Certificates Usage and L2TP/IPSec

[Chris]

When attempting to establish an L2TP/IPSec VPN over the
Internet between a remote W2K Prof. remote client and a
corporate W2K Server, (both behind Linksys DSL/VPN
Routers) is it mandatory that the same certificate be
used on both systems? If so, where and how does one
obtain the certificate and in which certificate store
must it reside?

Does the use of Preshared Keys as the Authentication
Method within the IP Security Policies on both the client
and server negate the need to use certificates?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Oliver Saal [MS]]

The certificate should be signed and validated by the same CA (certificate
authority). Essentially, this can be met by having the same certificate on
each machine. For L2TP/IPSEC, the certificates should be placed in the Local
Machine store. Preshared-key authentication does not require the use of
certificates.