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I s s u e 1 . 0 , A p r i l 2 0 0 6
Site to Site VPNs
Traditionally, connecting two branch offices of the same company required leasing a dedicated
private circuit or a frame relay permanent virtual circuit (PVC) between two locations. By using
virtual private networking (VPN) to link two offices together, as show above, can offer
considerable savings, while offering a competitive alternative to leased lines or PVCs.
Basic Terms and concepts
• VPN Tunnel: VPN tunnels are created from site to site pair and secure encrypted connection
between two points thru a public or third party network.
• Encryption: Is a mathematical operation that transforms data from "clear text" (something that
a human or a program can interpret) to "cipher test" (something that cannot be interpreted).
Usually the mathematical operation requires that an alphanumeric "key" be supplied along with
the clear text. The key and clear text are processed by the encryption operation which leads to the
data scrambling that makes encryption secure. Decryption is the opposite of encryption: it is the
mathematical operation that transforms cipher text to clear text. Decryption also requires a key.
• Authentication: Before any communication can be called private, each party must know the
identity of the other. The same holds true for secure network communication: One network
system must make sure that the other network system is the intended correspondent. The process
of such identity verification is called authentication.
©2006 Charles Industries, Ltd.
All rights reserved. Printed in United States of America.
The availability of features and technical specifications herein subject to change without notice.
89
Section 364-180-N02
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