’s native capabilities. You are, after all, granting them convenient, remote access to the private network. Expecting them to install and use the client and settings that you choose may not be unreasonable.

When you have little control over the remote endpoints, you might want to choose preshared keys as the authentication method over digital certificates, which must be installed on every endpoint with which remote users access the network.

Example

Most faculty members will log in to the network from their homes. Their personal endpoints may run either the Windows or Mac OS. The PCU network administrators have no control over these endpoints. When considering only endpoints and the degree of control they have over them, PCU network administrators decide that either of the VPN options displayed in Table 3-30will work.

3-46