Re: Clientless VPN (SSL VPN) vs HTTPS

[bhaven.haria () paladion net]

Hi 

If we have just one web application, that is WEBMAIL, then SSL-VPN doesn't provide additional security than https based 
webmail access..

But if we have multiple web applications which needs to be accessed by multiple people, SSL-VPN can help in following 
ways:
1) No need to https each and every application. By doing this, we can save server resources, SSL Certificate costs. 
2) No need to directly publish all applications on the web, we can save on public IP addresses. Moreover, It provides 
better security, since the applications are not directly exposed to internet.
3) Granular Access Control, by which, we can define which applications can be accessed by who all users.

As you might be aware, SSL-VPN can be used to encrypt non-web traffic too.

For more info, there is an introductory article on  *Understanding SSL VPN* 
http://palisade.plynt.com/issues/2006Jul/ssl-vpn/

Hope, this helps :)

-Bhaven

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