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VPN Server for Mac (Without OS X Server)

Benjamindaines

Benjamindaines

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Mar 24, 2005
2,841
5
A religiously oppressed state
Is there a way to set up one of my Macs to be a VPN server? I would like to do this for free or at least low cost, and I am not running OS X server. Also I am behind a router (so there is only one external IP address for 6 computers) so how would I go about connecting to it from my iPhone or my laptop while at a WiFi hotspot?

--Thanks
 
Try Hamachi.

Edit: on the other hand, you can turn on ssh and access it from any machine once you forward, in the router, the ssh port to the Mac you want to access. And you can turn on Apple Remote Desktop and access the desktop with a vnc client (although I would install Vine server instead of using the built in server, since Apple's vnc server specifies the incorrect RFB version so some non-Mac vnc clients can't connect, and the Vine server allows you to specify that you must connect via ssh)
 
plinden said:
Try Hamachi.

Edit: on the other hand, you can turn on ssh and access it from any machine once you forward, in the router, the ssh port to the Mac you want to access. And you can turn on Apple Remote Desktop and access the desktop with a vnc client (although I would install Vine server instead of using the built in server)
Click to expand...

Anything with a GUI?

I don't want to use VNC
 
If it's file access you want, ssh and scp is more than sufficient. But do you want to be able to mount your drive from an external site?

I think it might be slow, and I haven't done this myself, but you could try it by turning on Personal File Sharing and opening ports 427 and 528 in your router and forwarding them to the Mac you want to access. You need to know the IP address assigned to you by the ISP or subscribe to a dynamic dns service.

This might allow you to mount your home directory (open Finder, Cmd-k, entery afp://<ipaddress or dynamic dns host name>)

Edit: But for real VPN, hamachi is available cross platform
 
plinden said:
If it's file access you want, ssh and scp is more than sufficient. But do you want to be able to mount your drive from an external site?

I think it might be slow, and I haven't done this myself, but you could try it by turning on Personal File Sharing and opening ports 427 and 528 in your router and forwarding them to the Mac you want to access. You need to know the IP address assigned to you by the ISP or subscribe to a dynamic dns service.

This might allow you to mount your home directory (open Finder, Cmd-k, entery afp://<ipaddress or dynamic dns host name>)
Click to expand...

I don't need file sharing, what I need is a secure connection while on a public hotspot. VPN encrypts everything.
 
SSH to a SOCKS proxy. Pipe all your traffic through it. Lifehacker just did an article on it this week.
 
GimmeSlack12 said:
Any recommendations for a free shell account that allows tunneling? Silent is Defeat would be my choice but they aren't accepting new accounts at the mo'.
Click to expand...

I could always give you an SSH shell on my system. Go ahead and buy a few things on Amazon with it. :D

I would use my shell account at work for tunneling, or perhaps consider setting up an SSH server at a home computer. Hardware and internet connections are so cheap these days it's almost silly to purchase time on a central server anymore. I wanted to turn my old Xbox into a VPN server, but having to do any sort of modding to the xbox immediately turned me off to it. I wanted a fast and easy solution.
 
How about I just send you my SS# and credit cards? Probably easier for you than sniffing my shell account.

I refuse to buy a shell acct. I just want the option of hiding my tracks for whenever I might need to. And to try and tunnel past pay hotspots.
 
GimmeSlack12 said:
How about I just send you my SS# and credit cards? Probably easier for you than sniffing my shell account.
Click to expand...

I think we could come to an agreement where every other purchase that you make is for me. :D

I refuse to buy a shell acct. I just want the option of hiding my tracks for whenever I might need to. And to try and tunnel past pay hotspots.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I can totally understand that. I just blogged about that issue with the Philadelphia Public Wifi. It's a nice idea and all, but god, there is so much unencrypted traffic, it's like knowing where the Christmas presents are hidden.

I'd be interested in seeing if you can tunnel past the paywall for hotspots. I don't know how likely it is to work, but I'd be quite astonished.
 
SC68Cal said:
I think we could come to an agreement where every other purchase that you make is for me. :D
Click to expand...
**** off :D
SC68Cal said:
I'd be interested in seeing if you can tunnel past the paywall for hotspots. I don't know how likely it is to work, but I'd be quite astonished.
Click to expand...

I had read an article at one point but will require a bit of searching. It pushed the boundaries of what I know and said results were slow but consistent. I'll get to it again sometime.
 
Go rent a virtual dedicated. Besides some of the sites I host, I use it to VPN into when I am at a hotspot or an untrusted network. (I don't really trust any networks, not even friends LANs) Beyond that, I will use it when I want to do something that I don't want my ISP to track or accidently cache. Nothing illegal, just things like purchasing items, etc.

What can I say, I am paranoid :D

(Yes, I also use this for my iPhone)
 
No solutions to this day?

Sorry if this is an inappropriate bump, but a few years seem to have passed without any real solution for the original question (I've searched the rest of the forum for a bit too).
The only software I can find for this is "iVPN" which is commercial.
I've been looking at Openswan, which is in some kind of beta stage and doesn't work fully yet. Nor do the developers seem to have much energy for making it do so.

Does anyone have a free solution for this? Any solution based on OpenVPN, L2TP, IPsec, PPTP, (or anything at all really :) ) would be of help.

Update: Doh nevermind, of course I found This thread only minutes later.. *facepalm*
 
I use VPN Server Configurator. The program itself installs and configures the VPN Server, generates users and passwords, IP addresses, DNS servers, etc. The user need only specify the planned number of connections. I have a dynamic IP and I setup the VPN Server Agent. It sends the Public IP of the VPN Server if it changes to client computers. www.greenworldsoft.com
 
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