A site-to-site VPN allows offices in multiple fixed locations to establish secure connections with each other over a public network such as the Internet. A site-to-site VPN means that two sites create a VPN tunnel by encrypting and sending data between two devices. One set of rules for creating a siteto-site VPN is defined by IPsec.

"Encapsulating Security Payload ... Unlike Authentication Header (AH), ESP in transport mode does not provide integrity and authentication for the entire IP packet. However, in Tunnel Mode, where the entire original IP packet is encapsulated with a new packet header added, ESP protection is afforded to the whole inner IP packet (including the inner header) while the outer header (including any outer IPv4 options or IPv6 extension headers) remains unprotected.