Help me w/ my networking project

can u guys help me making a WAN.. my plan is to make 2 LANS.. lets say 2 computer shops in different places.. i need to know how will the 2 shop can have connection.. can u tell me how will i do it and what hardwares needed.. well its just a concept.. so its not the real thing i only need to know how to do it.. thanx..

where are these two shops? like across town? if so, you need a vpn. some routers have built in vpn servers; otherwise, you need to install a vpn server in one of the location. i still recommend a router-based vpn solution.

yah.. like that.. but im not familiar w/ vpn.. i need to explain to my prof how the two shop got connected.. can u explain to me how will i configure the said vpn router? and what router do the 2nd shop need..

In networking terms, each LAN must be its own subnet, meaning that it must have its own unique range of addresses with a unique subnet mask.

Combining two or more LANs is a process known as bridging. This is typically done with a router or a switch. However, since you are talking about two remote LANs, you are not able to physically connect them to the same router. This is why a VPN is required.

A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is a (generally, hardware based) solution that allows local access to a remote network. Commonly, this technology is used to add a remote computer, such as a home office, so that it has "local" access to the LAN in the office.

Using this same VPN technology you can combine multiple LANs by bridging across the VPN. Most enterprise level routers and gateways already provide this ability. You can set up a VPN with this hardware by logging in to the router and setting the VPN options. In most cases, you only need to provide the destination IP address and login credentials.

adding to what nilpo wrote, with a hardware-based vpn (router to router), all the client computers will be oblivious to the vpn connection. as far as they are concerned, they are merely communicating w/ computers on the same physical network.

although enterprise-class routers offer this functionality; you can, however, get this same functionality from linux-based firewalls like smoothwall, pfsense, monowall, ipcop, and endian. some soho routers by dlink, netgear, and linksys may offer these features as well while still being affordable to the average consumer.

ok.. i saw the guide of vpn routers.. as far as i understand it.. ill config a vpn router at the
1st shop.. then the second shop will use a IPSsec Client Software (ex. SSH Sentinel) so the workstation at the 2nd shop can connect to the tunnel of the first shop.. so will i do it vice versa so the first shop can connect to the 2nd shop? one more question.. can the 2 shops connect to each other in terms of gaming?? or just sharing files? thanx!!

i would avoid using client software to connect to the vpn as you're not going to have an efficient vpn. if you use a router-to-router vpn, you would configure the router at each location w/ the same information and then you're done.

as far as gaming, it depends on your connection. if you're using standard broadband, you're upload speed will be around .5-2 mbps. it would probably only be good enough for sharing files, and not really large files for that fact.

ok lets say ill do it vpn router to router.. and u said ill put the same information in both routers.. my question is how similar the information will be.. ill be putting the vpn router setting.. please tell me what will i put in both router's setting.. its best if u put ip addresses as example in both router settings. so i can understand it clearly.. thanx!!

this tunnel:enable or disable

tunnel name:

local secure group: subnet ip:xxx.xxx.xxx.x
mask:255.255.255.x

Remote secure group: Any<--this Gateway accepts request from any ip address.

Remote security gateway:Any<--this Gateway accepts request from any ip address.

Encryption: *DES *3DES *disable (3des)

Authentication: *MD5 *SHA *disable (MD5)

Key Management: Auto.(IKE)

PFS(perfect forward secrecy) checked

Pre-shared Key: xxxxxxxxxxx

Key lifetime: 3600 Sec.

it depends on the manufacturer of the router you set up. my suggestion would be to create two smoothwall firewalls and just create a vpn between them. this way you'll get some actual practice and experience doing it.

that configuration is linksys vpn router.. i'll just defend it tomorrow at school.. i just want to know how exactly will i config the 2 routers for them to have connection. i gave the configuration.. all i want to know is how what configuration will i do to the 2 routers.

just look at the manual for the router. i'm sure you can pull it up on the linksys website.

you really need to test this vpn so you don't make yourself look like a fool at your class. theoretically, everything should work; but, if you can show your teacher you actually setup a vpn, he won't have any doubts about your work.

thats the problem.. i dont have the router.. this is just like a documented report.. we'll just assume that the router we used is linksys vpn router.. thats why im asking here because we dont have the manual!!