So I have some questions about VPN

[crielly]

I've been doing some reading on VPN and I like the idea of being able to a) hide my internet traffic from increasingly invasive government snoopers and b) log in and access my home machine when I'm at work or out and about the globe. Trouble is, while I normally consider myself pretty hardware competent, I am having some trouble wrapping my head around how VPN works exactly.

I have an extremely basic home network - a Thomson cable modem on a dynamic IP unlimited 18mbps Down/512kbps Up connection, with a Cisco E2000 router - my desktop is a W7 box, connected by RJ45 - my girlfriend uses a W7 Laptop, and my ultrabook is Linux Mint Nadia. My router supports passthrough, and it is enabled (PPTP, IPSEC and L2TP).

So to enable me to log in to my home network through VPN, since my router doesn't support hardware VPN (correct me if I am wrong) I need to install a VPN Host/Server (unsure of correct terminology) on one of the always-on computers on my network, logically my desktop. I am told I can do this on a virtualized guest OS, but I am unsure what the advantage to this is or if it is even a good idea?

Second, if I get this software set up successfully - what exactly will it allow me to do? Will I only be able to access files that are available on that specific computer, or would I have the same access as a fully authenticated user that is physically connected to my home network?

Please pardon my ignorance, just trying to get a thorough understanding of what I am getting into before I start messing with security settings and whatnot.

Thanks AT

 

[Gryz]

A VPN is a virtual network between 2 fixed endpoints.
One endpoint will be your router (or PC) at home.
You don't mention the other side.
Do you already know where the other endpoint will be ?

There are companies that allow you to use them as the remote endpoint of your VPN. But they want to get paid for that service/

 

[crielly]

A VPN is a virtual network between 2 fixed endpoints.
One endpoint will be your router (or PC) at home.
You don't mention the other side.
Do you already know where the other endpoint will be ?

There are companies that allow you to use them as the remote endpoint of your VPN. But they want to get paid for that service/

Well, most often it's going to be my Linux ultrabook - I take it to work/usually wherever else I go. My understanding, which may be wrong, is that as long as I know the public IP (might have to ask my ISP for a static) of my home network router, the computer I am connecting from can be pretty much anywhere with an internet connection.

 

[yinan]

You can use services like dyndns to get a dns name for a dynamic IP so you dont need a static IP, but what you would do is create the tunnel from your laptop to your home server. You would have to forward some ports and protocols, but most routers can do this. The VPN server part is in a lot of routers, Server 2012 can do it for you.

 

[crielly]

You can use services like dyndns to get a dns name for a dynamic IP so you dont need a static IP, but what you would do is create the tunnel from your laptop to your home server. You would have to forward some ports and protocols, but most routers can do this. The VPN server part is in a lot of routers, Server 2012 can do it for you.

So if I set up something like dyndns and forward the appropriate ports and protocols, I can then dial that up with VPN and log in as though the internet is basically a giant ethernet cable leading from my home network to wherever I am?

If I had, say, an activedirectory domain...I could log in as an admin and make changes to group policy etc...access shared files...normal network stuff...or would there be restrictions due to the VPN protocol?

 

[yinan]

Yes, your computer would act just like it was on the local segment.

 

[crielly]

Yes, your computer would act just like it was on the local segment.

Epic technology is epic!

Now...since my router can only forward VPN, not act as a gateway...is this going to be as simple as setting up and correctly configuring software (OpenVPN, for example) on any always-on computer on my network, then forwarding appropriate ports and protocols on my router to that computer? And if so, can I do that to, say, a virtualized linux system?