Need help designing and installing VPN

We are an elementary school with two campuses. We want to set up a site-to-site VPN so that all computers on both campuses appear to be on a single network. We also need to allow occasional external users to connect to the network for things like remote troubleshooting.

I don't know much about this stuff, so I need someone who can help us

1. Figure out what we need
2. Recommend what appliances to buy
3. Help us set it all up

We're in Berkeley/El Cerrito, California. Remote might work. Know anyone?

--johnt

I'n in San Jose CA, a couple hours away.  I go fishing on the pier once in awhile.

If you are getting gears from techsoup, then get the cisco 1811 since the 1841 doesnt comes with the IOS image for VPN.  Or you can get two cisco ASA firewall.

Site to Site VPN is getting easier now thanks to the GUI.

And remote access can be setup with a few clicks of the mouse button.

I can send you the configuration if you send me your requirement and ip topology.

Quynh

Thanks, Quynh! I am not sure what to send you. The requirements are:

• Users at either site need to be able to share files, printers and other resources.
• Ideally, machines should be accessible from the opposite site via mDNS (Bonjour, aka ZeroConf). I heard this is not possible.
• Support people (me!) need to access machines at either site from offsite (home.)
• We do not have very much support, so "set and forget" is what we need.
• We need to document the setup so that when I leave, the next person can continue maintenance.

I don't know what IP topology means. Maybe this info will help:

• We have Comcast with a static IP at both sites
• There is a cheap router at both sites.
• We have a switch at one site – not sure about the other site.

Thanks!

--johnt

You probably want something like...

Site A network = 10.1.1.0 /24 with remote vpn user network =10.10.1.0 /24

Site B network = 10.1.2.0 /24

If you have a cheap vpn router then you can do something like...

Site A network/VPN users = 10.1.1.0 /24

Site B network/VPN users = 10.1.2.0 /24

The only document I can think of is the administrator user name/password to the hardware, because technically it is just a virtual cable between two sites(not much to document).

One option:

step 1: buy a couple of Cisco PIXes from TS Stock
step 2: follow this how to guide