Robin,
While it may not be readily obvious, I think these are really seperate
issues.
There are many pro's and con's to both, however they aren't necessarily the
same thing.
Sure one or the other or both might serve your needs best.
IMHO a VPN would be used for security. Yes, it certainly requires more
administration, but that is the price to pay for security.
There are a great number of things you could also do with a web service. But
since you say that you don't want to make it public, then you would want to
implement other safeguards. This may or may not be more work than
implementing a VPN. Now if you did want it exposed publicly, then you
certainly cannot give the average Joe access to your network via VPN.
In short, a VPN can give specific users access to your network. If you only
want your Web Service available inside your corporate network, then a VPN
makes sense.
For security and flexibility, I might choose the "both" approach:
Authorized Corporate User -> VPN / Firewall / etc. -> Web Service.
Of course, that requires the most administration.
Just my thoughts.
Gerald
"Robin Mark Tucker" <ro*************@removehotmail.comremove> wrote in
message news:e5*******************@news.demon.co.uk...
I'm wondering what arguments you people might have for/against
implementing an internet based system via. either Virtual Private Network (ie. the
client thinks it's local) or via. a Web Service. It seems that the VPN requires
greater system administration and can be a pita to setup, but that the Web
Service needs more coding. Does anyone have an opinion on this? What
does the future hold? Assume we don't allow average Joe on the internet to use
our service, it's just a corporate-wide thing.
Thanks,
Robin