[gnome-network]Re: gnome-network VPN client

[Paul Coates <Paul Coates ncl ac uk>]

On Sun, 2003-10-26 at 11:46, Rodrigo Moya wrote:
> On Sat, 2003-10-25 at 14:24, Paul Coates wrote:
> > Rodrigo,
> > 
> > I was wondering if there were any plans down the road for VPN client
> > software in gnome-network?
> >
> we have talked somewhat about it, but nothing really clear has come out
> of that. But yes, I suppose we really want to have that in
> gnome-network.
> 
> >  I recently wrote a very simple GTK2 client
> > program for our users, replacing the pptp-php-gtk package at
> > http://pptpclient.sourceforge.net/ which uses gtk 1.x
> > 
> > I'm guessing that the need for the kernel module providing MPPE
> > encryption will be a problem.
> > 
> > My program is very simple as all the options are preset so our users
> > don't have to do any configuration themselves, but I was planning on
> > developing the software further to provide full functionality provided
> > by pptpclient. (I've got screenshots on my test web server at
> > http://linux.ncl.ac.uk/vpn/new.php)
> > 
> > Is this the sort of thing you would be interested in or do you have your
> > own plans for VPN including IPSec etc.
> > 
> yes, we want this. Although I suppose we want more than a simple client
> program. I am not an expert at all on VPN, so excuse me if I'm wrong,
> but I think what we want is some sort of integration into the login
> system, don't we? That is, we could have the GDM login screen allow
> login into the VPN directly. Or am I wrong, and just the client program
> is enough?
> 
> What are your thoughts on that?

My experience with VPN's is limited to connecting to our Microsoft VPN
servers using PPTP and MPPE encryption...

I always considered VPN to be similar to dialup, both provide a new
network interface with an IP address on the remote network, and you need
to setup your routing to play nice with the other network interfaces.
Following that thinking the best way to to start a VPN connection is the
same way as a dialup connection. Yes this could be automated in some way
using a logon script if you have a real network connection, but what if
you want to switch to another VPN server or start a second VPN
connection to another remote network.

Another problem I am having now that I've started thinking more about
this, do we want to limit who on a computer can use a VPN connection and
if so how do we do that (connection sharing). Do we allow multiple users
to start and modify a VPN's settings?

Does anyone know of non Linux platforms that have MPPE support, given
that Gnome is not just a Linux desktop.

Paul

Paul Coates
Computing Officer - Networks
Newcastle University

> cheers
> 
> PS: I haven't sent copy of this mail to the gnome-network-list, but
> please, if possible, continue the discussion there.