BTBroadband VPN

[stomper666]

Hello

I have a home network and BTInfinity broadband. I run VMWare servers (Windows and Linux) for the client\server tools I use as a contractor as it can be quite handy to test out scenarios etc. When I'm working away from home on site or on a night at the B&B I'd like to be able to access the network direct from my laptop which has the client tools (Windows7) on it. I am using PCAnywhere but its not ideal.

I'd rather set up a VPN but its outside of my technical area.

Anyone done this kind of thing before?

Cheers

Jamie

[doodab]

Yep.

I've used openVPN, this needs to run on a server, which can be a VM of course. Steps are roughly:

set up openVPN on the server
set up port forwarding on your router to forward traffic to a specific port to the openVPN service on the server
set up openVPN on the client
test the connection

It isn't point and click but it's fairly simple to do this for a single host using static keys.

Once this is done you will have two separate networks, your home network and the openVPN network. In order to communicate with hosts on the home networkk over openVPN you will need to enable routing between them as follows:

Enable IP forwarding on the server host so that open VPN traffic can reach the home network and vice versa
Set up a static route on your router so that traffic on the home network intended for the openVPN network is directed to the server hosting openVPN.

[stek]

I use Oracle Secure Global Desktop (formerly Tarantella, a better Citrix) can run it in a VMware VM or SPARC in an LDOM or Zone or full machine.

Run it on port 443 and you're in even from behind work firewall.

[Pondlife]

logmein &/or hamachi (also logmein)

[v8gaz]

+1 for logmein. Just works.

[ShandyDrinker]

Yep.

I've used openVPN, this needs to run on a server, which can be a VM of course.

+1 for openVPN. Using it in conjunction with SmoothWall Express. Has been working well for 3+ years now.

[BHicks]

Hello

I have a home network and BTInfinity broadband. I run VMWare servers (Windows and Linux) for the client\server tools I use as a contractor as it can be quite handy to test out scenarios etc. When I'm working away from home on site or on a night at the B&B I'd like to be able to access the network direct from my laptop which has the client tools (Windows7) on it. I am using PCAnywhere but its not ideal.

I'd rather set up a VPN but its outside of my technical area.

Anyone done this kind of thing before?

Cheers

Jamie

One other option to consider is getting hold of a broadband router that can actually host the VPN for you.

For example I've got an ASUS RT-N16 which is connected to a BT Openreach Fibre modem (76Mbit sync with Plusnet as the ISP) . The router itself has the ability to host a VPN connection that I can get to from my laptop or iPhone, basically anything that can initiate a PPTP VPN connection.

Now with this in place, if I want to grab a file off the NAS or print something at home I can do it from anywhere that I can get a connection. Oh yeah, and it also has the benefit that when I'm on some dodgy wifi hotspot, my access is encrypted and routed via my home connection instead. It's pretty useful for iPlayer when overseas as well...

As you're already into the Vmware side of things, you could also consider a pre built virtual applicance that would provide your VPN services as well, see here for examples:
OpenVPN appliances

[garethevans1986]

I've got FTTC here...Virtualise PfSense and use that to create the PPPoE connection required. Install OpenVPN. Setup....Working VPN!

GE

[ShandyDrinker]

One other option to consider is getting hold of a broadband router that can actually host the VPN for you.

For example I've got an ASUS RT-N16 which is connected to a BT Openreach Fibre modem (76Mbit sync with Plusnet as the ISP) . The router itself has the ability to host a VPN connection that I can get to from my laptop or iPhone, basically anything that can initiate a PPTP VPN connection.

Now with this in place, if I want to grab a file off the NAS or print something at home I can do it from anywhere that I can get a connection. Oh yeah, and it also has the benefit that when I'm on some dodgy wifi hotspot, my access is encrypted and routed via my home connection instead. It's pretty useful for iPlayer when overseas as well...

As you're already into the Vmware side of things, you could also consider a pre built virtual applicance that would provide your VPN services as well, see here for examples:
OpenVPN appliances

Agreed regarding routers which host VPN. A few years ago I found the Draytek routers rock solid.

[BHicks]

Agreed regarding routers which host VPN. A few years ago I found the Draytek routers rock solid.

Thanks SD.

+1 for the Drayteks, very good pieces of kit, especially if you're used to some of the tat from companies such as Belkin.

LogMeIn is very good, but it's no different to PC Anywhere in the sense that it's purpose is to allow you to control a remote machine via it's desktop. It requires installation on any target machine you want to access.

Hamachi, is a software VPN solution but again, you'd have to install a Hamachi client on a machine and leave this up. Its method of operation relies on a central mediation server (operated by LogMeIn) so some information is sent to them.

The best thing about having the VPN in the router is (for my mind) the ease of setup and the fact that, well, if your router is down, network access for the rest of your devices is a moot point anyway. Whereas, if your machine/image running OpenVPN has a brain fart, then that's your lot, unless you can somehow get it rebooted/restarted by a watchdog process of some kind.

BTW, if you do get a VPN up and running, when accessing a Windows machine, look to use Remote Desktop instead. You'll find the performance better since it can switch off/ignore certain features (like background bitmaps etc) depending on how you configure it.