Windows 2000 Administration in a Nutshell

Name

remote access

Synopsis

Allows remote clients to connect to a server or network using a dial-up connection over a phone line, a VPN connection tunneled through the Internet, or a direct computer connection using a null-modem cable or similar device.

Description

Remote access is designed to allow remote clients, such as mobile users with laptops, the ability to connect to their private corporate network and access shared resources on that network. This article covers the basics of the server-side portion of remote access in Windows 2000; for an explanation of the client-side portion of remote access in Windows 2000, see connection in this chapter.

How Remote Access Works

Apart from LAN connections, which are created automatically by Windows 2000, and direct computer connections, which are temporary connections used to transfer files between two machines, all other forms of connections are used for establishing or providing remote access to computers, networks, or the Internet. Remote access works as follows:

1. A remote-access client attempts to connect to a remote-access server (or remote-access device) using a WAN connection such as a dial-up connection over a phone line using a modem.

2. The remote-access server responds to the connection attempt from the client and negotiates a suitable WAN protocol, such as PPP, that both the client and server can understand. WAN protocols are discussed further later in this article.

3. The client uses the WAN protocol to encapsulate the network-level data ...