VPN Types and Protocols of VPN

VPN Types

  VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a technology that provides a secure connection to a private network  over Internet for users. By encrypting the connections, VPN provides security in this type communication. Basically this security is provided over a VPN Tunnel and provide a trusted connection by avoiding any hacker attacks. Different VPN types and Protocols of VPN provide various secured connections. There are two main VPN Types. These VPN Types are:

• Remote Access VPN
• Site-to-Site VPN

In this lesson, we will learn the types of VPN detailly. Let’s start.  

Remote Access VPN

  Remote Access VPN is the first of the two VPN types. Remote Access VPN is the VPN type with  which, users can access  the private networks over internet remotely. This type of VPN, provides network access chance to remote users, travelling employees, any workers far away from its company. Remote Access VPN is usually used in corporate networks. With Remote Access VPN, users can use their enterprise network’s resources as they are connected directly to their network. Beside corporate usage, this type of VPN is also used in Home networks. Any users in the home, can use Remote Access VPN to connect internet. By doing this, home users can avoid any regional restrictions like website blocking etc. Beside, home users use it also for a better security during their internet connection.

Site to Site VPN

  Site to Site VPN is the VPN type that is used between different locations of companies. With this VPN type company sites which are in geographically different places  are connected over internet securily. There are two diferent sub Site to Site VPN types. These are:

• Intranet Based VPN
• Extranet Based VPN

In Intranet Based VPN,  the branches of a company is connected over internet as they are in the same network. In this style, there is only one company, its branches and there is no eternal connection. In Extranet Based VPN,  different companies  are connected over internet. As the name of the VPN implies, here, each company is connected to an external company.  

Protocols of VPN

  There are different types of VPN Protocols. With these VPN Protocols, different types of security can be provided. What are these VPN Protocols? These are :

• Internet Protocol Security (IPSec)
• Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP)
• Point to Pint Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)
• MPLS VPN
• SSTP (Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol)
• Internet Key Exchange version 2 (IKEv2)
• Secure Socces Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS)
• OpenVPN
• Secure Shell (SSH)
• Hybrid VPN

 

Internet Protocol Security (IPSec)

  One of the most important Protocols of VPN is IPSec. IPSec is a VPN Protocol that provides secure connection over IP networks. With this VPN protocol authentication and encryption are used. There are different type of IPSec and with this type of IPSec, there are different encryption modes. These are Transport Mode and Tunneling Mode. In transfer mode oly the message in the traffic is encrypted. On the other hand, in tunneling mode, whole data is encrypted. IPSec is a little difficult to build and it is also expensive solution if you compare with other VPN solutions. In IPSec Lesson, you can learn this protocol detailly.      

Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP)

  Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) is another VPN protocol that is widely used in network World. At the beginning it has many vulnerabilities but after a while it is used with IPSec. IPSec  provides extra security to L2TP.  Here, the tunnel creation is done by L2TP and the encryptions is done by IPSec.

Point to Pint Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)

  PPTP is a widely used  tunnelling protocol that uses Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) to encrypt the data through the tunnel. PPTP is a fast protocol if you compare with other tunneling protocols. But it has some vulnerabilities. Over the years, network attacks has increased and this VPN vulnerabilities become important gap. So, even it is a widely used VPN protocol, PPTP is not as secure as other tunneling protocols.

MPLS VPN

  MPLS VPN is the VPN solution that is used by Service Providers. It is the most used VPN types used by Service Providers. MPLS VPN is a complex and expensive  solution for home users. There are different types of MPLS VPNs. Mainly there are two types MPLS VPNs. These are :

• Layer 2 VPNs
• Layer 3 VPNs

Layer 2 VPN has also two sub categories:

• VPLS (Virtual Private LAN Service)
• VPWS (Virtual Private Wire Service) (Pseudowire)

Beside, Layer 3 VPNs are also knowns as VPRN. According to the used technology, there are also different types of Pseudowires (VPWS). MPLS VPNs has explained detailly in another lessons. You can check MPLS VPN lessons to learn more about them.  

SSTP

  SSTP (Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol) is a VPN solution that came with Windows build in solution for VPN. It is similar to Open VPN but instead of an open solution, it is used on mainly Windows. So, it is not a widely prefered VPN protocol. Because of the fact that it has developed for Windows, now, it is not used on Linux widely and can not used on Macs. The security of SSTP (Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol) is like Open VPN but fort his, you shoould trus Windows a little.  

IKEv2

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