

Check with your vendor to validate support. Most modern firewalls today support IKEv2, but some (such as the Sophos XG firewall) do not. Interoperability RequirementsĪny firewall or VPN device can be used for Always On VPN as long as they support the Internet Key Exchange version 2 (IKEv2) VPN protocol for remote access connections. In addition, many of these solutions require specialized skill sets to implement, manage, and support which could further increase the overall cost of the solution. They often need additional per-user licensing. Third-party solutions must be acquired, for which there is typically a non-trivial cost associated. The main drawbacks for using a third-party device are cost and administrative overhead. This allows for better network throughput and the ability to support many more connections per device. Purpose-built solutions often provide better throughput and performance than do Windows Servers by virtue of their proprietary operating systems. Some solutions include Hardware Security Module (HSM) integration to further enhance security. They often include advanced security features such as URL filtering and malware inspection to better protect remote clients. This is often easier to implement and manage than using traffic filters on the client side. In addition, these solutions typically allow the administrator to define policy to restrict access to internal resources and do so in a centralized way. They commonly run specialized, security-hardened operating systems that are highly secure and resistant to attack. Securityĭedicated security devices (physical or virtual) provide better security than a common Windows server. Third-party firewalls or VPN devices offer some important advantages over Windows Servers running the Routing and Remote Access Services (RRAS), both in terms of security and performance. Always On VPN will work with many third-party firewalls and VPN devices, as long as they meet some basic requirements. That is, Always On VPN does not rely exclusively on a Windows Server infrastructure to support Always On VPN connections. One of the most important advantages Windows 10 Always On VPN has over DirectAccess is infrastructure independence.
