NordLayer VPN Review with Dedicated Server – A business focussed VPN

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VPN companies are ten a penny these days, and most of the reasonably priced choices on the market present a superbly good stage of service for informal dwelling customers.

However, not everybody desires a VPN simply to allow them to bypass regional restrictions of Netflix or get cheaper serves via totally different regional pricing.

Virtual Private Networks could be helpful for business customers permitting corporations to do testing throughout areas and to have the ability to hook up with firm assets as in case you are on the identical community.

NordLayer is the newly rebranded model of NordVPN Teams, which is the business arm of the favored NordVPN and I’ve been attempting out the service for the previous couple of weeks to see the way it performs.

NordLayer vs NordVPN 

NordLayer has servers in over 33 areas worldwide, whereas NordVPN has 5500 ultra-fast servers in 60 nations all around the globe. With NordLayer, on the shared servers, you aren’t getting a selection of cities. I think they may hook up with one of the best performing server on the time for that area.

I feel the variety of servers and areas is much less essential for business customers, it’s extra in regards to the high quality of service.

NordVPN prices £10.55, together with VAT when billed month-to-month, however you’ll be able to scale back this all the way down to £2.99 PCM you purchase two years’ value of service at £71.71. A one yr plan prices £51.70.

NordLayer payments in USD and prices $84.00 billed yearly for the essential service or $108.00 yearly for the superior service. This works out as £63.64 and £81.83.

Opting for the superior plan permits you to buy devoted servers with as much as 1Gbps velocity priced at $40.00/month.

One of the principle variations is that you just enroll your organization to Nordlayer after which can have a number of customers all inside that account. You may also create groups of customers which you’ll be able to then assign to a devoted server.

The devoted server will clearly have a devoted IP handle, so this then permits you to have teams of customers working from anyplace on the earth, all with the identical IP handle.

Features

• Auto-connect – Connect to NordLayer as quickly as an web connection is established
• Site-to-site – Connect to your inner business LAN securely through devoted gateways
• Next-gen site-to-site tunnelling — safe entry to firm assets
• AES 256-bit visitors encryption — defending your knowledge
• Network Access Control (IP enable itemizing) — set entry permissions throughout the community
• Biometric authentication — for an added layer of safety
• Smart Access — create a digital LAN between firm units & servers
• Dedicated servers / Static IP performance — select your digital location
• Custom non-public gateway creation — for straightforward community segmentation
• Single Sign-On (SSO) with Azure AD, OneLogin, Okta & G Suite — which means no further credentials are wanted
• Two-factor authentication (2FA) — for extra layered safety
• Jailbroken / rooted gadget detection — alerting you to susceptible units on the community
• Threat-block malware safety (together with DNS filtering) — mitigating the chance of malicious threats

Managing Members & Teams

NordLayer is designed for corporations, so slightly than having particular person accounts, you’ve a company account which may then be arrange with members and groups.

You can then assigned assign safety insurance policies on how customers can log in and allow two-factor authentication.

Withing the safety configuration, you’ll be able to allow sensible distant entry and in addition ThreatBlock. ThreatBlock will then malware and defend your community in opposition to malicious cyber threats.

Setting up a devoted server

Dedicated servers provide you with a static IP and connectivity as much as 1Gbps with the choice to attach all shoppers into one digital LAN.

With the NordLayer management panel, you might want to arrange a gateway then assign both your groups to it or particular person members.

From right here, you’ll be able to then assign a devoted server to that gateway. You have a larger vary of choices on your server areas in comparison with the shared servers. For instance, with a devoted server, you’ll be able to choose servers in Brazil, Idia, Japan, South Africa and South Korea

Creating a brand new devoted server can take seconds or a couple of minutes. When I set one up within the UK, I’m certain it was performed instantly, however setting a brand new one up in NYC, I used to be knowledgeable I used to be in a queue. The NYC server was energetic inside 5 minutes.

I solely had one server licence, and I used to be capable of delete my UK server and arrange a brand new NYC server all inside that one licence. The $40 month-to-month payment is not assigned to at least one particular server.

Smart Remote Access

Smart Remote Access creates a digital native community (LAN) between all of the units related to the identical non-public gateway. This will then enable customers on the community to make use of shared folders, even when they aren’t bodily on the identical LAN.

Installation

You can arrange Nordlayer with nearly any gadget that connects to the Internet. There are apps for:

• Apple Mac
• Windows
• Linux (Red Hat and Debian)
• Apple iOS telephones and tablets
• Android telephones and tablets. Both on the Play Store and in APK format

You can then use guide connections with OpenVPN/IKEv2.

For the apps, it’s only a case of downloading it, putting in it after which login. You could possibly use a single sign-on if your organization has enabled it, and you might also be compelled to make use of 2FA.

Performance

One situation I’ve had with some VPNs prior to now is the low connection and disconnection. With some low-cost VPNs, the disconnection course of can minimize off my connectivity for a few minutes.

With NordLayer, all the pieces is sort of on the spot. Click on the server, and it connects in a fraction of a second. Disconnecting feels rapid.

Doing some fundamental speeds assessments utilizing SpeedTest.internet, the outcomes have been spectacular, however there’s a small drop in velocity from my full 500Mbps Virgin Media connection.

• The UK primarily based devoted server achieved 458Mbps with a  ping of 15ms.
• The NYC devoted server achieved 379Mbps with a 110ms ping
• Connecting to the shared London location, I achieved a velocity of 407Mbps with a ping of 14ms.
• Connecting to the United States server, I achieved a velocity of 240Mbps, the ping was 109ms.
• Serbia managed 320Mbps with a 43ms ping
• Hong Kong carried out the worst at 46Mbps with a ping of 305ms

With the US shared server, I related to this a number of occasions on totally different events. The ping all the time remained the identical, however speeds ranged from 220Mbps to 340Mbps. In comparability, the devoted server remained constantly above 360Mbps.

Price and Alternative Options

NordLayer payments in USD and prices $84.00 billed yearly for the essential service or $108.00 yearly for the superior service. This works out as £63.64 and £81.83.

A devoted server prices $40pcm with efficiency as much as 1gbps.

An different business-focussed VPN with related options is Perimeter81. This is priced at $8 Per consumer/mo for the necessities, then $40/mo for a gateway with the gateway efficiency restricted to 500 Mbps/Gateway, and there’s a minimal of 5 customers. The important plan lacks Always-on VPN and Single Sign-On capabilities.

For the premium plan, there’s a minimal of 10 customers, and this will increase to $12Per consumer/mo. This will then enhance the gateway speeds to 1000 Mbps/Gateway.

Depending on what options you need, you possibly can additionally roll your individual devoted server however I anticipate it could be tough to discover a native server able to Gigabit throughput for a similar worth as NordLayer. You’d even be answerable for setting all of it up your self, which might take a big period of time.

Overall

There are a number of advantages available from a business VPN.

With so many corporations counting on the Internet for business, issues like safety are extra essential than ever. Running your Internet via a VPN that may additionally block malware will considerably enhance your safety, you will not expose private IP addresses or work server IPs, and you’ll filter out malware.

Then, prior to now two years, working from dwelling has develop into the brand new regular, whether or not that is full time or a hybrid strategy. If you’ve workers working from distant areas, having the ability to work on the identical digital community has vital advantages. You can immediately hook up with inner work servers, share folders and simply seamlessly work as a crew even in case you are not bodily in the identical room or constructing.

Being capable of shortly change IP addresses and areas additionally has many advantages for companies. I nonetheless do some on-line advertising consulting, and having the ability to check Google outcomes from totally different nations or how geotargeted adverts are working is crucial.

The value of the service appears cheap too, it’s cheaper than Perimeter81 and $108.00 per consumer per yr + $40pcm for a devoted server is just not an enormous value for a business.