Implement Network Connectivity & Remote Access server 2016

  Implement Network Connectivity & Remote Access

Network / Internet connectivity & NAT-

In an Enterprise network many applications and services require connectivity to the 

Internet, Every organization must have planning and to provide internet 

connectivity to their employee and computers.

it’s important that you understand the network connectivity options available for 

Windows Server 2016. These options include Network Address

Translation (NAT) and routing.

Network Address Translation (NAT)

NAT enables you to implement a private Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) 

addressing scheme within your organization while still enabling users, apps, and 

services to access the Internet. 

NAT is a device, a component in a device, or a software service that enables your 

organization’s computers to access Internet-based resources by translating private 

IPv4 addresses in your intranet into public IPv4 addresses on the Internet.

The NAT device also helps to secure your organization’s network devices by hiding 

your computers’ IPv4 addresses. When a computer on the intranet initiates 

communications with a server on the Internet, only the NAT device’s external IPv4 

address is visible to devices on the Internet.

Communications from designated private IPv4 addresses are not routed onto the 

public Internet. This is where NAT is useful.

Working of NAT

NAT device edits the header of IPv4 traffic originating on the private network. It 

replaces the source IPv4 address in the header with one of its assigned public IPv4 

addresses and then routes the traffic on to the Internet.

When return traffic is received on the public interface, the NAT device edits the 

header. It replaces the public destination’s IPv4 address with the appropriate 

private IPv4 address, and then routes the traffic to the appropriate internal device.

Implementing NAT on Windows Server 2016

On a computer running Windows Server 2016, a NAT server is installed with at least 

two network adapters. You must configure one of these network adapters with a 

private IPv4 address and connect it to the intranet within your organization.

You must configure the second adapter with a public IPv4 address, and connect it to 

the Internet, either directly, or by configuring routing through your perimeter 

network to the Internet.

To enable NAT within your organization, you must deploy a NAT device, and then 

configure client computers to use the NAT device’s private IPv4 interface as their 

configured default gateway.

Before you can configure a Windows Server 2016 computer as a NAT server, you 

must install the Remote Access server role.

NAT Properties Windows Server 2016

NAT Properties in Windows Server 2016 allow you to configure different settings 

about the NAT. NAT properties has different types of tabs for different options. 

General Tab: From the General tab you can configure and control event logging 

options.

Translation Tab: Translation tab enables you to control the timeouts after which 

any TCP or UDP mapping are removed. The mappings are used by NAT to track 

which internal client is connected to which external resource.

Address Assignment Tab: Using Address Assignment tab you can allow NAT service 

to allocate IPv4 address from a configuration pool. If you are already using DHCP 

service elsewhere on the private network, do not select this option.

Name Resolution Tab: Name resolution tab allows you to configure name 

resolution behavior. Client might already be configured to use DNS resolution so 

you do not to enable this option unless you do not have DNS on the private network.

Monitoring NAT

After you have installed and configured NAT, and enabled your NAT clients, you 

must know how to monitor the NAT service. You can do this in the Routing And 

Remote Access console. Using the following options you can monitor NAT settings

Show DHCP Allocator Information: This options displays DHCP-related 

information. This includes a list of the DHCP messages, such as DISCOVER, 

REQUEST, and OFFER.

Show DNS Proxy Information: This option displays the DNS-related information, 

including the number of queries received from clients and the number of 

responses sent. 

You can also view the live mappings being used by NAT clients. The following 

information is displayed

Protocol, Direction, Private Address, Private Port, Public Address, Remote Address, 

Remote Port and Idle Time.

You can also use event viewer to view NAT related events.

Remote Access- Windows Server 2016

Most organizations support users who work away from the office, so the IT 

department is responsible for facilitating remote connectivity for these users. 

Windows Server 2016 supports a number of remote access solutions, 

You can use VPNs to support many of your organization’s remote access 

requirements, including the ability to connect your sites using site-to-site (S2S) 

connections. Windows Server 2016 also provides support for Direct Access, an 

always-on remote access solution that can make connecting

remotely as seamless as connecting locally.

You can use the Network Policy Server (NPS) role in Windows Server 2016 to 

control access to your organization from your remote users by using policy-based 

security. Also, NPS provides support for the industry standard Remote 

Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) protocol.

VPN and Direct Access

Remote Access allows users to access organization’s resources from other locations 

in a secure manner.

Windows Server 2016 also provides support for Direct Access, an always-on remote 

access solution that can make connecting

remotely as seamless as connecting locally.

You can use VPNs to support many of your organization’s remote access 

requirements, including the ability to connect your sites using site-to-site (S2S)  connections. 

Characteristics of VPN

Whatever type of VPN you implement, they all share certain characteristics. These 

include:

Authentication: It helps to ensure that both the VPN client and the VPN server can 

identify one another. You can choose from a number of different authentication 

methods depending on the VPN protocol you select, and other network 

infrastructure factors, such as whether your network provides a public key 

infrastructure (PKI) enabling the use of digital certificates.

Encryption: Because private data is routed over a public network, it is important to 

take steps to secure this data in transit. Data encryption is used for this purpose. 

You can implement a number of different encryption methods, depending on the 

VPN protocol used, and the specific configuration of your network infrastructure.

Encapsulation: A VPN routes data through a public network by using tunneling

protocols. Private data is encapsulated in a structure, with a public header 

containing the appropriate routing information, which can transit a public network 

and arrive at the correct private destination.