Case studies at the Center
Continuing series...
Subject:
Case Study: Inexpensive but secure Cougar VPN™ Solutions
Build a good VPN using a powerful, but inexpensive product
February 20, 2003
Premise: Edmonton H.F. Realties was looking to move frame relay to a multisite IP Security (IPSec)-based VPN in 2002.
Why this one matters
With already-existing technology at the right price, many large companies get
creative and build their own custom systems, such as routers, firewalls or VPN gear.
Inexpensive but
secure Internet solutions
developed by GCIS are proving to be valuable
tools for businesses that have taken the build-it-yourself approach when it comes to
some network systems.
When Edmonton H.F. Realties in Alberta was looking to move frame relay to a multisite IP Security (IPSec)-based VPN last year, Ted Hopinger, the network administrator for the company, was charged with rolling out the network. He first had companies such as Cisco Systems Inc., Check Point Software Technologies Inc. and Nokia Corp. in mind for implementing the company's firewall and VPN infrastructure. Then he was told that he would have to set up the network as inexpensively as possible.
"Why pay $25,000 to $40,000 on firewall products, which require a lot of work and are not 100 per cent secure anyway?" he says. Instead, he decided to experiment with Linux-based PCs and a small VPN package called Cougar VPN™ (Virtual Private Network) developed by the General Center for Internet Services Inc. (GCIS). In the same family as industry-standard Proxy Sentinel™ secure proxy Internet servers, Cougar VPN™ from GCIS is a truly secure VPN gateway used by hundreds of companies worldwide. He used inexpensive, surplus PCs the company had in storage (Pentium I, 133-MHz and Pentium II, 400-MHz machines).
"When I said we had most of the hardware already to build the network and that Cougar VPN™ is a software solution costing less than $ 6,000 management liked that idea," he says. Cougar VPN™ is a package that can be installed on Linux servers and lets them act as site-to-site and secure, remote-access VPN gateways. The software can be used to establish private connections between two networks over the Internet or to connect PCs with a Windows XP VPN client to the corporate network.
Hopinger then had the challenge of bringing T-1 WAN connectivity hardware to the machines. "Since most people don't plug a T-1 connection directly into a PC," Hopinger says, there were limited products from which to choose. He chose US $850 T-1 cards from Sangoma Technologies, which makes modules that fit into a PC's PCI bus and supported Linux drivers for the hardware.
One key in making the VPN work inexpensively, Hopinger says, was a good working knowledge of Linux. He had experience working with Linux from his college days, which helped when he had to configure and tweak the Linux software on the machines where Cougar VPN™ was installed to get the Sangoma cards to work with the operating system.
The result of the project was a savings of several thousand dollars per month for Edmonton H.F. Realties by switching from point-to-point frame relay service to an Internet service and using Cougar VPN™ to connect over encrypted IP Sec tunnels.
As an added bonus and in addition to using Cougar VPN™ to securely connect remote offices, users are putting Linux in as a firewall to keep out network intruders.
The General Center for Internet Services can carefully design and build a flexible and powerful VPN that will be appropriate for any industry. Upon contact, your GCIS technical representative will be more than happy to visit you and propose the best VPN solution for your company or organization.
Document revised August 1st, 2003
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