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Remote Access Protocols and email Protocols

  1. PPTP: Encapsulates other protocols for transmission over an IP network and can be used to set up a VPN
  2. SLIP: Provides dial-up access to the Internet between two LANs and does not encrypt passwords
  3. IMAP: Stores messages until users log on and download them and allows archiving of messages in folders
  4. MIME: Identifies the type of information in a message or document and is used by email readers and Web servers
  5. POP3: Allows users to download email via email clients and is not encrypted
  6. SMTP: Sends and forwards email to and between email servers over the Internet and is not encrypted

Remote Access Servers

Setting up remote access servers and connections in Windows can be somewhat overwhelming and confusing if you do not understand the protocol configuration options involved.
You have a number of remote access protocol options to choose from, and deciding which ones to use will depend on 1) the functionality you need, 2) your system configuration, and 3) your hardware and communications capabilities. To help make sense of all these options, we will take a look at the categories of protocols and the advantages and disadvantages of the various protocols within each one.

Categories and choices

First, you need to consider two distinct methods of remote access, each of which uses different protocols:
  1. Dial-up
  2. Virtual private networking (VPN)

Within each method, there are three basic categories for protocols:
  1. Connectivity
  2. Authentication
  3. Data encryption
In making decisions about which protocol to use, you must remember four things.
  1. First, you want the best security you can provide for the remote session.
  2. You want authentication to be encrypted so that someone who is packet sniffing cannot see it, and
  3. You want the data that is passed in the remote session to be encrypted for the same reason.
  4. Older systems and their associated protocols are less capable in terms of encryption than newer systems, so you need to be aware of when it may be necessary to use the older protocols and what you are sacrificing when you do.