Re: [PLUG] VPN Options and Suggestions

[Eric Andreychek <eric@openthought.net>]

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Howdy,

On Wed, 25 Jan 2006, Andrew Libby wrote:
> I'm in the process of setting up a VPN, or at least trying to determine the
> best option.  We'd like the server to be an FC4 machine, unless there's a
> compelling reason to use something else.  The clients will be Linux, MAC
> OSX and Win XP (home and professional).  The goal is to support some work
> from home situations.

I don't know what sorts of people you'll have using this... whether they're
experienced computer users or not... but in our organization, we needed a VPN
that worked for non-techies and techies alike.

The idea there is for it to be trivial to setup for non-techies on their 2000
and XP machines.

Both IPSEC and OpenVPN require software installation, which adds a layer of
complexity, and increases the chance of them running into problems.

We ended up going with a PPTP VPN, which has software that comes with 2000
and XP.  No software installation is required on the clients.

It's fairly trivial to setup a PPTP VPN server using Linux and PopTop:

  http://www.poptop.org/

And there is a PPTP client for the various 'NIXs:

  http://pptpclient.sourceforge.net/

I doubt it's as secure as IPSEC, but it falls into the "good enough" realm
for us.

Good luck,
  -Eric


- -- 
 Eric Andreychek              | Lucy: "What happens if you practice the
 Eric Conspiracy Secret Labs  |  piano for 20 years and then end up not
 eric@openthought.net         |  being rich and famous?"
 http://openthought.net       | Schroeder: "The joy is in the playing."
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