A virtual private network (VPN) is the extension of a private network that encompasses links across shared or public networks like the Internet. With a VPN, you can send data between two computers across a shared or public network in a manner that emulates a point-to-point private link. Virtual private networking is the act of creating and configuring a virtual private network.
To emulate a point-to-point link, data is encapsulated, or wrapped, with a header that provides routing information, which allows the data to traverse the shared or public network to reach its endpoint. To emulate a private link, the data is encrypted for confidentiality. Data that is intercepted on the shared or public network is indecipherable without the encryption keys. The link in which the private data is encapsulated and encrypted is a VPN connection.
VPN connections allow users who work at home or travel to obtain a remote access connection to an organization server using the infrastructure provided by a public network such as the Internet. From the users perspective, the VPN is a point-to-point connection between the computer, the VPN client, and an organization server (the VPN server). The exact infrastructure of the shared or public network is irrelevant, because it appears as if the data is sent over a dedicated private link.
VPN connections also allow organizations to have routed connections with other organizations over a public network, such as the Internet, while maintaining secure communications (for example, between offices that are geographically separate). A routed VPN connection across the Internet logically operates as a dedicated wide area network (WAN) link.
By using the ISA Server computer as the VPN server, you can manage site-to-site VPN connections and VPN client access to the corporate network. VPN clients can be quarantined by ISA Server in the Quarantined VPN Clients network, until their compliance with corporate security requirements is verified, and can then be moved to the VPN Clients network. Both of these VPN client networks are subject to your ISA Server firewall access policy, so that you can control VPN client access to network resources. For example, you can allow quarantined clients access to only the resources needed to restore their security compliance. For more information about the implementation of VPN client quarantine for ISA Server, see Quarantine Control in this document. For information about how to configure Quarantine Control, see Quarantine Control Procedures in this document.
All VPN connections to the ISA Server computer are logged to the Firewall log, so that you can monitor VPN connections.
ISA Server enables VPN client access using Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) over Internet Protocol security (IPSec), which is superior from a security standpoint to the standard Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) commonly used by VPN servers.
VPN Connections
There are two types of VPN connections:
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Remote access VPN connection
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Site-to-site VPN connection
Remote access VPN connection
A remote access client makes a remote access VPN connection that connects to a private network. ISA Server provides access to the entire network to which the VPN server is attached.
Site-to-site VPN connection
A router makes a site-to-site VPN connection that connects two portions of a private network. ISA Server provides a connection to the network to which the ISA Server computer is attached. Configuration of site-to-site VPN connections is described in the document Site-to-Site VPN in ISA Server 2004 (download solution documents from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?linkid=20746).
VPN Protocols
There are two VPN protocols for roaming client connections:
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Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)
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Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP)
PPTP
Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) is a network protocol that enables the secure transfer of data from a remote client to a private enterprise server by creating a VPN across TCP/IP-based data networks. PPTP supports on-demand, multi-protocol, virtual private networking over public networks such as the Internet. PPTP allows IP traffic to be encrypted, and then encapsulated in an IP header to be sent across a corporate IP network or a public IP network such as the Internet.
L2TP
Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) is an industry-standard Internet tunneling protocol that provides encapsulation for sending Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) frames across packet-oriented media. L2TP allows IP traffic to be encrypted, and then sent over any medium that supports point-to-point datagram delivery, such as IP. The Microsoft implementation of L2TP uses Internet Protocol security (IPSec) encryption to protect the data stream from the VPN client to the VPN server. IPSec tunnel mode allows IP packets to be encrypted, and then encapsulated in an IP header to be sent across a corporate IP network or a public IP network such as the Internet.
PPTP connections require only user-level authentication through a PPP-based authentication protocol. L2TP/IPSec connections require the same user-level authentication and, in addition, computer-level authentication using computer certificates.
Quarantine Control
Quarantine Control provides phased network access for remote (VPN) clients by restricting them to a quarantine mode before allowing them access to the network. After the client computer configuration is either brought into or determined to be in accordance with your organizations specific quarantine restrictions, standard VPN policy is applied to the connection, in accordance with the type of quarantine you specify. Quarantine restrictions might specify, for example, that specific antivirus software is installed and enabled while connected to your network. Although Quarantine Control does not protect against attackers, computer configurations for authorized users can be verified and, if necessary, corrected before they can access the network. A timer setting is also available, which you can use to specify an interval at which the connection is dropped if the client fails to meet configuration requirements.
With ISA Server, you can select how to enable quarantine mode:
- Enable quarantine mode, using Routing and Remote Access. This option is available only when ISA Server is installed on a computer running a member of the Microsoft® Windows Server 2003 family. When you select the Quarantine according to RADIUS Server policies option, then when a VPN client attempts to connect, ISA Server determines if the client will be subject to quarantine. After the client clears quarantine, the client unconditionally joins the VPN Clients network.
- Enable quarantine mode, using ISA Server. This option provides use of the Quarantined VPN Clients network, for which you can set firewall policy. This option does not require Routing and Remote Access functionality, and therefore is available when ISA Server is installed on a computer running a member of the Windows® 2000 Server family.
You can also choose to disable quarantine mode.
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For VPN connections to be established using ISA Server policies, you must disable the quarantine feature in the remote access policies (RAPs) that could be stored in a Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) server or a Windows authentication provider.
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To do so, open Computer Management, and expand the Routing and Remote Access node. Select Remote Access Policies. In the details pane, double-click each policy to open its properties, and select Edit Profile. On the Advanced tab, remove MS-Quarantine-IPFilter and MS-Quarantine-Session-Timeout from the attributes list, and then click OK.
For more information about Quarantine Control in ISA Server, see Quarantine Control Procedures in this document.
VPN Client Credentials
The credentials received by ISA Server when a user connects through a VPN client connection can vary depending on the connection scenario, as follows:
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When a user establishes a VPN connection from a client computer, ISA Server associates those credentials with the connection. If other users use that connection, ISA Server will not receive their credentials, but will continue to associate the traffic with the credentials used to establish the connection. This would be the case if users use Terminal Services to connect to the client computer, and then make requests over the VPN connection. Another example is if the client computer is configured to act as a NAT device, allowing the VPN connection to be shared among many users on different computers.
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When the computer that hosts a VPN client connection, or the computers behind it, have a properly installed and configured firewall client, those computers will join the VPN Clients network, but ISA Server receives the credentials of each user, rather than the credentials of the host computer.
Virus Infected VPN Clients
VPN client computers that are infected with viruses are not automatically blocked from flooding the ISA Server computer (or the networks it protects) with requests. To prevent this occurrence, implement monitoring practices to detect anomalies such as alerts or unusual peaks in traffic loads, and configure alert notification by e-mail. If an infected VPN client computer is identified, perform one of the following:
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Restrict VPN access by user name by using the remote access policy (RAP) to exclude the user from the VPN clients who are allowed to connect.
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Restrict VPN access by IP address. Do this by creating a new network to contain external IP addresses that are blocked, and move the IP address of the client out of the External network to the new network.