What Is A VPN Tunneling And How To Create A VPN Tunnel In Windows?

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3 years ago

With the growing world of the internet, VPNs have become popular in the digital world as they provide privacy and security to the users while surfing over the internet. In this discussion we will try to cover all the following points:

What is a VPN tunnel and What is the purpose of tunneling?
How to create a VPN tunnel in windows 10?
What are the types of tunneling?
What is the difference between full tunnel VPNs and split tunnel VPNs?
Advantages of split-tunneling VPN?
How a Vpn tunneling failure occurs?

What is tunneling in VPN and What is the purpose of tunneling?

VPN creates a secure passage for the user in which the data is securely transmitted from one end to the other with full confidentiality and it acts as a separate tunnel for the transmission of personal data through the internet. The data transmitted in the VPN tunnel is encrypted using various types of protocols that provide absolute privacy and safety to the user. The common tunneling protocols used in VPN tunneling are PPTP, L2TP/IPsec, SSTP, and open VPN

The purpose of VPN tunneling is to provide safety, security, and privacy to the data transmitted by the users over the internet. It is also implemented in cases when the user did not want to disclose its personal and private activities with the internet service provider and the Government authorities.

What are the types of tunneling?

Generally, the VPN tunnels are categorized into two types:

- Client-based

The client-based VPN tunnels are established between a single user (single user) and a remote network over the internet. A VPN application works at the client-side, which helps the user to connect to the remote network securely and easily. The client-side application is provided to the user by the VPN provider

- Network-based

The other type of VPN tunnel is created between the two networks through the internet which acts as an untrusted network.

On the basis of the Tunneling protocols, there are four commonly used VPN tunnels.

- PPTP

PPTP (Point to Point tunneling protocol) is the oldest VPN tunneling protocol that is still being used today. This was developed by Microsoft. This is among the fastest VPN tunneling protocol due to its low-level encryption.

- IPSec

IPSec is named as the ‘Internet protocol security’. This offers a higher level of encryption than the PPTP. Data encapsulation and AES-256 bit encryption are done to keep the data safe and secure while transmission.

- SSTP

SSTP stands for ‘secure socket tunneling protocol’ and it is compatible with windows systems. Windows users can easily set a VPN tunnel by using this protocol. It provides more compatibility with the firewalls while transmitting the data.

- Open VPN

The last and the most popular tunneling protocol that is popular in recent times is the Open VPN. This is the best protocol that is open source, offers you strong encryption along with the capability to bypass the firewalls. This protocol is compatible with most operating systems such as Windows, Mac, and Android.

What is the difference between a full tunnel and a split tunnel?

Full Tunnel
Split Tunnel

In a full tunnel VPN, all the data is directed from one network to the other network over the internet through the VPN tunnel. Imagine a company that has offices at two different locations. In a full VPN tunnel, all the data is transmitted from the same single VPN tunnel through the internet. This provides the company with the advantage of complete utilization of the tunnel bandwidth. But at the same time, the data which is not much confidential and do not requires security also travels through this VPN. This leads to unnecessary use of the available bandwidth of the tunnel.

The split tunnel connects the internal network of the office with the internet without using a VPN tunnel. So the data is transmitted through the internet without any privacy and security measures. And the other end of the internal network is connected through a VPN tunnel which is used to transmit critical and sensitive data over the internet. Thus the utilization of bandwidth of the tunnel is done in an efficient way.

Advantages of split tunneling

It provides extra security to the data without compromising the internet speed.
It conserves the bandwidth of a VPN connection.
It helps in avoiding congestion over the network.
It also stands useful while network monitoring as the data is prioritized and channelized according to their importance.

Possible reasons that can cause a VPN tunneling failure

- Invalid or wrong server Details.

The client-side and the server-side details do not match up resulting in a VPN tunneling failure.

- Mismatch in the VPN type.

The server-side and the client-side must have the same type of VPN configured. A mismatch can result in a VPN tunneling failure.

- Network errors

Temporary network errors can also lead to the failure of VPN tunneling.

- Firewall restrictions

When the server firewall blocks the ports used by the tunneling protocols, the VPN tunneling failure occurs.

How to create a VPN tunnel in windows 10?

Click on the ‘start’ button and select the ‘settings’ option.
After selecting the ‘settings’ option, go to the ‘network and internet’ and select the ‘VPN’ option.
Select the ‘Add VPN’ option and insert the following details:
1. Select the ‘Windows(Built-in)’ for the ‘VPN provider’ option
2. Enter the ‘connection name’ that you can remember for a long time for your VPN connection
3. Just enter the Name of the VPN server in the ‘server Name’.
4. Next, choose a ‘VPN type’, that is being used by your VPN provider for the VPN services.
5. At last, choose a type of ‘sign-in info’ that would be required to connect the VPN services. You can insert your credential such as username and password here.
Click on ‘Save’.

Congratulations you have successfully configured your VPN connection.

Conclusion

In this discussion, We tried to help you understand all the facts and findings related to the VPN tunnels. We had covered all the points such as the types of VPN tunneling, the difference between split and full tunneling, the advantages of split tunneling along with the possible causes of VPN tunneling failure. We hope this article will stand out helpful for you regarding VPN tunneling.