well one way or another there will be at least one externally
addressable open port, whether that is forwarded to another device or
directly serviced by the router doesn't make much difference. If you are
providing a VPN for people to use from home then a PPTP or openVPN thing
will be fine because they can get out directly on the right port. If you
have users who need to access the VPN from more challenging locations
then take a look at adito which is a fork of ssl-explorer which was GPL
then got relicensed and unfreed by Baracuda. This allows you to use a
browser and a java applet to get at stuff through proxies and somewhat
locked down PCs
http://adito.wiki.sourceforge.net/what_is_adito
Roger Munford wrote:
> I am helping a small company set up VPN to enable some people to work
> remotely. Sadly I haven't had much experience in this field and so it is
> proving a challenge.
>
> To gain experience I set up a tunnel at home using OpenVpn on Ubuntu as
> server and a Windows XP client and got it to work after a bit of fiddling.
>
> I had hoped to progress by installing OpenVpn on the company's
> existing network, let somebody test it and if all went well add an
> additional 9 tunnels.
>
> However the existing network is part of a large building infrastructure
> and we cannot access the router and are not allowed to forward any ports
> so this has scuppered plan A.
>
> We will be provided with a unique connection but have to buy own router
> for the company subnet.
>
> Having spent some time reading about the subject it looks like a
> reasonable solution would be to buy a Linksys WRT54GL, load an
> alternative linux firmware (tomato, or OpenWRT) and continue with
> Openvpn. However this feels a bit experimental and I don't want to
> saddle this company with something that could be unreliable. I think I
> may go ahead do it at home just to see if it works. Has anybody done
> this successfully?
>
> The sensible solution would be to buy a VPN router which Windows could
> connect to using its built in VPN client which presumably most of the
> world does. I have also tried this with my existing D-Link router at
> home but only thanks to a good tutorial. Has anybody suggestions for a
> suitable router?
>
> Thanks for your attention.
>
> Roger
>
>
