OpenVPN as a replacement for Easylink???

[ba9ag]

I support a number of schools in North London and was wondering if anyone has used OpenVPN (or some other type of solution) for remote access to shared drives from home.

 

OpenVPN looks like the type of solution we would need but to set it up requires me to 'justify' myself to Synetrix and get them to open up a port to the server (which can take a while and be quite a painful process from experience).

 

Has anyone out there used this successfully and could you give me some guidance on how to set this up. Obviously I don't want to spend a load of time on it if it isn't worth it.

 

Some of my schools currently use RM Easylink with varying degrees of success (different versions of IE being the cause of much of the trouble).

 

In a nutshell, I want a solution that will allow teachers to access the shared areas simply and in a form that they would understand - ie. so that it shows up in a similar way to Windows explorer.

 

Thanks in advance

[ba9ag]

Anyone?

[dwhyte85]

I've used it for other purposes, IIRC you can just run a VM with it pretty much setup and ready to go on the server side.

 

Users would need to have a client installed on the machine, it's actually CMD line based but openvpn.se has a client which works (Sometimes).

 

Not as easy as you'd imagine, I don't think.

[Willott]

I'm using it through Synetrix on a non-default port (which is what took the time to get approved for me). I made sure I gave good details of security in place on server/clients (like 2 factor auth), and it went through without a massive amount of trouble, just a bit of time waiting!

 

Cheers

 

Will

[richardp]

Hi, I used it very briefly for a proof of concept on a remote access project I was doing which ended up using expensive commercial software in the end. I liked it very much, seemed easy to setup and performed a lot quicker than MS VPN on XP. Also once setup seemed a lot easier to use for the end user.

 

Richard

[Diello]

We use it here and it works fine - It only needs the Java client for some of the more advanced functionality like web redirects. Had it working in an afternoon as memory serves.

 

We're thinking of looking at Ulteo in the future though.

[dwhyte85]

I take it back, it is fairly easy to setup - not sure why I struggled so much prior:

 

A guide below:

 

OpenVPN Windows HowTo | IT Support London - runPCrun

[ba9ag]

Will have a look at that when I get a chance - D*** filtering service not letting me in.

 

Willot - how well does it work? Do the teachers use it ok? As I mentioned before some of my schools have used RM Easylink and it's not particularly user friendly.

[enjay]

some of my schools have used RM Easylink and it's not particularly user friendly.

 

It is perfectly user-friendly, so long as the user has Windows XP with IE6 installed :-)

[ba9ag]

:-) using ie6 is the problem. It sometimes works in ie7 but not reliably enough.

[plexer]

Or have a look at OpenVPN ALS which is what the community edition of ssl explorer aka adito is now known as.

 

Ben

[Guest ASNet0007]

why not use vpn built into all servers. You can use connection manager admin kit to create an auto setup file for your users desktops. When they are at home they run this, it connects to the school server and maps their drives as though they are at school.