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VPN in OS X?

cgratti

cgratti

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 28, 2004
782
0
Central Pennsylvania, USA
I want to set up 2 computers to VPN, one in my home and the other in my parents home. Does OS X TIGER have the ability to be a VPN SERVER, I want to give my parents the ability to transfer files from their home to mine through VPN. I see TIGER has a VPN client, but how do I set my machine up so they can connect to it.

Thanks in advance to all who help.

--G
 
go to Cisco VPN......

.....search the internet for a link that would take to a site....usually a college site where you can intsall a free version of VPN for OS X. Install it on bothe computers and, boom your done.

As long as both computers have access to the vpn address and ip address you can access either computer on any computer and transfer and share files.


good luck! its easy.
 
capone2 said:
.....search the internet for a link that would take to a site....usually a college site where you can intsall a free version of VPN for OS X. Install it on bothe computers and, boom your done.

As long as both computers have access to the vpn address and ip address you can access either computer on any computer and transfer and share files.


good luck! its easy.
Click to expand...

I think he needs a VPN server in between though, which was what he asked for.

If you have a Linksys router, you can install 3rd party firmware that gives you a VPN server for free.
 
??

belvdr said:
I think he needs a VPN server in between though, which was what he asked for.

If you have a Linksys router, you can install 3rd party firmware that gives you a VPN server for free.
Click to expand...


yes you are right i knew,something was missing??
 
Does anyone have more information on this? I'm really looking to do this for tech support for my aunt that lives across town.
Remote desktop that is.

Leo Laporte and his friend of Security Now talk about Himachi all the time but is not yet Mac ready.
 
Well I have vpn set up where i manage servers so i know a little about it. What you could do is put a m0n0wall at the end you would like to connect to.(www.m0n0.ch) easy to set up but you need a slow PC almost anything you can find will do. And then you could connect to the m0n0 network from you mac. Or you could set up two m0n0 systems one at each end and have a permanent tunnel between the two.

This is one option, if someone finds a VPN server you can run on mac I would probable say thats the way to go, however this is a option.
 
cgratti said:
I want to set up 2 computers to VPN, one in my home and the other in my parents home. Does OS X TIGER have the ability to be a VPN SERVER, I want to give my parents the ability to transfer files from their home to mine through VPN. I see TIGER has a VPN client, but how do I set my machine up so they can connect to it.

Thanks in advance to all who help.

--G
Click to expand...

why not just set up an FTP server if you are just transfering files?
 
Daveway said:
Does anyone have more information on this? I'm really looking to do this for tech support for my aunt that lives across town.
Remote desktop that is.

Leo Laporte and his friend of Security Now talk about Himachi all the time but is not yet Mac ready.
Click to expand...

Why not just set up remote desktop on that computer and open those ports on your firewall...there really isnt a need for vpn.
 
virus7 said:
Why not just set up remote desktop on that computer and open those ports on your firewall...there really isnt a need for vpn.
Click to expand...

VPN would be if you are worried about security.
 
trainguy77 said:
http://guides.macrumors.com/Remotely_Controlling_another_Mac
Click to expand...
That guide really does need some work, but is another very good place to start with VNC over SSH.

Daveway: Dynamic DNS is your friend if the remote machine does not have a static IP address, but in the approach in the link above, the remote machine initiates the tunnel, and only you would need to have a static IP/dynamic DNS regardless of how many machines you might want to control.

B
 
balamw said:
Daveway: Dynamic DNS is your friend if the remote machine does not have a static IP address, but in the approach in the link above, the remote machine initiates the tunnel, and only you would need to have a static IP/dynamic DNS regardless of how many machines you might want to control.

B
Click to expand...
And one good dynamic DNS is http://www.no-ip.com/ If you need any more help we are here for ya!
 
Daveway said:
What if both the admin an client are both behind routers?
Click to expand...
In the approach from the guide here (as linked above), only the admin's side should have to open the port when expecting a connection.

Now since you too are likely behind a NAT router and run the Mac firewall, you will have to map the ssh port (22) on your router to your adminsitrator computer, and you will have to open up the ssh port on the Mac Firewall. But you can turn all this off when the tunnel isn't in use for better security (which is easy since it's on your end, not your client's).
Click to expand...

B
 
Then as it says the guide i posted earlier, you need to forward port 22 to the "admin" mac, however This is for setting up remote desktop, if you are doing just file transfer there is easier ways to do this. Such as FTP.
 
balamw said:
In the approach from the guide here (as linked above), only the admin's side should have to open the port when expecting a connection.

B
Click to expand...

My confusion was that my router (Intel) doesn't configure like this. It does more of a redirect. Ex. Dest=61.39.125.... route to 192.168.0.3.
 
Daveway said:
My confusion was that my router (Intel) doesn't configure like this. It does more of a redirect. Ex. Dest=61.39.125.... route to 192.168.0.3.
Click to expand...
Yeah "map" is not the best choice of words, but the idea is the same.

You want any packets sent to the public IP of your router on port 22 to be delivered to your (admin) Mac.

B
 
Daveway said:
I've followed the instructions to the letter except for the sshkeys and COTVLC says it cant connect. :(

Any ideas why?
Click to expand...
No, but here's the first thing I would do to try and diagnose it.

Run ssh interactively from the "client" to the "admin" i.e.
Code: 
ssh dummy@mypowerbook.ddnsname.whatever
without the -R, and make sure that works.

If that works then the tunnel should be good. The tunnel needs to be "up" before you can run COTCV.

B
 
If all you want to do is allow file sharing between the machines (possibly with desktop access) then you can simply tunnel the services over ssh.

An ssh tunnel encrypts the communication so that provides you the privacy you would like in the data as it passes over the Internet connection. In addition, tunneling over ssh means that you only need to poke one hole in the firewalls at each end: port 22 for ssh.

You could tunnel ftp over ssh, but if both ends are OS X machines you may as well simply enable personal file sharing, tunnel port 548 over ssh and then use the afp protocol to share files over the link.

If you also want desktop access then you can enable Apple Remote Desktop on the machine you want to access the desktop of and tunnel port 5900 over ssh and then use a VNC client such as "Chicken of the VNC" on the client machine to view and access the desktop.

You can poke around with setting up the ssh tunnels using the terminal. Alternatively, AlmostVPN provides a handy preference pane that allows you to set up ssh tunnels.

AlmostVPN also provides an easy way to set up file sharing over an ssh tunnel -- have a look at the FAQ "How to get to your files with AlmostVPN?".
 
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