Windows 2000 Quick Fixes

Chapter 10.  Using and Sharing Dial-Up Networking Connections

Like Windows NT and Windows 9x, Windows 2000 provides dial-up (remote access) connectivity features that enable you to dial out from a Windows 2000 computer as well as have your computer function as a dial-up server. This chapter covers several aspects of remote access that apply to both client- and server-side issues.

Security is a critical issue to consider when your computer is connected to a public network such as the Internet, and this chapter addresses those security issues. You’ll learn how to use encryption and certificate-based authentication to secure a connection, prevent others from browsing your computer while you’re online, and establish a secure virtual private network (VPN) connection to a remote network, enabling you to use that remote network as if it were local.

Windows 2000 provides a handful of new features that improve remote access performance and enable you to share a single connection among multiple users. Multilink support lets you combine multiple dial-up connections to achieve a higher aggregate bandwidth for better throughput. Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) lets multiple users on your LAN share a single dial-up connection to the Internet, saving on hardware and connection costs.

Other topics covered in this chapter include using a credit card for outbound calls, configuring the computer as a dial-up server, using callback to save on toll charges, and allowing clients to request a specific ...