Editing Virtual private network (section)

== Motivation ==
The goal of a virtual private network is to allow [[network host]]s to exchange network messages across another network to access private content, as if they were part of the same network. This is done in a way that makes crossing the intermediate network transparent to network applications. Users of a network connectivity service may consider such an intermediate network to be untrusted, since it is controlled by a third-party, and might prefer a VPN implemented via protocols that protect the privacy of their communication.

In the case of a [[Provider-provisioned VPN]], the goal is not to protect against untrusted networks, but to isolate parts of the provider's own network infrastructure in virtual segments, in ways that make the contents of each segment private with respect to the others. This situation makes many other tunneling protocols suitable for building PPVPNs, even with weak or no security features (like in [[VLAN]]).