Windows Server 2012: inside Microsoft's Enterprise Server OS

Direct Access is a remote access technology introduced in Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7, which enables clients to connect to network resources over the internet without a virtual private network (VPN). It was tricky to configure, since it required IPv6 networks and either ForeFront Unified Access Gateway (UAG, a Microsoft server product), or an alternative device to convert between IPv4 and IPv6 networks. In Server 2012, setting up Direct Access is simplified. Conversion between IPv4 and IPv6 is built-in, you can set Direct Access behind a network address translation (NAT) router, and there is a wizard in Server Manager for setup.