Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol for use with TCP/IP Mailbox Systems

Point-to-Point-Tunneling-Protocol (For Internets, Intranets & Extranets)

Secure connects now available over the Internet for branch offices or fixed-location, single-user locations with no long-distance charges. PPTP can eliminate the need for many leased lines and save thousands of dollars annually.

Introduction

A Windows^® Server offers a complete and integrated Internet and Intranet platform. This allows a company to expand an existing network to include the Internet and Intranet with Windows Server programs including: Internet Information Server, FrontPage Web authoring tool, along with Index Server. All available free off the Web from Microsoft. Innovations such as PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol), MultiLink Remote Access and DNS (Distributed File Network) make it even easier by offering secure, flexible, high-bandwidth communication access the Internet.

Why use PPTP? Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), is a networking technology that allows you to use the Internet as your own secure Virtual Private Network (VPN). PPTP is integrated with the Remote Access Services (RAS) server which is built into a Windows Server. With PPTP, your users can dial into a local ISP, or connect directly to the Internet, and access their network just as easily and securely as if they were at their desks.

The Windows based PPTP provides encoding and other security features to keep anyone from seeing that user's network traffic. A Server has support for PPTP built in, as well as routing technology so users' network packets can be correctly routed around the network. The routing technology itself is part of Remote Access Services (RAS), which provides support for remote user access.

More information on Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol...or, Virtual Private Networking (VPN) with Windows 95/98/NT/Win2K & XP.

Much of this initial information is from an old issue of PC Magazine under Technical Excellence Awards - Winner: Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol. Bill Verthein, Tom Stoner, Tim Mortsolf, and the PPTP Development Team. Other information has been added by CTI based upon industry news releases...

Though connections to the Internet are widely available, most companies have avoided using them to link remote locations and offices because of security concerns. The Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), jointly developed by Microsoft and U.S. Robotics, is a new protocol specification that enables secure remote access to corporate networks across the public Internet. It lets you create virtual private networks over the Internet without the expense of dedicated lines, and lets remote users securely connect to a private intranet using any Internet service provider. In effect, PPTP makes the Internet a part of your intranet, and with excellent security. PPTP accepts RSA RC-4-encrypted data in the tunneled packets, and it supports DES encryption.

Once connected, you can use a number of network protocols, including IP, IPX, and NetBEUI, to connect to resources on the LAN. Datagrams from these protocols are buried inside higher-level IP packets for transmission. Since its introduction, PPTP has been integrated into Microsoft Windows NT Server products and Microsoft NT’s Remote Access Service (RAS), as well as U.S. Robotics’ Total Control Enterprise Hub.

The PPTP specification builds on standards such as PPP and TCP/IP. For remote access across any kind of connection, PPTP creates a tunnel directly to the appropriate departmental Windows server on a network -- even if there are hundreds of Windows servers. By terminating the remote user PPP connection at the Windows server, rather than at the remote-access hardware, PPTP allows network administrators to standardize network security using the existing services and capabilities that are built into the Windows security domain. Using PPTP, network administrators can extend a virtual private network from their Windows server throughout the Internet while locking out unauthorized users.

Dial-Up Networking (DUN) includes support for PPTP for Windows users. DUN and Microsoft's Remote Access Services (RAS) utilities are also provided with Windows 95/98 NT/Win2K and XP Workstations and Servers.

With Virtual Private Network (VPN) capabilities on top of Windows NT oriented workstation lets users replace standard dial-up analog or leased line connections with secure links over the Internet through a client-side tool called Connection Manager. Windows 95/98/Win2K and XP Workstation clients already support the Point-to-Point-Protocol over which BaseCamp operates. The goal of BaseCamp technology is to establish a PPTP connection to a Windows server as simple as a mouse click.

Microsoft has published a paper called PPTP Security - An Update. Click here to review. Return here by using your BACK key.

Here's what Chris Yates (PC WEEK LABS) said in an article called Microsoft's PPTP Creates VPNs for Free

MICROSOFT'S CORP.'S PPTP FOR WINDOWS 95 will lessen the administration time and cost of providing remote access to the corporate network. And the price is right - PPTP is part of the free Dial-Up Networking 1.2 Upgrade for Windows 95 and later Windows Operating Systems (NT/Win2K/XP).

PC Week Labs used Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol and the Internet to create our own VPN (virtual private network) between a remote location and our testing facility. To use the network, we first made a dial-up IP connection to our ISP (Internet Service Provider). We then used that Internet access to establish a second, "secure" connection to the IP address of our PPTP server at the lab. Once logged in to the PPTP server, we had a secure VPN.

By supporting multiple network protocols (TCP/IP, IPX, NetBEUI), our PPTP connection let us browse both Windows NT and NetWare servers. In addition, data transmitted between the client and server could be encrypted and compressed.

For network administrators, PPTP means potential savings in several areas. First, remote users will be using an ISP for access, saving time and money in remote access server and modem pool administration. Second, the majority of remote clients can access their ISP via a local telephone call.