can I use broadband to link two sites

The small firm I work for is about to move

They may be split across two sites for a few months(which may stretch
to years !)

How feasible is it to use broadband to link the two networks - 6 users
at each site - not a lot of traffic ?

Both sites need internet access anyway.

Jim Arnold wrote:
> The small firm I work for is about to move
>
> They may be split across two sites for a few months(which may
> stretch to years !)
>
> How feasible is it to use broadband to link the two networks - 6
> users at each site - not a lot of traffic ?
>
> Both sites need internet access anyway.

Yes it is possible to connect them via a VPN...

But it will have to be explained by a more knowledgable person tham
me, I just know that it can work..



--
B-)
Life is pain.....
Deal with it!!

yes a Virtual Private Network is what you need. Just Google it


"Kraftee" <(E-Mail Removed)> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:BmR0b.361$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Jim Arnold wrote:
> > The small firm I work for is about to move
> >
> > They may be split across two sites for a few months(which may
> > stretch to years !)
> >
> > How feasible is it to use broadband to link the two networks - 6
> > users at each site - not a lot of traffic ?
> >
> > Both sites need internet access anyway.
>
> Yes it is possible to connect them via a VPN...
>
> But it will have to be explained by a more knowledgable person tham
> me, I just know that it can work..
>
>
>
> --
> B-)
> Life is pain.....
> Deal with it!!
>
>

"Jim Arnold" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> The small firm I work for is about to move
>
> They may be split across two sites for a few months(which may stretch
> to years !)
>
> How feasible is it to use broadband to link the two networks - 6 users
> at each site - not a lot of traffic ?
>
> Both sites need internet access anyway.

Yes, but there are caveats.

A VPN (virtual private network) will do the job. A pair
of Vigor 2600 routers will set up a VPN easily and fairly
cheaply.

The main caveat is that it is a lot slower than a LAN. Your
LAN is probably 100Mbps, your VPN will be 0.25Mbps,
ie 4,000 times slower.

Some jobs will be fine over a link this much slower, others
will be awful to the point of unusability.

A solution would be to run a Terminal Server on one site
and have the users on the other site connect to that and run
their programs on it. The bandwidth required of a TS
session is miniscule compared to the bandwidth that can
be required by many apps. We have ADSL connections
supporting up to 15 TS users with good performance.

If the above is just technobabble to you I would
recommend engaging a competent firm of network
engineers to ensure that all goes well.

"Alastair" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3f446b6b$0$329$(E-Mail Removed). ..
> "Jim Arnold" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > The small firm I work for is about to move
> >
> > They may be split across two sites for a few months(which may stretch
> > to years !)
> >
> > How feasible is it to use broadband to link the two networks - 6 users
> > at each site - not a lot of traffic ?
> >
> > Both sites need internet access anyway.
>
> Yes, but there are caveats.
>
> A VPN (virtual private network) will do the job. A pair
> of Vigor 2600 routers will set up a VPN easily and fairly
> cheaply.

While routers are great to have, but just standard Win2K servers with
Routing & Remote Access service enabled on each end still would do the VPN
trick.
If each site uses ISA server as gateway, ISA provides VPN connection wizard.

>
> The main caveat is that it is a lot slower than a LAN. Your
> LAN is probably 100Mbps, your VPN will be 0.25Mbps,
> ie 4,000 times slower.

You stated it exactly - 0.25Mbps, not 0.5 - the link is asymmetric and the
smaller of up/down streams will go only.
If as said before there would be not a lot of traffic this may be a good
solution.

May benefit by having a symmetric DSL but I'm absolutely not sure they would
be available in your area.
It costs more as well, over hundred pounds - I believe BT does the trials
only currently.

>
> Some jobs will be fine over a link this much slower, others
> will be awful to the point of unusability.

Plus VPN encapsulation imposes an overhead, so real speed will be even
slower, I think down to 200 kbit/sec which makes it 20-25 kbyte/sec real
file transfer. One megabyte will take 40-50 seconds to flow over network.
Upload speed is a limiting factor here.

>
> A solution would be to run a Terminal Server on one site
> and have the users on the other site connect to that and run
> their programs on it. The bandwidth required of a TS
> session is miniscule compared to the bandwidth that can
> be required by many apps. We have ADSL connections
> supporting up to 15 TS users with good performance.

I agree fully. A very viable solution.

Our company runs an application that doesn't work very well across the
network - on a TS server.
The (quite aged already) Dell server runs 1GB memory and dual P-III 550 - no
slowdown, works like a charm.

Average load is 60 users at a time. Link between UK and States for this
application is 2 MBit/sec and average load is 300-400 kbit/sec, but - it's
60 users, not 6.

Hope this helps to get an estimate.
< . . . >
--
_______________________
Maximillian!

There could be other ways to do this if the two sites have "Line of Sight"
to each other.


Phill H

hi there,

i have this working between my office and three different client's site's.

solution was...

each site has a compaq deskpro 4000 - we pick them up for £30 (thirty)
each. other than that brand new silent VIA based machines should be about
£220.

set up the ADSL routers (solwise SAR715's) to have zipb enabled.

installed ipcop (free license) on each of the compaqs.

set up virtual private networks (VPNs).

a major advantage of this is that your networks are protected behind ipcop
- so - for instance - you would be safe from the msblast worm. ipcop is a
high quality firewall/gateway and your users would be able to browse the
internet safely.

most competent network engineers should be able to set this up - i took 6
hours to set up two machines from scratch.

total cost approx £400.

you'll need to have BB set up with static IP addresses.

be careful RE using windows VPN - its not the same as IPSEC VPN. also,
windows security is being shown to be lacking - something some of us have
predicted for a while now,

HTH,

kev bailey





then installed ipcop

Jim Arnold wrote:

> The small firm I work for is about to move
>
> They may be split across two sites for a few months(which may stretch
> to years !)
>
> How feasible is it to use broadband to link the two networks - 6 users
> at each site - not a lot of traffic ?
>
> Both sites need internet access anyway.