Creating a small VPN

By Ron Nutter
Network World, 02/28/05

We are a small non-profit camp with a totally distributed workforce - everyone working from home, both staff and volunteer board members. Our main registration database is FileMaker. We need to construct some sort of VPN that will allow all authorized users to log on and access the database in all its functionality - data entry in all layouts, as well as report generation. We realize that we need to operate some sort of VPN that is reasonably secure, respecting the privacy of those in the database. What are our options?
Steve Weinberg
chaversteve@mac.com

There are several VPN vendor solutions you can look at. You can expect to spend somewhere between $150 to $3,000 for the VPN device you'll need to have where the FileMaker server will be. To help decide which device is right will involve, in part, the number of simultaneous users you expect on the database. The price of VPN devices is relative to how many simultaneous connections the device is capable of handling. You will want to look at your Internet connection and ensure that unless you have a T-1, upload and download speeds are the same so you can avoid problems related to have a mismatch in the speeds.

Selecting the VPN appliance is one part of the decision. The next is how to access the FileMaker database. Since you are a small organization, having a dedicated IT staff probably isn't something you have at this point. You might want to think about putting the FileMaker application on a Microsoft Terminal Server or Citrix server, where the application, data files, screens, etc., are on the server. This means you can better handle simultaneous access to the data. More importantly you have to look at your solution from the standpoint of the slowest connection your remote users will be using, e.g., dial-up. With this, you don't want users having to download anything they don't have to. With a Terminal Server, all users will be downloading are screens from the server and sending up keystrokes.

Since you may not have much, if any, of an IT staff, you may want to consider using a SSL-type VPN appliance. An example of this is Cisco's 3005 VPN Concentrator. In this type of situation, your users will establish their VPN connection using a Web browser. This means there is no client to install on remote users' machines nor is there anything to support. Once the connection is established, the user will establish their terminal server connection to the server that your FileMaker application resides on.

This is just one way of addressing your situation. I have included your e-mail address at the bottom of your question so anyone with another idea can contact you directly. Also, any vendors that might be interested in helping you out will be able to reach you, as well.

Ron Nutter, a Master Certified Novell Engineer and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer in the Lexington, Ky., area, tracks down the answers to your questions. Send your questions to helpdesk@networkref.com.

Recent Related Stories:

SSL VPN roundup (InfoWorld)

Fixing 802.11b link performance problems (Network World)

Voice on WLAN trials 5: How we did it (Network World)

Funk updates its RADIUS server to v 5.0

Back to MobileVillage News Page

This story and associated images are copyright, 1995-2003 Network World, Inc.