Remote Access Step-by-Step Guide: Deploying Remote Access with VPN Reconnect is now available

Does your organization use virtual private networks (VPNs) to allow remote users to access the organization’s private network from the Internet? Have you ever been frustrated when your VPN drops simply because you switched from a wired to a wireless connection? How about when the VPN is lost just because you move your laptop between rooms (and wireless access points), forcing you to manually reconnect and wait for all the security checks to process yet again?

Well fret no more! The cure for this frustration is coming in the form of VPN Reconnect, a new feature in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. VPN Reconnect uses Internet Key Exchange version 2 (IKEv2) Internet Protocol security (IPsec) technology to create a VPN tunnel that can handle short network outages. When network connectivity is restored, so is the VPN!

To see this in action, check out the Remote Access Step-by-Step Guide: Deploying Remote Access with VPN Reconnect, a new document that guides you through setting up 3 computers running the Release Candidate versions of Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. The guide demonstrates VPN Reconnect functionality on a simulated Internet with a remote client running Windows 7, and a private network consisting of a Routing and Remote Access VPN server and an Active Directory domain controller, both running Windows Server 2008 R2. You can set up the lab with either real computers or virtual machines.

Shout for joy, all those frustrated by VPN drops because of brief network glitches! Relief is here!

Dave Bishop
Senior Technical Writer
Windows Server User Assistance Networking Writing Team