Help with VPN

[TheCableGuy]

Is it possible to set up a virtual private network from one win98 machine to another, or do you have to "dial-in to an NT machine? If it is only NT, does it have to be Server or is Professional able to take on remote clients?

 

[PC Freak]

A virtual private network (VPN) is a private data network that makes use of the public telecommunication infrastructure, maintaining privacy through the use of a tunneling protocol and security procedures. A virtual private network can be contrasted with a system of owned or leased lines that can only be used by one company. The idea of the VPN is to give the company the same capabilities at much lower cost by using the shared public infrastructure rather than a private one. Phone companies have provided secure shared resources for voice messages. A virtual private network makes it possible to have the same secure sharing of public resources for data. Companies today are looking at using a private virtual network for both extranet and wide-area intranet.
Using a virtual private network involves encrypting data before sending it through the public network and decrypting it at the receiving end. An additional level of security involves encrypting not only the data but also the originating and receiving network addresses. Microsoft, 3Com, and several other companies have developed the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) and Microsoft has extended Windows NT to support it. VPN software is typically installed as part of a company's firewall server.

This is a quick run down of VPN from whatis.com. I didn't want to try and break it all out, i've been up for 22hrs. 🙂 So I figured cut & paste would be ok for now.