Network performance evaluation of VPN protocols (SSTP and IKEv2)

Abstract

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a technology that is used to securely connect private network passing through a public network such as the Internet. Using a VPN, a computer, tablet, or smartphone is able to securely connect with others in the Internet as if they were part of a private network. Using this technology may also bring security threats like spoofing, snipping, and hacking as the data travels using the Internet connection. In order to avoid any security attacks, a VPN uses encryption and authentication to secure the data that is travelling in the Internet. A tunnel connection will be established among partners, connected by using a VPN that the attackers cannot infiltrate. This research focuses on the performance evaluation of VPN protocols, mainly the Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol (SSTP) and Internet Key Exchange Version 2 (IKEv2). Throughput, jitter, and delay were measured when the packets were sent from the VPN clients to other client in a test-bed environment. After the test-bed environment research, it was found that IKEv2 had significantly better performance than SSTP in relation to throughput, jitter, and delay.