[CentOS] IPSec VPN Under CentOS 5.4

Thu Oct 22 18:16:45 UTC 2009
Paul Heinlein <heinlein at madboa.com>

On Thu, 22 Oct 2009, Joseph L. Casale wrote:

>> the best way is to use ssl-vpn rather than ipsec, via OpenVPN. 
>> Its a breeze to install and configure compared to most any other 
>> VPN, quite easy for the server to push routing rules to the 
>> clients, etc.
>
> I'll second the OpenVPN reco, I just migrated off a Cisco PIX to 
> this and it is the most configurable, and stable thing I have seen 
> in ages. I have connections from both Linux and Windows machines 
> that sustain for several days without a single hiccup whereas the 
> PIX would often suffer from non recoverable transient errors that 
> tanked the connection.

Macs work well too in an OpenVPN environment. You can compile it up 
yourself (or via MacPorts) or use Tunnelblick:

   http://code.google.com/p/tunnelblick/

Note that OpenVPN and Vista aren't necessarily quick to work and play 
well together. They can do it, but some coaxing is often necessary. 
XP, otoh, works great.

On Linux, I like running OpenVPN as a standard daemon, but there's 
also a NetworkManager plugin that mostly works as advertised.

-- 
Paul Heinlein <> heinlein at madboa.com <> http://www.madboa.com/