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Personal VPNs
No longer just for industry
Both Mobile Pipeline and the Wireless Weblog take a look at new personal wireless Virtual-Private-Network offerings geared toward the home user: HotSpotVPN and WiTopia's personal VPN. Says Glenn Fleishman of the options: "For the absolute simplest approach with the broadest security options, HotSpotVPN comes out on top. On pure cost, personalVPN is the winner."
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aviper9
Premium Member
join:2003-05-20
Bowie, MD

1 edit

aviper9

Premium Member

what about hamachi?

Yeah its still in beta, but hamachi is a pretty awsome freeware VPN solution I have been messing with. Does the LAN over WAN thing. I have successfully played LAN games over WAN via hamachi, printed files, browsed shared directories...

Its all encrypted traffic, I have a network setup for my work machine and home machine...so I can VNC in, print from home to my work printer, all kinds of fun stuff. »www.hamachi.cc if anyone wants to check it out.

*EDIT* might have jumped the gun a bit, looks like the article is mainly about wireless VPN. Hamachi can probably be used in that regard, over a wireless connection. But I have only used it over ethernet.

wifi4milez
Big Russ, 1918 to 2008. Rest in Peace
join:2004-08-07
New York, NY

wifi4milez

Member

What about the free windows VPN???

There are always discussions about what VPN client to use, and often people suggest options that cost something. I have personally been using the good old, built into windows, FREE VPN for about a year now and it works great. I can access all my files, print on attached machines, and even stream audio and video from my desktop at home to my laptop where ever I am. Do people really not know that built into EVERY windows pc is a fairly powerful VPN, or are the other app's that much better??
Vonage User5
join:2004-05-15
Hillsborough, NC

Vonage User5

Member

Re: What about the free windows VPN???

No i didnt know that....
how can i find out more

wifi4milez
Big Russ, 1918 to 2008. Rest in Peace
join:2004-08-07
New York, NY

wifi4milez

Member

Re: What about the free windows VPN???

You can find out how to do it by reading my post from last summer (the link below). Its really is pretty easy, I always assumed it would be hard but it is not.

»Setting up a bootleg VPN

kamm
join:2001-02-14
Brooklyn, NY

2 edits

kamm to wifi4milez

Member

to wifi4milez
said by wifi4milez:

There are always discussions about what VPN client to use, and often people suggest options that cost something. I have personally been using the good old, built into windows, FREE VPN for about a year now and it works great. I can access all my files, print on attached machines, and even stream audio and video from my desktop at home to my laptop where ever I am. Do people really not know that built into EVERY windows pc is a fairly powerful VPN, or are the other app's that much better??
Exactly.

BR pretty much missed the past five years, it seems...

"No longer just for industry" - LOL, what a silly slogan: VPN is included in Windows since Win2000.

DrTCP
Yours truly

join:1999-11-09
Round Rock, TX

DrTCP

Re: What about the free windows VPN???

said by kamm:

BR pretty much missed the past five years, it seems...
Windows IPSEC VPN cannot establish connection with most standards based IPSEC servers due to the way MS has implemented it.
"No longer just for industry" - LOL, what a silly slogan: VPN is included in Windows since Win2000.
VPN is included in Windows since 98. Well, that was PPTP VPN. IPSEC VPN is included since Windows 2000. Again, the IPSEC implementation is specifically geared to working with only Windows based computers.

kamm
join:2001-02-14
Brooklyn, NY

kamm

Member

Re: What about the free windows VPN???

said by DrTCP:

said by kamm:

BR pretty much missed the past five years, it seems...
Windows IPSEC VPN cannot establish connection with most standards based IPSEC servers due to the way MS has implemented it.
"No longer just for industry" - LOL, what a silly slogan: VPN is included in Windows since Win2000.
VPN is included in Windows since 98. Well, that was PPTP VPN. IPSEC VPN is included since Windows 2000. Again, the IPSEC implementation is specifically geared to working with only Windows based computers.
Since the 99.999% (or whatever is the real number - I'm sure it's the overwhelming majority of the market) of the Windows-clients presumably want to connect to Windows servers, don't you think your ""No longer just for industry" is a pretty far stretch?

DrTCP
Yours truly

join:1999-11-09
Round Rock, TX

DrTCP

Re: What about the free windows VPN???

said by kamm:

Since the 99.999% (or whatever is the real number - I'm sure it's the overwhelming majority of the market) of the Windows-clients presumably want to connect to Windows servers, don't you think your ""No longer just for industry" is a pretty far stretch?
You are incorrect with 99.999%. A windows server is not a good platform to terminate IPSEC connections. It does not have any hardware accelerator etc. Most of those that are using IPSEC is using it via a custom built IPSEC hardware (which does not support Windows variant).

Get out. There is a whole world beyond Windows.
DrTCP

DrTCP to wifi4milez

to wifi4milez
Windows IPSEC VPN basically works for Windows to Windows only (or equipment that emulates Windows like behaviour). It does L2TP over IPSEC.

Yes, it could be configured to have standard IPSEC VPN in a limited way using complicated ipsec policy editor. Even so falls short miserably when either side is on dynamic IP, when there is NAT etc. That is why there is still a market for 3rd party IPSEC clients for everything else that does conventional IPSEC.

wifi4milez
Big Russ, 1918 to 2008. Rest in Peace
join:2004-08-07
New York, NY

wifi4milez

Member

Re: What about the free windows VPN???

You are correct that there are limitations with dynamic IP's, however in the "personal VPN" theme the article describes this is usually easy to overcome. Also, your second point mentions that this is really only meant for windows to windows traffic. I feel confidant that over 90% of the worlds computers, and likely an even higher amount of personal PC's use windows as the OS. So while there are certainly some limitations that a small percentage of the market may face, I can say that for the overwhelming majority of users out there today the free app will work just fine.

PS> Just curious, other than windows to non windows environments and the stated dynamic IP issue, what do you use the other VPN's for that cant be accomplished with the windows one? Please keep in mind that we are talking about personal use here, not business use.
kpruett
join:2003-01-03
Dacula, GA

kpruett

Member

Re: What about the free windows VPN???

said by wifi4milez:

You are correct that there are limitations with dynamic IP's,
Use a dynamic dns hosting solution like »www.dyndns.org/ and you can overcome the dynamic IP issue.

Kenneth

DrTCP
Yours truly

join:1999-11-09
Round Rock, TX

DrTCP

Re: What about the free windows VPN???

said by kpruett:

Use a dynamic dns hosting solution like »www.dyndns.org/ and you can overcome the dynamic IP issue.
You cannot! Obviously you have never configured Windows IPSEC VPN to use just standard IPSEC (no L2TP over IPSEC). You cannot enter the FQDN as network filters. It only works with static IP and those static IP better be public as well because Microsoft does not support IPSEC NAT-T either.

kamm
join:2001-02-14
Brooklyn, NY

1 edit

kamm to DrTCP

Member

to DrTCP
said by DrTCP:

Windows IPSEC VPN basically works for Windows to Windows only (or equipment that emulates Windows like behaviour). It does L2TP over IPSEC.

Yes, it could be configured to have standard IPSEC VPN in a limited way using complicated ipsec policy editor. Even so falls short miserably when either side is on dynamic IP, when there is NAT etc. That is why there is still a market for 3rd party IPSEC clients for everything else that does conventional IPSEC.
Well, not exactly - works fine with enterprise-class firewalls' built-in VPN as well.

Dryvlyne
Far Beyond Driven
Premium Member
join:2004-08-30
Newark, OH

Dryvlyne to aviper9

Premium Member

to aviper9

Re: what about hamachi?

aviper9,

How do I know if I have Hamachi setup correctly or not? Basically what I am trying to do is use Hamachi as a way to secure the connection from one of my wireless computers to the Internet.

I have my network like this --> my PC wired direct --> D-Link 614+ wireless router --> SpeedStream 5200 ADSL modem. In addition I have one desktop PC located upstairs that connects to my router wirelessly. I have installed Hamachi on both PCs, created a network and both PCs appear to see each other via the Hamachi interface.

Does this mean that my wireless PC is now transmitting data encrypted? I am a little confused as to how this should be working... I am just trying to make my wireless PC more secure on the network as opposed to relying on WEP. Please let me know if I am totally misunderstanding how Hamachi works or if I need to configure some other things.

Thanks in advance!

jjoshua
Premium Member
join:2001-06-01
Scotch Plains, NJ

1 edit

jjoshua

Premium Member

Been saying this all along...

Run a VPN over your wireless connection and you don't really need to care about WEP, WPA, etc..

The important thing to note is that all of your wireless endpoints need to be configured to filter out all non-VPN traffic.

DrTCP
Yours truly

join:1999-11-09
Round Rock, TX

DrTCP

Re: Been saying this all along...

said by jjoshua:

Run a VPN over your wireless connection and you don't really need to care about WEP, WPA, etc..

The important thing to note is that all of your wireless endpoints need to be configured to filter out all non-VPN traffic.
IPSEC over Wireless is doable but bears heavy overhead and have problems of its own. It was the only real way to secure wireless before WPA or WPA-PSK.

Either use WPA-PSK with a long enough key (over 20 characters) or better yet deploy WPA with RADIUS and a secure authentication method like TLS, TTLS, PEAP.

frankie9999
@adelphia.net

frankie9999

Anon

OpenVPN

Open source, supported, free, multi-platform.

»openvpn.net

Mr Anon
@dsl.peoril.ameritech

Mr Anon

Anon

Re: OpenVPN

I second that, I've been using it for years, it does have a learning curve if you don't like command lines or have no linux experience. That isn't too bad its just that it has the normal level of linux program's documentation (actually its alot better than normal but it can make you fustrated at first)

It suuports pre shared key and certificates (whoohoo) its encryption is handled by OpenSSL and I think you can offload it I'm not sure. the oeverhead isn't much and my Athlon 750 can handle the traffic like a breeze

Also unlike the windows implementation it only uses one port and can easily travers NAT by a simple one port fowarding.

However you do have to use it to connect to it's self, and it onmly does VPN so if you need to bridge connections or route you will have to provide that yourself.

Yeah I'd say VPNs have been in wide use for a few years its just one of those things no one really talks about.

technick
Premium Member
join:2000-12-16
Wheat Ridge, CO

technick

Premium Member

Sveasoft WRT54G Firmware

I'm sure some already know this, but you can pickup a fairly cheap linksys router, and purchase the sveasoft firmware subscription, and use that to setup your VPN. The latest firmware makes your router a PPTP server.

wifi4milez
Big Russ, 1918 to 2008. Rest in Peace
join:2004-08-07
New York, NY

wifi4milez

Member

Re: Sveasoft WRT54G Firmware

The standard Linksys firmware on a wrt54g also supports VPN, although you need to make a local PC the server.

ff1324
Everybody Goes Home
Premium Member
join:2002-08-24
On Four Day

ff1324

Premium Member

Re: Sveasoft WRT54G Firmware

I believe that the WRT54G stock FW supports VPN passthrough while Sveasoft's will be a VPN endpoint.

haze_nme
join:2004-01-13
Tucson, AZ

haze_nme to technick

Member

to technick
You really shouldn't buy a subscription to sveasoft's service, as they are breaking the terms of the GPL buy taking a GPL'd piece of software and trying to charge money for it. GPL requires you to make your software available, including the source, for free. There are many sveasoft mirrors out there that recognize the fact that sveasoft is in violation of the GPL, and provide the firmware for free, as it should be under the terms of the GPL. I would include links, but James Ewing from sveasoft carries a little bit of weight around these parts, and my post would most likely be deleted.

GnuFreedom
@avenel01.nj.comcast.

GnuFreedom

Anon

Re: Sveasoft WRT54G Firmware

Erroneous or incorrect posts aren't deleted. It is better to state the facts and help correct the misunderstanding.

Sveasoft is fully compliant with the GPL. Your misunderstanding of the GPL is a common one. The word "free" in English has two meanings. One is "no money" free. The other is free as in freedom.

The GPL is about the latter and has nothing to do with the former. But don't take my word for it. Read it from the GNU people directly (they wrote the GPL) - »www.gnu.org/philosophy/s ··· ing.html.

Sveasoft has done a great in both meanings of the word free since they release "no money" free firmware *and* free as in "freedom" firmware with a cheap $20 yearly fee. You're "free" to choose either one.

haze_nme
join:2004-01-13
Tucson, AZ

haze_nme

Member

Re: Sveasoft WRT54G Firmware

Have a look at the following links, and you can understand why you should only buy a subscription if you absolutly NEED support with your firmware.

»www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl ··· Versions
That link basically states that everyone already has a license for any modified GPL'd software.

»www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl ··· quireFee
That link states that if you are forced to pay for software, then it is truly not free.

»www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl ··· ToPublic
This link states that the mirrors out there redistributing the Sveasoft firmware for free, are not breaking the terms of the GPL.

And finally read about how James Ewing deals with people who redistribute the Sveasoft firmware here:
»wrt54g.thermoman.de/ (The emails from Ewing are near the bottom, but the whole page is a good read.)

pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium Member
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD

pnh102

Premium Member

m0n0wall

I've used m0n0wall to establish a VPN tunnel between my network and a friend's network. It's pretty cool and easy to set up. The source code is open source and available at www.m0n0.ch.
sdd75
join:2001-10-14
Maryville, TN

sdd75

Member

ssh

Doesn't ssh count? It's free, easy to use, and versions of it have been around as long as I can remember. I think I started using it about a decade ago. It's cross platform, sure isn't restricted to corporate use, and can have up to 8192 bit keys, and public and private keys.