The Seville, Spain site is a Nursery growing plants for distribution to the retail stores. It has become, by necessity, a distribution site, implementing the same distribution procedures as other distribution sites. Basically, a computer running Windows NT Server will be installed at the Seville, Spain site, along with other computers running Windows NT Workstation, in order to computerize the manual processes. Computerizing the Seville, Spain site will also allow Nursery personnel to focus on tasks other than the tasks performed by the computers at other nursery and distribution sites.
Remote Access Service (RAS) has been offered with Windows NT Server since the product was introduced. A RAS server is usually connected to a PSTN, ISDN or X.25 line allowing remote users to access a various network servers. RAS now allows remote users access through the Internet by using the new Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP). For detailed information on RAS, see the Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Networking Supplement, Chapter 5, "Understanding Remote Access Service," Chapter 6, "Installing and Configuring Remote Access Service" and Chapter 7, "RAS Security."
At Terra Flora, PPTP will be installed to enable remote users to access corporate networks securely across the Internet by dialing into an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or by connecting directly to the Internet. PPTP offers the following advantages:
PPTP uses the Internet as a connection instead of a long-distance telephone number or 800 service. This can greatly reduce transmission costs.
With PPTP, network administrators centrally manage and secure their remote access networks at the RAS server. They need to manage only user accounts instead of supporting complex hardware configurations.
Above all, the PPTP connection over the Internet is encrypted and secure, and it works with any protocol (including, IP, IPX, and NetBEUI).
PPTP provides a way to route Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) packets over an IP, IPX or NetBEUI network. Since PPTP allows multiprotocol encapsulation, Terra Flora can send any type of packet over the network.
PPTP treats the existing corporate network as a PSTN, ISDN, or X.25 network. This virtual WAN is supported through public carriers, such as the Internet.
Compare PPTP to the other WAN protocols: When using PSTN, ISDN, or X.25, a remote access client establishes a PPP connection with a RAS server over a switched network. After the connection is established, PPP packets are sent over the switched connection to the RAS servers to be routed to the destination LAN.
In contrast, when using PPTP instead of a switched connection to send packets over the WAN, a transport protocol such as TCP/IP is used to send the PPP packets to the RAS server over the virtual WAN.
The end benefit for the corporation is a savings in transmission costs by using the Internet rather than long distance dial-up connections.