Can I use every (at least the most popular) VPN Client to connect to every VPN network ?
In other words is the VPN protocol standardized?

Or must the VPN Client fit to the VPN server ?

If client must fit to the server: How do I find out the server product name
(without asking the admin) ?

Martin

No, they are not all the same. Just within Microsoft you can use either PPTP
or L2TP depending on how the server is set up. There are also VPN clients
from Nortel, Cisco and others.

Don't even think about attaching to a network without informing the system
administrator. He'll need to provide you with credentials and the network
information.

"Martin Caldwell" wrote:

> Can I use every (at least the most popular) VPN Client to connect to every VPN network ?
> In other words is the VPN protocol standardized?
>
> Or must the VPN Client fit to the VPN server ?
>
> If client must fit to the server: How do I find out the server product name
> (without asking the admin) ?
>
> Martin
>
>

Mike Chiodo <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> No, they are not all the same. Just within Microsoft you can use
> either PPTP or L2TP depending on how the server is set up. There are
> also VPN clients from Nortel, Cisco and others.

And worse: Even though Nortel, Cisco, Checkpoint etc. all use the IPSEC
standard for their VPN implementations, it's often quite hard (and
sometimes downright impossible) to use an IPSEC-Client from Company A
to an IPSEC Router from company B :-)

Juergen Nieveler
--
I'm terribly sorry, but I absolutely refuse to apologize

To add to the others comments, if your looking for a good cross OS VPN
client/server combination you might be interested in OpenVPN...

http://openvpn.net/

--
Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...


"Martin Caldwell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:445a5591$0$11074$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Can I use every (at least the most popular) VPN Client to connect to every
> VPN network ?
> In other words is the VPN protocol standardized?
>
> Or must the VPN Client fit to the VPN server ?
>
> If client must fit to the server: How do I find out the server product
> name
> (without asking the admin) ?
>
> Martin
>