Chapter 27. Remote Access Service

A remote access service gives authorized individuals a way to access the company network from home, customer sites, or other locations around the country, the continent, or the world. In the early days, it was something that weird technical people wanted so that they could do extra work from home out of normal working hours. More recently, it has become a core service that everyone in a company uses. Now telecommuters and road warriors work outside the office, connecting only for specific services.

Remote access is achieved in many ways, but there are two main categories. Some forms connect a computer directly into the network: dial-up modems, ISDN, and so on. Others connect to the Internet—WiFi, cable modems, DSL, Ethernet, and so on—and then from there somehow tunnel or VPN into your network.