What’s New in 2008 R2 - DirectAccess

VPNs are a thorn in the side of all admins.  While the setup and management has improved they still lead to a number of calls from users on the road who have difficulties connecting.  There have been a number of technologies along that way that have reduced the need for VPNs, like OWA, RPC over HTTPs, and secure SharePoint publishing but we still have VPNs because we need them.  DirectAccess is a new feature in Windows Server 2008 R2 that aims to solve that problem.

Windows Server 2008 R2, used in conjunction with Windows 7, can eliminate the need for a VPN as it provides a transparent connection to internal resources.

Image courtesy Microsoft Corporation

DirectAcces can provide this secure connection thanks to a few built in features.

• Network Policy Server – Controls what clients have access to the internal network
• Network Access Protection – Ensures clients are up to date before creating the connection
• Access Control – Using AD clients can be given different levels of access to the internal network
• Authentication – DirectAccess handles the authentication allowing the client to connect before the user logs in
• Authentication Support – Provides support for smart cards and other forms of multi-factor authentication
• Encryption – All communications are encrypted to protect the privacy of the data being transmitted
• Routing – DirectAccess leverages “split tunnel” routing allowing only traffic destined for the internal network to pass while directing all other traffic to the WAN connection.

The best part about this is that as an admin, you have full management control of a client connected via DirectAccess.  You can push updates, apply policies and manage the client without the need for a user to initiate a VPN connection or even log on.

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