VPN Guidance NEW Setup

Need some guidance to setup a small office vpn for staff RDP from home/network share access.

We strongly recommend just using the built-in L2TP VPN with Windows. It’s simple and works great with Windows and Mac/iOS. Best of all, it’s just part of your Windows license, so no extra costs. Yes, there are some options out there with more bells and a sleeker interface, but this just works. Here’s a basic guide (not mine):

If you have a firewall that supports a good SSL VPN like SonicWall, Fortigate or ASA those are also worth investigating. Often the client setup process is so easy end-users can complete it without much more than a 1 page document, and they tend to be the most reliable at connecting on strange networks.

L2TP over IPSec is a good option as well, just be sure to disable the less secure options like PPTP and be aware that SSTP can cause problems if you have IIS installed on the same machine, so I generally recommend a dedicated Windows VM for VPN functionality rather than re-using another box with an important function.