VPN and Fedora serverWin client 4277

For successful setting up of a VPN, you need pretty good understanding of IP network addressing and routing principles.

You could start with Rusty's Guides from Don't let the names mislead you - the guides are some of the best there are.

VPN is a method to extend a private network by actually transporting the packets of the network using a public network (usually Internet). There are many ways to do it, so the name 'VPN' is far from unique.

The packets of the private network are re-packaged into packets of the public network for transmission. The connection is called a tunnel. For IP tunnels there are four IP addresses buttociated with the tunnel, two at each end, one for the private network (inside) and one for the transport network (outside).

To keep the private traffic private, the packets are usually encrypted.

OpenVPN can in principle generate two different types of tunnels:

- IP tunnel, - Link-level tunnel (bridged).

The IP tunnel links the ends of the tunnel as separate IP subnets, so IP routing is needed and the tunnel does not forward local link broadcasts (used by the basic MS networking).

The link-level tunnel works much like an extended Ethernet and it's able to forward the MS networking intact.

In both cases, the tunnel ends are connected by an UDP-IP or TCP-IP link, which is then transported over the Net.

In your case, I'd first try the bridged approach, unless it is deemed to be too intimate for the security of the internal network.

HTH

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Tauno Voipio tauno voipio (at) iki fi