Vpn

[Sleepsalot]

Hi Gang,
Any VPN experts in the house. I want to set up a VPN at home so I can check in on my PC's remotely from work with my laptop. I know hardware well. Wireless wired networks okay. But I'm lost with VPN. My IT guy here at work is a butt head and won't give me any info. So if any one can help it sure would make my life better. What software hardware will I need.
Thanks
Wayne

[Bok]

Most real VPN software comes at quite a considerable cost unfortunately. Cisco VPN, Citrix etc. I use most of them for getting to my clients.

You might be better off just using http://www.gotomypc.com though it's $20 per month after the free trial. I think there are some free versions of software which is similar though you can only see the desktops not interact.

On a static IP you could open up the port for a vnc connection but I wouldn't really recommend it.

Another option is ssh'ing into a linux box, then tunnelling vnc across that, but it's not simple to set up.

Bok

[Sleepsalot]

Thanks Bok, How you doing in the windy city?
Wayne

[Bok]

I'm not in Chicago this week after all. I'm in Louisville, Ky.. just till tomorrow

[Jkusuda]

Linksys makes a hardware solution to VPN's. Model # is BEFVP41. If you set up the router, you can easily establish a connection to it through Windows XP pro. XP home won't work for this. Instructions for doing this are on Linksys's website.

[Sleepsalot]

Well I have a wtr54gv.3 Linksys can this be used? If so how would I do it?
Thanks
Wayne

[Jkusuda]

No, you'd have to buy the router still to set up the VPN tunnel. You could also try VNC and VNC server products if you want to check your home devices.

[vaughan]

Maybe try Hamachi running with VNC viewer / server.

Also checkout LogMeIn and the very useful LogMeIn Ignition products. I use the free edition.

[Marky-UK]

You don't necessarily have to run the VPN server on the router; you could run the VPN server behind the router and use port forwarding to get to it.

That's what I do. Router forwards port 1723 and GRE (protocol 47) to my VPN server, then I can VPN into that, and from there get to any other PC on the network. I've run the VPN server on Windows XP Professional (don't know if Home includes the VPN server) and Ubuntu Linux.

[the-mk]

Another option is ssh'ing into a linux box, then tunnelling vnc across that, but it's not simple to set up.
That's what I do and it works great :D