Clientless VPNs

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• Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) can be used to
  • access a physical machine on a one-to-one basis
  • operate a remote desktop gateway that
    • facilitates access to virtual desktops
    • or individual apps running on the network servers
• Citrix products can do similar things
• traditionally, remote desktop products and client-to-site VPNs require a client app
  • that implements the protocols and authentication methods supported by the remote desktop/VPN gateway

HTML5 VPN or clientless VPN uses features of HTML5 to implement remote desktop/VPN connections via browser software (clientless).

• uses canvas element introduced in HTML5
  • allows a browser to draw and update a desktop with relatively little lag
  • can also handle audio
  • allows ordinary browser software to
    • connect to a remote desktop or to a VPN portal that publishes a number of web applications
• uses a protocol called WebSockets
  • enables bidirectional messages to be sent between the server and client without requiring the overhead of separate HTTP requests