So the obvious advantages of using a VPN aren't so obvious in a Domino environment, and the security risk of having Domino servers communicate over the Internet turns out to be not such a security risk after all. This might lead you to a simple conclusion: you really don't need a VPN.

Not so fast.

Administration, not communication
While there's no compelling case for using a VPN for Domino server communications, the situation is different when you look at the need for remote Domino server administration. Here, the VPN truly does provide a sound value proposition in certain situations.

Domino administrators are a precious quantity, and a company with three sites (and three matching Domino servers) might well find itself in the position of being able to afford (or find) only one Domino administrator. In such a case, the Domino administrator faces the task of monitoring three servers in three different locations.

Of course, many Domino administration tasks can be performed within the Domino administration interface. For instance, administering groups in the Public Address Book is usually performed centrally at a site, and the remote server console can let an administrator issue server commands remotely with native Domino capacities. But establishing a VPN connection to a Domino server allows you to access the server not only through Domino, but also at a file level. As administrators know, this can be immensely helpful when troubleshooting. For instance, if you suspect the problem with the server is that the uninstall procedure for some other software has removed a needed Dynamic Link Library (DLL), you can simply replace the DLL on the remote server over the VPN [although tinkering with DLLs over a network is always a risky business and DominoPower does not recommend it. --DG]. If that remote Domino server distributes static HTML pages, you can administer those as well, even if the server is in a different country. You can even back up files over the VPN to a local server.

Remote administration capabilities can be extended even further with the use of remote administration software, such as PCAnywhere and Remotely Possible. Every seasoned Domino administrator has encountered a situation that can be cured only by restarting the Domino server or, in some cases, by shutting down and restarting Windows NT. While remote administration would be unfeasible over a Notes connection to the Domino server, remote administration software makes these tasks almost trivially easy. Other formerly daunting tasks, such as changing the size of a page file, also become astonishingly simple. In cases like these, the VPN has all the flexibility of machine access that a WAN offers, while sparing almost every expense associated with a WAN.

If you've considered the implications of all of this, you've probably already determined that a VPN provides the ability to offer your employees a Remote Access Service (RAS) solution over the Internet. Rather than maintaining modem banks on your RAS server, you would instead use a VPN setup. Then, your traveling users (with VPN-configured laptops) can dial into their ISP's local access number and establish a VPN connection to their home file servers, accessing the network just as they would in the office (OK, give or take 90 Mbs of speed).