[vox-tech] VPN question

[Michael Wenk]

On Monday 27 September 2004 15:45, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
> I was given a laptop by the college I work at (well, loaned, actually).  It
> had Windows XP on it.  I just did a Debian net install on it, but it was
> really exhausting hearing people say:
>
>    * You realize we won't support it, right?
>
>    * It's against school policy to install your own software.
>
>    * How are you going to check mail?  Read Word documents?  See ppt
>       presentations?
>
> over and over and over.  I felt like Linux was a dirty word, and I had to
> smile, be polite and nod my head in agreement for over an hour to placate
> the people at IT.  The coolest person was the dean of IT, Mark, who was
> totally supportive.  Even though he doesn't use Linux himself, he was the
> only person who seemed totally cool to the idea.  I guess that's why he's
> in charge.  :) He's a good guy.
>
> Anyhow, on to the question.  I'm going to be given access to a VPN.  I know
> nothing about VPNs.
>
> I'm hoping that there's a VPN protocol, and that it's not some propietary
> thing that I don't have a ghost in hell of connecting to with my home
> computers.  If it's a well known protocol, I'm sure there's a Linux client
> that I can use.
>
> Is VPN the kind of thing where every implementation is different and it has
> to be reverse engineered on an implementation by implementation basis (like
> parallel port scanners or certain P2P protocols) or is there one VPN
> protocol that uses the same authentication across implementations?
>
> And if VPN is standardized, what are some clients that people like?
>
> Thanks,
> Pete

My experience with VPN and linux has been poor.  We have VPN access where I 
work, and the client software they give is for windows.  I gave it a half 
assed attempt to get linux to work with it and failed miserably.  I'm taking 
the attitude that when in rome do as the romans do, so I have a windows XP 
system that pretty much is a terminal.  He just sits there happily firewalled 
with just enough software so I can check email and connect to the unix 
network at work.  I dunno about the rest of you, but I am getting so sick to 
death of technology and computers, I just don't give a care, I just don't 
want to have to drive 30 miles on every little thing, and this setup does 
allow me to do that.  

YMMV


-- 
wenk at praxis.homedns.org
Mike Wenk