[GLLUG] VPN

[Charles Ulrich]

Brian Hoort wrote:
> Oh wise persons on the mount,
> 
> A friend of mine runs a small biz out of his home.  There are 4 full
>  time employees, I think.  He's very mobile, and uses his laptop 
> frequently from other locations with high-speed access.  He wants to
> be able to run a certain app that you have to connect to a server
> for.  I believe this calls for VPN, no?  (They are running all
> Windows PCs).
> 
> I'm trying to hash-out our options.  I know one is to setup a Linux 
> server and setup SWAN or whatever VPN.  I want to know what my other
>  options are as well before I make a pitch.
> 
> Are there wireless/router/switches like boxes available with VPN?
> (Think Linksys, Dlink, etc.).  It seems this would be a popular
> feature, and would be a lot more sensible in regards to future
> maintenance than setting up a whole server just for VPN.
> 
> Thanks, oh wise persons,

Yes, it sounds like VPN is what would suit your scenario the best 
(unless, as Sean noted, the Windows application happens to be highly 
bandwidth-intensive), though I haven't dabbled in VPN yet and can't be 
considered a highly reliable source in that regard. :P

I don't have any experience with VPN-enabled hardware routers, but 
they're probably quite expensive. Serveral Linux and BSD-based 
router/firewall distributions (IPCop, m0n0wall) have VPN functions built 
into them and might be a cheaper solution since you can usually just 
slap a couple of NICs into an ancient machine, install the software, and 
go to town.

Charles
-- 
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