Virtual Private Network

I have two windows xp computers behind a linksys router. I would like
to be able to access one of these computers from a vista computer while
on the road. I am looking to purchase a linksys/cisco vpn router
BEFSX41 and getting a static ip address. How do I go about this? Do I
need specialized software in addition or can this be accomplished
without a lot of hassle?
Thank you

giddyup <> wrote:
>
> I have two windows xp computers behind a linksys router. I would like to
> be able to access one of these computers from a vista computer while on
> the road. I am looking to purchase a linksys/cisco vpn router BEFSX41 and
> getting a static ip address. How do I go about this? Do I need
> specialized software in addition or can this be accomplished without a lot
> of hassle?
> Thank you

1. You do not need a static IP address if you use a dynamic DNS service
like www.no-ip.com and use the DUC client on one of your machines.

2. A VPN is great if you want to access your whole LAN remotely, accessing
everything using internal IPs just as though you were back at home/office.
So a VPN would allow you to Remote Desktop into any machine on your LAN
without having to change the default port on each machine and then forward
those ports from your router.

It would be easier for you to just acess one of your machine through Remote
Desktop, without using a VPN, but it is not secure, and open brute force
hacking attempts.

ss.

Synapse Syndrome <> wrote:
>
>>
>> I have two windows xp computers behind a linksys router. I would like
>> to be able to access one of these computers from a vista computer
>> while on the road. I am looking to purchase a linksys/cisco vpn
>> router BEFSX41 and getting a static ip address. How do I go about
>> this? Do I need specialized software in addition or can this be
>> accomplished without a lot of hassle?
>> Thank you
>
> 1. You do not need a static IP address if you use a dynamic DNS service
> like www.no-ip.com and use the DUC client on one of your machines.
>
> 2. A VPN is great if you want to access your whole LAN remotely,
> accessing everything using internal IPs just as though you were back at
> home/office. So a VPN would allow you to Remote Desktop into any
> machine on your LAN without having to change the default port on each
> machine and then forward those ports from your router.
>
> It would be easier for you to just acess one of your machine through
> Remote Desktop, without using a VPN, but it is not secure, and open
> brute force hacking attempts.


Oh, and the XP machines(s) you want to connect to using Remote Desktop have
to be running XP Pro, not Home. If you are using Home, the easiest option
for you would be to totally forget Remote Desktop and VPNs, and use
something like GoToMyPC or LogMeIn.

ss.

For such a small network, a hardware based VPN might be overkill,
especially Cisco. Most Cisco routers only work with the Cisco VPN
clients and I've found them to be pretty troublesome and buggy
(causing lots of BSOD and often just not working without explanation).
Even the new AnyConnect client, while much better, is far from
perfect.

We used to use an older Cisco VPN that still supported the MS client
and that was much better. No software to install just set it up like
any other network connection. I don't know if any new Cisco VPNs
support the MS client.

Also there are software options, like http://openvpn.net/. I've never
used it myself but since it's free it's worth a try before investing
in hardware.

HTH,

Sam

On Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:25:03 -0600, giddyup <> wrote:

>I have two windows xp computers behind a linksys router. I would like
>to be able to access one of these computers from a vista computer while
>on the road. I am looking to purchase a linksys/cisco vpn router
>BEFSX41 and getting a static ip address. How do I go about this? Do I
>need specialized software in addition or can this be accomplished
>without a lot of hassle?
>Thank you

Samuel Neff <> wrote:
>>
>> I have two windows xp computers behind a linksys router. I would like
>> to be able to access one of these computers from a vista computer while
>> on the road. I am looking to purchase a linksys/cisco vpn router
>> BEFSX41 and getting a static ip address. How do I go about this? Do I
>> need specialized software in addition or can this be accomplished
>> without a lot of hassle?
>
>
> For such a small network, a hardware based VPN might be overkill,
> especially Cisco. Most Cisco routers only work with the Cisco VPN
> clients and I've found them to be pretty troublesome and buggy
> (causing lots of BSOD and often just not working without explanation).
> Even the new AnyConnect client, while much better, is far from
> perfect.
>
> We used to use an older Cisco VPN that still supported the MS client
> and that was much better. No software to install just set it up like
> any other network connection. I don't know if any new Cisco VPNs
> support the MS client.
>
> Also there are software options, like http://openvpn.net/. I've never
> used it myself but since it's free it's worth a try before investing
> in hardware.


I use OpenVPN. It's really good, but not easy to set-up at all - the
documentation is really hard to understand in parts. I had to get help on
the ##openvpn IRC channel on Freenode to get it working.

The OP did mention "without a lot of hassle", so I would suggest using
Hamachi instead for VPN, to anybody not that familar with networking. It's
offered by the LogMeIn people and is free to use as well, but a lot easier
(very easy) to install, although obviously more limited.

https://secure.logmein.com/products/hamachi/vpn.asp

ss.