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

Obtaining the Software


Basically, installation of OpenVPN can be done in one of the following ways:

  • For Microsoft Windows operating systems, you have to download the binary .exe file from http://openvpn.net/download.html or the package containing a graphical user interface from http://openvpn.se/.

  • On Macintosh systems running Mac OS X, there is a graphical installation wizard and management tool called Tunnelblick.

  • Most commercial Linux systems, like SuSE, provide installation tools like Yet Another Setup Tool (YaST) and contain up-to-date versions of OpenVPN on their installation media (CD or DVD). Furthermore, systems based on RPM software can also install and manage OpenVPN Software at the command line.

  • Linux systems like Debian use sophisticated package management tools that can install software provided by repositories on web servers. No local media is needed; the package management will resolve potential dependencies itself and install the newest or safest possible version of OpenVPN...