Local and Remote Network Connections

Your ability to configure connections depends on several factors, including your administrative rights, whether a connection was created by using Only for myself or For all users , and depending on what Group Policy settings are applied to you. If you have rights to configure your connections, you can modify settings on the General , Options , Security , Networking, and Sharing properties pages.

Configuration Privileges

If you are logged on with administrator-level rights, the Network Connection Wizard prompts you to choose whether a connection that you are creating is to be made available For all users , or Only for myself . If a connection is For all users , then this connection is available to any user who logs on to that computer, and only an administrator-level user who is logged on to that computer can modify the connection. If a user creates a connection Only for myself , then only the creator of that connection can modify or use it.

Note

If you choose Log on using dial-up connection when you start your Windows 2000 session, you only see the connections that are made available For all users . This is because before you log on, you are not authenticated to the network and your identity has not been verified. After you have logged on and proven your identity, you see the connections available as Only for myself .

Group policy settings, which are designed to help manage large numbers of users in enterprise environments, can be used to control access to the Network and Dial-up Connections folder, and the connections in it. Settings can be used that enable or disable the ability to create connections, delete connections, or modify connection properties. For more information about these Group Policy settings, see Local Group Policy Settings later in this chapter.

Property Pages

When a connection is created, its default properties are appropriate for most uses; however, property pages are available for any connection-specific settings you need to make. All of the following property pages apply to dial-up, VPN, and direct connections. A local area connection has General and Sharing property pages only.

To configure dialing devices, phone numbers, host address, country/region codes, or dialing rules, click the General tab,shown in Figure 21.4.

Figure 21.4 General Tab of the Dial-up Connection Properties Page

To configure dialing and redialing options, multilink configuration, or X.25 parameters, click the Options tab, shown in Figure 21.5. If you are connecting to a network that is protected by a domain controller, check the Include Windows logon domain box so you are prompted for the domain name.

Figure 21.5 Options Tab of the Dial-up Connection Properties Page

To configure identity authentication, data encryption, or terminal window and scripting options, click the Security tab, shown in Figure 21.6. The Typical option is appropriate for most connections. Using that option, you can determine how your credentials are passed by selecting Validate my identity as follows . You can also use your logon credentials as credentials for this connection by selecting Automatically use my Windows logon name and password .

You only need to use the Advanced settings if you need more precise encryption and authentication settings. It is used for Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP), discussed in Remote Security later in this chapter.

Figure 21.6 Security Tab of the Dial-up Connection Properties Page

To configure the dial-up server and protocols used for this connection, click the Networking tab, shown in Figure 21.7. This tab provides access to more advanced configuration, allowing you to install, uninstall, and configure protocols. For a VPN connection, you would use this tab to manually select PPTP or L2TP rather than allowing these VPN protocols to be selected automatically.

Figure 21.7 Networking Tab of the Dial-up Connection Properties Page

To enable or disable Internet Connection Sharing and on-demand dialing, click the Sharing tab, shown in Figure 21.8. By selecting Enable Internet Connection Sharing , you enable sharing and enable this computer to become your default gateway and name server for your network.

Figure 21.8 Sharing Tab of the Dial-up Connection Properties Page