VPN recommendations?

Thomas Charron twaffle at gmail.com
Thu Jun 28 16:25:52 EDT 2007


On 6/28/07, Ted Roche <tedroche at tedroche.com> wrote:
> A client of mine, Windows-centric,computer-phobic (or at least not
> -friendly) just wants to be able to access his office network from his
> home, whatever magick that requires. The office is on DSL, static IP,
> simple network router/firewall, NAT, Windows workgroup, home is also
> DSL, likely dynamic IP with a consumer-grade NAT router/firewall. His
> needs are basic Windows SMB sharing, web browsing intranet servers.
> Email is likely to be handled via an offsite server, so shouldn't play
> into this request.
> I saw Ken's great presentation of OpenVPN at MerriLUG a while ago, and
> that's my first inclination. Sounds simple, no major flaws, Windows
> client, easy enough to implement...
> Has anyone got recommendations other than the OpenVPN Ken showed off,
> horror stories, great experiences?

  OpenVPN can go over a single TCP socket, which is my preference.
However, with additional router 'fiddling', using a PPTP connection is
built into Windows, and works pretty much transparently.  The hard
part is PPTP doesn't JUSt use a TCP socket, it actually uses a
different protocol then TCP, which rides directly on IP, so placing
the server inside the NAT can be tricky, depending on the NAT
manufacturer.

  Linksys actually sells a VERY nice VPN router which handles both
NATing *AND* active intrusion detection.  It also has the horsepower
to actually route gigabit ethernet AND have VPN connections, PLUS it
can actually serve as a 4 port lvl 2 switch.

  Did I mention it runs Linux?  :-)

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1150490915278&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper
http://www.amazon.com/Linksys-RVS4000-4-Port-Gigabit-Security/dp/B000GQXFUK

-- 
-- Thomas


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