Chapter 20. Getting from the Office to the Road: VPNs

Users often need access to data in the office even when they're away from the office. Traveling salespeople, telecommuters, and others need to be able to connect, and virtual private networks (VPNs) are often used to meet this need.

A VPN is a private connection that is created over a public network such as the Internet. If the users can access the Internet (and this is becoming much easier and much more common, even for mobile workers), they can access the office over the VPN. Once connected, users can access any office resources just as if they were there—this includes email, shared folders, and more.