OpenVPN [was: IPSec VPN docs]

[Florin Andrei]

On Sun, 2004-03-21 at 12:07, Mark Haney wrote:
> I'm trying to get a VPN setup between my FC1 box at home and a DLink 
> DFL300 at my office so I can do some things securely without having to 
> make the 30 minute drive in to work to fix stuff.  I've googled the 
> subject and the amount of documentation is pretty immense.  Can someone 
> give me a shortened version what I need to configure or point me to a good 
> step by step doc on how to do it?

Well, if IPSec is not a specific requirement, and if you actually could
use any VPN solution that's simple to install, secure and feature-rich,
have a look at OpenVPN:

http://openvpn.sourceforge.net/

A brief "cookbook recipe" HOWTO:

http://fedoranews.org/contributors/florin_andrei/openvpn/

IPSec VPN (like FreeS/WAN) is nice because it's compatible with all
kinds of VPN devices and software.
However, it can be a pain to install, even more so if you're using
Windows clients (but Linux is not a lot simpler, especially if you have
non-geek users). Also, it is very, very picky if there are firewalls in
between, especially if you go through NAT.

OpenVPN is very simple to install, it does not require weird kernel
patches, it is firewall-friendly, works just fine with Windows (and
Solaris, and BSD), can tunnel through proxies, etc.

It is not a typical "SSL VPN" - i mean, it is not a browser-based VPN,
even though it's using SSL to encrypt the tunnel. Think of it as exactly
the same thing as FreeS/WAN except it's using SSL instead of IPSec;
otherwise, it can route arbitrary IP protocols, it does not require a
browser, etc.
Just like FreeS/WAN, but without the pain.

-- 
Florin Andrei

http://florin.myip.org/