Book Image

OpenVPN: Building and Integrating Virtual Private Networks

Book Image

OpenVPN: Building and Integrating Virtual Private Networks

Overview of this book

OpenVPN is a powerful, open source SSL VPN application. It can secure site-to-site connections, WiFi and enterprise-scale remote connections. While being a full-featured VPN solution, OpenVPN is easy to use and does not suffer from the complexity that characterizes other IPSec VPN implementations. It uses the secure and stable TLS/SSL mechanisms for authentication and encryption. This book is an easy introduction to this popular VPN application. After introducing the basics of security and VPN, the book moves on to cover using OpenVPN, from installing it on various platforms, through configuring basic tunnels, to more advanced features, such as using the application with firewalls, routers, proxy servers, and OpenVPN scripting. While providing only necessary theoretical background, the book takes a practical approach, presenting plenty of examples.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
OpenVPN
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
Preface
Index

Automatic Installation for Windows Clients


If you have to administer a large Windows network, you will probably know the pains of having to install software on several clients. There is a convenient way to install OpenVPN (almost) automatically: The open source Windows software Nullsoft Scriptable Install System (NSIS) installer available from http://www.openvpn.se/files/nsis/nsis205.exe and documented in http://openvpn.se/files/howto/openvpn-howto_roll_your_own_installation_package.html creates a executable file including configuration and certificate for your client.

Simply download the NSIS installer and execute it. In most cases, you will not need to make any changes to the default values during installation, except maybe for the path. Simply click the button Next three times, agree to the license, and NSIS is installed.

The following window shows the standard dialog of the NSIS installer providing detailed information on this tool:

If you are interested in more information on the NSIS...