Difference between web servers and VPN

[WarlordD]

Hi, I was trying to set up VPN access to my Windows 2008 R2. And I was really stuck, why would we need IIS being enabled on the server machine? Can’t we remain it disable? Or as it is necessary for having VPN? And can we keep the web server and the VPN server on the same device? I tried once but it can’t, but if there is any way, please suggest me as I am bother of keeping it on the different devices. Why should we use proxy or VPN?

[Amie]

See, first of all you don’t need to have IIS to be enabled for the basic VPN, the services like configuring the VPN comes with the windows server 2008, there is no need to install IIS. And web server is computer that deliverers the web pages, every web server have an IP and optionally a domain name. For example if you enter any URL in your browser, it‘ll first send the request to the web server whose domain name was the same. The server then fetches the page and sends it to your browser.

[HiSpeed]

You don’t keep both at the same machine as both of them have the different functionality which make then differ from themselves. See this is some property of VPN that is does, like encryption, authentication and integration, address and name server allocation etc. And if you compare this functionality it is totally different from the web servers.

[BiGMaCHiNe]

Both the server has its own capability, both uses different bandwidth while accessing the web. Unlike web servers VPN has some advantages like Port forwarding to our IP etc, and there are many reasons for using the VPN or maybe you can use proxy because, it provides security and privacy sa you’ re using the server 2008 you need to have some security, and the most important, the data transfer speed is to high, and it bypass the firewall also.

[Pabloa]

As you are asking can we put both of them on a same device, they both are different as VPN makes a virtual network for the workstations where as web servers are the different device that act as a interface between the clients which are accesses the information and the servers which makes the information available to the web server, and then the web servers makes it available to us. The main difference between the web server and the VPN is VPN doesn’t support the large files.

[Amie]

In recent years you may find that the VPN is widely used to provide the secure connection to access the different websites, as i would suggest you, that dont put web server and VPN both in a single machine, even i don't know it could be happen or not but you can use VPN. Because the main reason behind this is like web servers just concentrate to fetch the sites only, it wont see that is it a secure site or not, instead VPN doesn't allow first of all such a sites.