A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a secure path within an organization's network, or on the internet, for transmitting sensitive data. A VPN, as its name suggests, creates a virtual private network on the public physical network. To better understand VPN, try to imagine that you are driving on the highway and in the far left lane you notice a tunnel made of glass in which there are other cars driving as well. Using tunneling and data encryption, VPN uses the internet infrastructure to connect remote users and remote offices. To set up a VPN server in Windows Server 2016, first add the Remote Access role and then add DirectAccess and VPN (RAS) role services as in Figure 5.18:
Figure 5.18. Adding DirectAccess and VPN (RAS) role services in Windows Server 2016