VPN Client?

[James McDonald]

> Hi guys,
>
> I'm looking for a VPN client to run under linux.  I've googled around a
> bit
> and found a couple of references to vpn & pptp clients for old distros
> and a cisco client.  I'm curious if any of you guys have experience with
> VPN
> clients and what you all use.
>

I second DB's endorsement of OpenVPN.

I have OpenVPN connecting two of my work sites using the "routed" setup
(connecting clients get an IP from a different subnet than the LAN behind
the OpenVPN box - requires more routing rules) and I also use it to
connect my home linux setup to another site using the "bridged" setup
(connecting clients get the same ip address as the lan behind the OpenVPN
box).

Under ubuntu using the bridged setup you connect using /etc/init.d/openvpn
start and you get a tap0 interface with an IP on the remote subnet... very
handy if you wish the client to be able to browse the remote network
(although seeing my home samba server appear on my companys corporate
networks browse list is a bit disconcerting)

The routed OpenVPN setup is good if you simply want to connect to another
subnet and don't need to be right on the remote subnet. When you bring it
up you get a tun0 interface and you then need to configure routing rules
so all your subnets know who is where.

I have successfully configured a windows client to connect to OpenVPN and
it's not too difficult. There is a gui client but it's really easy to just
provide the connection details in a short cut and then double click it to
bring hte connection up or down.

The Linux implementation of the PPTP (Poptop) VPN protocol server works as
well the windows XP clients I connected to it worked fine and it has so
much more flexibility than the Windows 2003 server regarding routing rules
and per client configuration changes.

PPTP Client under Linux connecting to Windows 2003 server works well but
you have to make sure the linux client is configured to choose the right
type of MPPE... read the FAQ on the PPTP client site at sourceforge.


-- 
James McDonald
Telarah NSW Australia