What is VPN and how to configure it?

VPN stands for Virtual private network. VPN is used to connect to the corporate network to access the resources like mail and files in the LAN.

This step-by-step article describes how to configure a virtual private network (VPN) connection to your corporate network in Microsoft Windows XP Professional. A VPN connection is a connection that uses both private and public networks to create a network connection. 

Both Point-to-Point Tunneling protocol (PPTP) or Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) are automatically installed on your Windows XP-based computer. These protocols help provide security when you access resources on a network by connecting to a remote access server through the Internet or other network. This kind of connection is known as a VPN connection. 
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How to create a new VPN connection

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet Connections, and then click Network Connections.
2. Click Create a new connection, and then click Next.
3. Click Connect to the network at my workplace, and then click Next.
4. Click Virtual Private Network connection, and then click Next.
5. Type a descriptive name for your company, and then click Next.
6. Click Do not dial the initial connection, and then click Next.
7. Type the host name or IP address of the computer where you are connecting, and then click Next.
8. Use one of the following methods:
   • Click Anyone's use if you want to share the connection with all users.
   • Click My use only if you do not want to share the connection.
9. Click Next, and then click Finish.

Note This method works when you are connected to the Internet only. back to the top

Add Your Gmail Account to Outlook 2013 Using IMAP settings

Log into your Gmail account and open the Settings page with gear icon. Click on the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab and make sure IMAP is enabled and click on save changes.

Open Outlook 2013 and go to File tab.

Then, just above the Account Settings button, click Add Account.

Select Manual setup or additional server types.

Then in Choose service select POP or IMAP

Add your user information and for server information,

Account type: IMAP

Incoming mail server: imap.gmail.com

Outgoing mail server (SMTP): smtp.gmail.com

Then add your logon information as below.

Go to More settings and select the Outgoing server tab.Check box next to My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication and select the radio button next to Use same settings as my incoming mail server.

In the same window go to the Advanced tab and verify the following.

Incoming server (IMAP): 993 or 143

Incoming server encrypted connection: SSL

Outgoing server (SMTP): 25 or 465

Outgoing server encrypted connection: TLS

Click OK when finished.

Click Next.

If you've entered everything correctly, both tasks will be completed successfully and you can close the window and again click Next.

You'll get You're all set! message,

Click Finish.

And now you can check your emails through Outlook.

Operating System Differences

	Windows XP	Windows 7	Windows 8
License	Proprietary commercial software	Proprietary commercial software	Proprietary commercial software
Worldwide release	October 25, 2001	October 22, 2009	October 26, 2012
Stable release	April 21, 2008	February 22, 2011	August 1, 2012
Kernel type	Hybrid	Hybrid	Hybrid
Platform support	IA-32, x86-64 and Itanium	IA-32 and x86-64	IA-32, x64, and ARM
Preceded by	Windows 2000 Windows ME	Windows Vista	Windows 7
Succeeded by	Windows Vista	Windows 8	-
Physical Memory Limits	4 GB-128 GB depending on the version and the architecture.	2 – 192 GB depending on the version and architecture.	4 GB -2048 GB depending on architecture.
Processors	32 for 32-bit, 64 for 64-bit	32 for 32-bit, 256 for 64-bit	32 for 32-bit, 256 for 64-bit
New Features	GDI+ graphics subsystem DirectX 8.1 upgradeable to DirectX 9.0c Improved Taskbar New features (task panes, tiles, improved sorting and grouping, built-in CD player, Autoplay, Simple File Sharing, etc.) Kernel enhancements Faster start-up Ability to discard a newer device driver in favor of previous one. More user-friendly interface Fast user switching ClearType Font rendering mechanism. New networking features (Windows Firewall, Internet Connection Sharing integration with UPnP, NAT traversal APIs, Quality of Service features, IPv6 and Teredo tunneling, etc.) Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop features. New security features Side-by-side assemblies Improved media features Handwriting recognition, speech recognition and digital ink support. Improved application compatibility and shims compared to Windows 2000 Updated accessories and games	Touch and handwriting recognition Support for virtual hard disks Improved performance on multi-core processors Improved boot performance DirectAccess Kernel improvements Taskbar New version of Windows Media Center XPS Essential Pack New calculator Jump Lists Show desktop button shifted to right-hand size 13 Additional Sound Schemes Window borders and the taskbar do not turn opaque when a window is maximized Allows more customization A new version of Microsoft Virtual PC, newly renamed as Windows Virtual PC Supports the mounting of a virtual hard disk (VHD) as normal data storage. The Remote Desktop Protocol supports real-time multimedia application. Shadow Copy Improved backup and restore New Extended Linguistic Services API Better support for solid-state drives, including the new TRIM command New networking API with support for building SOAP-based web services in native code.	Faster startup Support of ARM architecture new "Hybrid Boot" mode New lock screen New Start Menu Native USB 3.0 support 4K Advanced Format Microsoft Account Integration Windows Store Windows To Go NFC support Windows Explorer renamed to File Explorer File Explorer includes a ribbon in place of a command bar. Storage Spaces allows combination of different sized hard disks Redesigned Task Manager Additional Security Features (SmartScreen, Security Essentials, Parental Controls, etc) Heavier integration with online services Direct synchronization to SkyDrive App. Xbox branded multi-media apps Internet Explorer 10 as a program and an app. Charms Redesigned Interface and desktop Supports UEFI specification known as ‘Secure boot’.
Removed Features	CD Player, DVDPlayer and Imaging for Windows NetBEUI and NetDDE are deprecated. DLC and AppleTalk network protocols are removed. Plug-and-play–incompatible communication devices are not supported. Service Pack 2 and Service Pack 3 also remove features from Windows XP.	Classic Start Menu user interface Few Taskbar features Windows Explorer features Windows Media Player features InkBall Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Calendar and Windows Mail.	Traditional Start Menu Windows Media Player no longer supports DVDs Windows Media Center as a purchasable option Changes in Backup and Restore Shadow Copy removed

ROUTING PROTOCOLS

IGP versus EGP

§  Interior gateway protocol (IGP)

•      A routing protocol operating within an Autonomous System (AS).

•      RIP, OSPF, and EIGRP are IGPs.

§  Exterior gateway protocol (EGP)

•      A routing protocol operating between different AS.

•      BGP is an interdomain routing protocol (IDRP) and is an EGP.

Autonomous Systems (AS)

§  An AS is a group of routers that share similar routing policies and operate within a single administrative domain.

§  An AS typically belongs to one organization.

§  If an AS connects to the public Internet using an exterior gateway protocol such as BGP, then it must be assigned a unique AS number which is managed by the Internet

Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).

AS Numbers

§  AS numbers can be between 1 to 65,535.

•      RIRs manage the AS numbers between 1 and 64,512.

•      The 64,512 - 65,535 numbers are reserved for private use (similar to IP Private addresses).

•      The IANA is enforcing a policy whereby organizations that connect to a single provider use an AS number from the private pool.

§  Note:

•      The current AS pool of addresses is predicted to run out by 2012.

•      For this reason, the IETF has released RFC 4893 and RFC 5398.

•      These RFCs describe BGP extensions to increase the AS number from the two-octet (16-bit) field to a four-octet (32-bits) field, increasing the pool size from 65,536 to 4,294,967,296 values.

IANA- Internet Assigned Numbers Authority

§  The IANA is responsible for allocating AS numbers through five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs)

Regional Internet Registries

(RIRs)

RIR Name	Geographic Coverage		Link
AfriNIC	Continent of Africa	www.afrinic.net
APNIC
(Asia Pacific Network	Asia Pacific region	www.apnic.net
Information Centre)
ARIN	Canada, the United States,
	and several islands in the
(American Registry for			www.arin.net
	Caribbean Sea and North
Internet Numbers)
	Atlantic Ocean
LACNIC	Central and South America
(Latin America and Caribbean		www.lacnic.net
	and portions of the Caribbean
Internet Addresses Registry)
RIPE	Europe, the Middle East, and		www.ripe.net
(Réseaux IP Européens)	Central Asia

BGP Basics

§  The Internet is a collection of autonomous systems that are interconnected to allow communication among them.

•      BGP provides the routing between these autonomous systems.

§  BGP is a path vector protocol.

§  It is the only routing protocol to use TCP.

•      OSPF and EIGRP operate directly over IP. IS-IS is at the network layer.

•      RIP uses the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) for its transport layer.

BGP Basics

§  BGP version 4 (BGP-4) is the latest version of BGP.

•      Defined in RFC 4271.

•      Supports supernetting, CIDR and VLSM .

§  BGP4 and CIDR prevent the Internet routing table from becoming too large.

•      Without CIDR, the Internet would have 2,000,000 + entries.

•      With CIDR, Internet core routers manage around 300,000 entries.

•      http://bgp.potaroo.net/

The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routes traffic between autonomous systems. An autonomous system is a network or group of networks under common administration and with common routing policies. BGP exchanges routing information for the Internet and is the protocol used between ISPs. Customer networks, such as universities and corporations, usually employ an Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP), such as RIP or OSPF, to exchange routing information within their networks. Customers connect to ISPs, and ISPs use BGP to exchange customer and ISP routes. When BGP is used between autonomous systems, the protocol is referred to as external BGP (eBGP). If a service provider is using BGP to exchange routes within an autonomous system, the protocol is referred to as interior BGP (iBGP).


BGP is a very robust and scalable routing protocol, as evidenced by the fact that it is the routing protocol employed on the Internet. To achieve scalability at this level, BGP uses many route parameters, called attributes, to define routing policies and maintain a stable routing environment. BGP neighbors exchange full routing information when the TCP connection between neighbors is first established. When changes to the routing table are detected, the BGP routers send to their neighbors only those routes that have changed. BGP routers do not send periodic routing updates, and BGP routing updates advertise only the optimal path to a destination network.

MP-BGP

Multiprotocol BGP (MP-BGP) adds capabilities to BGP to enable multicast routing policy throughout the Internet and to connect multicast topologies within and between BGP autonomous systems. That is, MP-BGP is an enhanced BGP that carries IP multicast routes. BGP carries two sets of routes, one set for unicast routing and one set for multicast routing. The routes associated with multicast routing are used by the Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) to build data distribution trees.

eBGP/iBGP

As noted previously, BGP is an interautonomous system routing protocol. When BGP is used between autonomous systems (AS), the protocol is referred to as external BGP (eBGP). If a service provider is using BGP to exchange routes within an AS, then the protocol is referred to as interior BGP (iBGP).

OSPF

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a routing protocol developed for IP networks by the IGP working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It was derived from several research efforts, including a version of OSI's IS-IS routing protocol.

OSPF has two primary characteristics:

•It is an open protocol. Its specification is in the public domain (RFC 1247).

•It is based on the Shortest Path First (SPF) algorithm, sometimes known as the Dijkstra algorithm.

OSPF is a link-state routing protocol that calls for the sending of link-state advertisements (LSAs) to all other routers within the same hierarchical area. Information on attached interfaces, metrics used, and other variables are included in OSPF LSAs. As OSPF routers accumulate link-state information, they use the SPF algorithm to calculate the shortest path to each node.

EIGRP

Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) is Cisco's proprietary routing protocol, based on IGRP. EIGRP is a distance-vector routing protocol, with optimizations to minimize routing instability incurred after topology changes, and the use of bandwidth and processing power in the router. Routers that support EIGRP will automatically redistribute route information to IGRP neighbors by converting the 32-bit EIGRP metric to the 24-bit IGRP metric. Most of the routing optimizations are based on the Diffusing Update Algorithm (DUAL), which guarantees loop-free operation and provides fast router convergence.

RIP

The Routing Information Protocol (RIP) is one of the oldest routing protocols still in wide use. Today's open standard version of RIP, sometimes referred to as IP RIP, is formally defined in RFC 1058 and in STD 56. RIP is a distance-vector routing protocol that uses hop count as a metric. RIP prevents routing loops by implementing a limit on the number of hops allowed in source/destination paths, and also implements split horizon, route poisoning and holddown mechanisms to prevent incorrect routing information from being propagated.

IS-IS

Intermediate system to intermediate system (IS-IS) is a link-state routing protocol. It operates by reliably flooding topology information throughout a network of routers. Each router then builds its own picture of the network's topology. Packets or datagrams are forwarded based on the best topological path through the network; IS-IS uses Dijkstra's algorithm for computing best paths. IS-IS was first defined in ISO/IEC 10589:2002 and was republished in RFC 1142 for the Internet community. IS-IS is an IGP, intended for use within one administrative domain or network only.

VLAN

VLAN implementation combines Layer 2 switching and Layer 3 routing technologies to limit both collision domains and broadcast domains.

VLANs can also be used to provide security by creating the VLAN groups according to function and by using routers to communicate between VLANs. 

A physical port association is used to implement VLAN assignment.

Communication between VLANs can occur only through the router.

This limits the size of the broadcast domains and uses the router to determine whether one VLAN can talk to another VLAN.

NOTE: This is the only way a switch can break up a broadcast domain!