VPN vs SSH
 

what is the difference between a VPN and SSH. which one is more secure. SSH can tunnel so why is VPN preferred?

well the two are totally different really. a VPN is typically preferred as it can seamlessly join two remote networks so they behave as if they were all local. with ssh tunnelling etc, it's a case of picking this port, that destination ip etc, whereas with a real vpn, you just have access to the entire site directly.

Is there a particular UDP/TCP port that VPN's typically run on like for example like Cisco VPN?

depends what kind of VPN you have. a "full on" vpn would generally be IPSEC based, which is neither TCP nor UDP (although does sometimes pretend to be either one to get through firewalls effectively). various initialization protocols use ports 500, 4500 and 10000 though. SSL vpn's can just run over port 443 like https does.

acid_kewpie, you are the man. I had one more question I passed the first test of the LPI and I am going to study and take the next at the end of this month. Do you know of any good study material url that can help me out? I am also going to take the security + just to get a basic security cert!