RE: VPN server -- MIDRANGE-L

Steve:
As usual, it depends.  We have had some great and not so great
experiences with DSL.  At my home, our old office and one of our clients
we had a "bridged" DSL connection (BellSouth).  Basically you talk
directly to a DHCP server via the DSL modem.  Can be connected to a DSL
router or a PC with an Ethernet card.  Renew and release IP address, you
keep the same address, get a 12 hr lease on it, basically like having a
static IP address as long as you are not down for more than 12 hours.
This technology works very well.  Have had DSL in my house using this
scenario and have not lost my IP address in years.  Same situation at a
school we support, they run their mail and web server and it has been
rock solid.  Had the same at my old office, then we moved our office and
was told the "bridged" DSL was not available.  Bell South uses PPPoE,
which simulates a dial up PPP connection via the ethernet.  Found this
to be too unstable.  Lots of line drops, crappy reconnects.  Not very
condusive to running servers, since your IP address will change every
connection over the PPPoE.  After 2 months of constantly changing the
DNS entries of our "new" address, we chucked the DSL and put in a T1.
Of cause the T1 cost much more than the DSL, so you get what you pay
for.  Several DSL vendors will offer "business" DSL, at much higher
prices with guaranteed bandwidth and static IP addresses.  Be careful
with your DSL vendor as many have gone under the past year, leaving
their subscribers high and dry.  I like DSL for small remote office
connections, or as a back up to a T1 or private FR network.  For the
money, you can not beat DSL.  I like the ability to VPN from my home
over a DSL line to my office network (over T1).  It is just like sitting
in the office, except for the cold beer in my hand...... Ssshhhh, don't
tell the boss!  :)
cjg

Carl J. Galgano
EDI Consulting Services, Inc.
550 Kennesaw Avenue, Suite 800
Marietta, GA  30060
(770) 422-2995 - voice
(419) 730-8212 - fax
mailto:cgalgano@ediconsulting.com
http://www.ediconsulting.com
AS400 EDI, Networking, E-Commerce and Communications Consulting and
Implementation
http://www.icecreamovernight.com
Premium Ice Cream Brands shipped Overnight
FREE AS/400 Timesharing Service -
http://www.ediconsulting.com/timeshare.html
"You ain't gonna learn what you don't want to know" - rw



Our current topology is frame relay, cisco routers, T1 from central
office to the frame cloud, branch offices use expensive and slow
64kb/128kb connections to the cloud.

Any thoughts on replacing the cloud with router to router vpn over the
internet ?

Esp where less expensive, higher speed DSL is used to connect the remote
branches to the internet.

Is DSL too unreliable for business use ?

Thanks,

Steve Richter