IPSec VPN Client Software

[owensdj]

I need to find some IPSec VPN client software that will allow a remote user to connect to a small office LAN through a Netgear FVS318 ProSafe VPN Firewall box. Netgear's documentation for this router talks about using SafeNet SoftRemote VPN client software, but it's pretty expensive at $149 from SafeNet site.

Can anybody recommend some less expensive, but good, VPN client software that will work with this Netgear router? It needs to run on Windows XP.

 

[azev]

How about using default built in windows xp vpn client ?? I think that should work and it will save u some $$

 

[owensdj]

azev, I could be wrong, but i think XP's VPN client doesn't support connecting to a IPSec VPN. I think it only supports other standards such as PPTP.

 

[Garion]

Originally posted by: owensdj
azev, I could be wrong, but i think XP's VPN client doesn't support connecting to a IPSec VPN. I think it only supports other standards such as PPTP.

The built-in XP client supports IPSec.

- Jason

 

[owensdj]

Garion, OK. Do you know if that IPSec VPN client support is in XP Home or just XP Pro? I use Win2K Pro on my own machine, so I don't have an easy way to check it.

 

[Garion]

I have no idea - All my work is done with XP Pro..

- G

 

[owensdj]

I looked at an XP Home machine and the only choices it had for VPN server type were Automatic, L2TP IPSec, and PPTP. I don't think L2TP IPSec is the same as pure IPSec. That Netgear VPN router only supports IPSec.

 

[Garion]

Only one way to find out, I suppose.. Give it a shot and see if it works.

- G

 

[azev]

Go download Linksys VPN manual, it shows how to setup IPSEC vpn on windows XP pro. I never use netgear vpn hardware, but those hardware are very similar to setup. It will atleast give you an idea on how to set it up.

Good Luck

 

[owensdj]

azev, I've looked at that and some other documention(at Netgear.com) that tells you how to setup IPSec on XP and Windows 2000, but I really had a hard time understanding it. The process for setting it up seemed to be incredibly complex, and after I went through the setup I still had no idea how the user was supposed to start or stop the conection to the VPN that was just setup. Maybe I'm missing something here. Can anybody explain getting XP/2000 connected to an IPSec tunnel?

 

[n0cmonkey]

http://www.openbsdforums.org/forums/showthread.php?threadid=10314 has a link to a pdf that might help.