Intranet question for gurus out there

[scrapplesauce]

I am setting up an intranet for a company, and im worried about security. They have 5 locations around the country that need to access the intranet. What are my options as far as putting the intranet behind the router and making it work with the other 5 locations around the country. What other options do I have? a URL with a walkthrough would be cool...

Let me know..

 

[Alptraum]

It depends on a number of things. Basically you want a dedicated hardware firewall. These can get pricey. For most projects I have done I have generally used something from the Cisco PIX line or Novell BorderManager servers. Sometimes a Unix based server solution. A router is not what you want to be your security device for the most part. Though you will probably want to use some settings on it for security. But its not really your main defence, just a part of it.

WAN type network security can get pretty complicated and I am not sure of a tutorial out there for it. What kind of knowledge do you have? If you are starting from scratch on network security I am not sure where to point you for a "walkthrough". However, if you have more specific questions I may be able to help (depends on the platform).

 

[mikecel79]

We need more information about their network. Like how is it layed out? Is it NAT? Does each location have access to the other locations? Sounds like your just beginning here. I don't want to scare you but setting up network security is complicated stuff. Your not going to find a walkthrough somewhere for this type of thing because each network is going to be different.

 

[hausdave]

If you want to do it cheaply and easily just put a sonicwall (or similar security appliance) with VPN support at each location and establish a VPN connection between each location. I am a huge fan of the Cisco PIX but it is costly and chances are that if you are asking this question it may prove difficult to install and configure.