The Lan Interconnection use case covers the need of small office remote users who need to be permanently connected to a main LAN. At fridu.org we think that remote offices must stay operational even if the DSL link is down. To achieve this independence, we propose an IP interconnection and not an Ethernet bridge mode as covered in the roaming user use case.
Application examples
- Send and receive professional mails via the official company gateway
- Access to the company directory, Intranet and internal applications
- Share common files and unify backups
- Phone free using the office VoIP system and join multicast video conference
- Support remote users through a VNC session
- Control access to the internet though enforced proxy (Internet through a unique point is unrealistic with ADSL access at the server side)
The preferred fridu.org solution for remote LAN interconnection is an IP connectivity. In that model the remote LAN is virtually routed on the main office LAN for the duration of the VPN session. As the connection is done at IP level (one level over Ethernet) we need to build routing tables to make remote and main office LAN visible from each side.
The beauty of OpenVPN is the provision of a full IP interconnection over a NAT and/or a HTTP proxy. It will enable the control the Internet traffic going out of the remote offices without requiring to get all Internet traffic routed through the main office internet access. Remember that in our use case we assume that connection are done via DSL which generally provide asynchroneous connectivity with a limited bandwidth on the upstream.
As we route over IP, protection can be provided by regular firewalls. Firewall will also be used to force all internet traffic to transit through the local HTTP proxy.
The detailled configurations are given in our Wiki. You are welcomed to add your experience there
