- Sep 1, 2010
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I recently gave my home network a much needed upgrade, replacing my modem, router, and firewall. Everything has been working perfect, for the most part, but I wanted to inquire about setting up a OpenVPN server so that I could use RDP and monitor some systems while I'm away on vacation--if possible. I'd rather not use PPTP.
I suppose my inquiries are about OpenVPN itself, so I'll start there. I can easily install the server on my Untangle router/firewall but I think I'm getting confused as to what the setup is looking for. My knowledge on how VPN works is okay, but more often than not I'm left scratching my head when it doesn't work.
From what I gather, you enable the OpenVPN service on the router OS (32bit Untangle in my case) and then add clients that connect to the server. However, what are the "clients?" Are they outside networks or simply profiles associated by or with email addresses? Once I have the server running, I know that the server login credentials look to be distributed but is that just so a "client" can be emailed the certificate and be able to connect to the server remotely? I also know that there are some Windows Firewall rules that need to be adjusted, but I'm not quite there yet.
Also, in order to connect to the OpenVPN server outside of my home I need client software on remote computers, correct? I can deal with that fine, but I'm just not understanding the setup 100%. In theory, I should be able to enable the OpenVPN server, add some IP addresses of external networks, and then download and install the configuration files that the server hands out, right?
Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
I suppose my inquiries are about OpenVPN itself, so I'll start there. I can easily install the server on my Untangle router/firewall but I think I'm getting confused as to what the setup is looking for. My knowledge on how VPN works is okay, but more often than not I'm left scratching my head when it doesn't work.
From what I gather, you enable the OpenVPN service on the router OS (32bit Untangle in my case) and then add clients that connect to the server. However, what are the "clients?" Are they outside networks or simply profiles associated by or with email addresses? Once I have the server running, I know that the server login credentials look to be distributed but is that just so a "client" can be emailed the certificate and be able to connect to the server remotely? I also know that there are some Windows Firewall rules that need to be adjusted, but I'm not quite there yet.
Also, in order to connect to the OpenVPN server outside of my home I need client software on remote computers, correct? I can deal with that fine, but I'm just not understanding the setup 100%. In theory, I should be able to enable the OpenVPN server, add some IP addresses of external networks, and then download and install the configuration files that the server hands out, right?
Any help would be appreciated, thanks!