VPN implementation

[Farabomb]

This is more of a learning experience than actually needing it. I can use google remote but it's like working on a quadra. Click, wait, wait, cursor blinks, type, wait, wait, wait, text appears. What would take 20 minutes here turns into an hour at home.

At least I have beer there.  :laugh:

[Joe]

Don't you have to treat your VPN server like a router and open ports within the VPN Server that you need? For example, to do VNC through a firewall you have to open ports 5900 and 5901 to VNC to your Mac. To use VNC you will also need to enable the VNC portion of Mac OS X Screen Sharing. And you would have to open port 5900 to do Mac OS X Screen Sharing from Mac to Mac. To SSH into your Mac you have to enable remote SSH in your sharing prefs and then open Port 22 I think. Still haven't got the VPN server installed here.

[DigiCorn]

 

[Farabomb]

You can very well be right. Hopefully I can play with it monday.

[Joe]

OK FB...I think I have this working. Whew...not as simple as one might think to get the functionality I wanted but...

Based on what you have said you were doing I assume you are wanting to VPN in from a Windows PC or an Android device and you have connected successfully to the VPN you set up. And I am also going to assume that you set it up to use VPN Azure in the SoftEther initial setup since you didn't mention that you opened any ports on your firewall. VPN Azure setup makes this possible (to not have to open any ports) and the connection works fine from a Windows PC using the built in Windows Networking and I assume it works from the Android device since I think you said that is how you connected. You can see the Mac IP but you can't connect it for file sharing or remote access, correct?

To use file sharing so you can connect to your Mac and see your files you have to enable SMB in File Sharing on the Mac. See attachment #1. Screen shots are from OS X 9.4 so your screen may look a little different on OS X 10.6.8 but it is basically the same setup. Once you have that enabled and created a share with the proper permissions you should be able to connect to the Mac and be able to access files on your Mac.

For remote access to your Mac you are either going to have to enable VNC in the Mac OS X Screen Sharing and give it a password. See attachment #2. Then access it by a VNC client that can connect to a Mac

or

You will need to use a client like Team Viewer with it installed on both the Windows and Mac. Not sure if they have an Android client or not.

The Mac address that you use for both methods is the LAN IP Address and not the WAN IP address. For example your LAN IP of your Mac would be something like 192.168.1.### because when you connect via VPN you can treat all of the computers as local machines so there is no need to have to open any kind of ports or to have to forward any ports via your firewall. This only applies to the SoftEther setup if you ARE using VPN Azure.

Now for the turd in the punchbowl for me. I want to VPN in from a Mac. Unfortunately you cannot do this if you are using VPN Azure. At least no way I could make it work so I had to turn off VPN Azure. As soon as I did this I could no longer log into the VPN at all from a Mac or Windows using their respective built-in VPN connections. So after some searching I found that I had to open ports 443 (HTTPS), 500 UDP, 1701 UDP, and 4500 UDP on my work Firewall and forward them to my VPN Server Windows 7 PC. Once I did that I could FINALLY VPN in from my Mac and I could then access my entire work network as if they are local on my home network. Including using the built is OS X Screen Sharing so I do not have to use anything like Team Viewer or a VNC Client. And since I have the Microsoft RDP app for the Mac I can also remote access into to my Windows boxes as if they were local too. The only downside is that I can no longer connect from Windows PC at home using the built in Windows networking connections. But I can by using the SoftEther Windows client app and everything works fine on the Windows side with that.

So success on this end but I spent a day and half fighting it to get it to work how I wanted it to work.

[Farabomb]

Was there a glitch in the matrix? I swore there were more posts yesterday.

I've been stuck in the back packing boxes so I haven't had a chance to try any of this.

[Joe]

I had to make a couple of changes in the post and deleted the fluff after it and reposted the main post.

[Joe]

So running into an issue on my Mac now. I thought it was working properly Sunday and Monday but now if I connect to the VPN with my Mac I lose my local internet on the Mac. Also I can't connect via the local Mac to file shares on the work network now and I know I could the other day. But I can still remote access in so not sure what the issue is now. Might need to reboot my local Mac.

The other thing I am a little concerned with using SoftEther is that you have to connect via xyz.softether.net (where xyz is the name you choose during setup). SoftEther is out of Japan so I think that means your VPN is connecting through Japan. Not really sure how that works but what seems like it was working two days ago doesn't seem to be working correctly now.

[Farabomb]

Time Warner is having issues so if any of the nodes are on that maybe that's it.

[Joe]

I don't think that is it. It is working flawlessly on the Windows 7 and Windows 8 PC. Ya hear that Steve Jobs Tim Cook?

[Joe]

So running into an issue on my Mac now. I thought it was working properly Sunday and Monday but now if I connect to the VPN with my Mac I lose my local internet on the Mac. Also I can't connect via the local Mac to file shares on the work network now and I know I could the other day. But I can still remote access in so not sure what the issue is now. Might need to reboot my local Mac.

The other thing I am a little concerned with using SoftEther is that you have to connect via xyz.softether.net (where xyz is the name you choose during setup). SoftEther is out of Japan so I think that means your VPN is connecting through Japan. Not really sure how that works but what seems like it was working two days ago doesn't seem to be working correctly now.

This must have been an issue with my home iMac. Got around to restarting it this morning and everything seems to be working correctly again. Connected to VPN on Mac and still have internet working on the home iMac.

[Farabomb]

Do you notice any improvements in speed or stability of connection over something like google desktop or logmein? That's what I'm really going for over security.

[Joe]

OS X Screen sharing is rock solid but that has to be Mac to Mac.

For Windows to Windows or even Mac to Windows (but there is no Windows to Mac) you will NOT find a better Remote Desktop app than Microsoft Remote Desktop that is built into Windows. It is both the fastest and the most stable.

If you have to do Windows to Mac I would try either Real, Ultra, or Tight VNC Client. I've had pretty good luck with all of them connecting to the built in Mac VNC Server.

[Farabomb]

Yea, I have to go from Win at home to Mac at work. I have VNC here to go from PC to a PC off the internet so I can remote into it from home.

Example, I have to remote in to do a job. Right now I use google remote desktop to remote into the Mac. I do all the work on the Mac and submit it for proof, imposed PDF and send it to plate. In order to confirm that the plates made it to the queue I use Win remote desktop on the Mac to remote into the prinergy server. Then from there I use VNC to hit the platesetter that's isolated from the internet. I can tell if the plates made it and release them in case the pressmen have gone dumb.

[Joe]

Once you use VPN everything is local so you don't have to worry about a machine not having access to the internet so you can actually use MRD from your home PC to your Prinergy and CTP PC. Just use their local IP address from you home iMac once you are connected to the VPN.

Windows to Mac though means using what you are now or something like Team Viewer etc...