DirectAccess – automatic VPN!

In my experience, Microsoft DirectAccess is the most common reason that administrators deploy the Remote Access role. The easiest way to think about DirectAccess is to think of it as an automatic VPN. Similar to VPN, its purpose is to connect the user's computers into the corporate network when they are outside of the office. Different from VPN, however, is the method that employees use in order to make this connection possible. DirectAccess is not a software component, it is a series of components that are already baked into the Windows operating system, working in tandem to provide completely seamless access for the user. What do I mean by seamless? I mean there is nothing the user has to do in order to make DirectAccess connect. It does that all by itself. As soon as the mobile computer receives an Internet connection, whether that connection is a home Wi-Fi, public Internet at a coffee shop, or a cell phone Mi-Fi style connection, the DirectAccess...