Buzz Issue: VPN study plan, 09/11/00

Error 404--Not Found

From RFC 2068 Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1:

10.4.5 404 Not Found

The server has not found anything matching the Request-URI. No indication is given of whether the condition is temporary or permanent.

If the server does not wish to make this information available to the client, the status code 403 (Forbidden) can be used instead. The 410 (Gone) status code SHOULD be used if the server knows, through some internally configurable mechanism, that an old resource is permanently unavailable and has no forwarding address.

Error 404--Not Found

From RFC 2068 Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1:

10.4.5 404 Not Found

The server has not found anything matching the Request-URI. No indication is given of whether the condition is temporary or permanent.

spin headline

Here’s a look at 10 additional technologies circulating through the industry spin cycle.

By Network World Staff
Network World, 09/11/00

VPN study plan

Listen to the vendor chatter, and you'd find no reason not to adopt VPN technology. After all, VPNs can save you money and deliver a fully meshed network that connects your corporate sites. Roaming users can tap in to the VPN as long as they can connect to the Internet. Branch offices that never warranted dedicated enterprise connections, and even telecommuters, can connect via dedicated and inexpensive DSL links, the vendors say.

But beware, VPNs are complicated and still require tremendous diligence.

Look at the case for replacing dial-up remote access with a VPN. How do you distribute, update and manage remote clients? Some vendors, such as Indus River, are developing sophisticated clients. But other vendors still lack appropriate management tools.

How do you make sure the people calling in are authorized? User names and passwords, security tokens and digital certificates are all possibilities. But these options need to be integrated with tools such as RADIUS servers and directories. If you opt for digital certificates, do you manage them yourself or use a third-party certificate authority? These are difficult choices that require thorough checking of vendor options.

Linking one site to another is another attractive VPN option, and some products are better at it than others. Again, you need to do your homework. Can VPN servers designed for large sites share loads and back up each other without losing sessions? Can they route well enough to fully mesh your sites?

You may decide that VPNs are just too complicated and opt for buying a managed VPN service. In that case, you have to decide how much control to forfeit. For example, you could let the service provider handle all security, or you could control user authentication and authorization.

- Tim Greene

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