VPN Solution (WAS: ORBS (Re: Scanning))

Mon May 28 08:03:01 UTC 2001

The Altiga/CiscoVPN3000 series allows you to do split tunneling.  You give
it a list of networks, and it drops this on the client when it connects.
The client will check the list, and if the network is there, will send the
packets through the tunnel.  Works great for users who have a LAN printer
but still want remote access.

craig

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-nanog at merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog at merit.edu]On Behalf Of
Patrick W. Gilmore
Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2001 10:25 PM
To: nanog at nanog.org
Subject: VPN Solution (WAS: ORBS (Re: Scanning))

At 06:58 PM 5/27/2001 -0700, Owen DeLong wrote:

 >Roaming staff usually needs some form of VPN access, anyway, and even if
 >they don't, this is a great use for one.  Put a VPN client on the roamer's
 >computer (Linux, Mac, and Windows 9x/NT/ME/2k all have IPSEC capable
clients
 >available), then use the VPN to get back to the mail relay.  If the mail
 >relay is behind the VPN tunnel termination point at the server end, then
 >it should only accept mail for relay from valid VPN clients.  As such,
 >you solve the roaming staff problem without an open relay.  VPN boxes
 >like Ravlin and Nokia Crypto Cluster are cheap enough today that I would
 >consider it a valid cost of doing business if you don't have a better
 >solution.

I have an "operational" question.  (SURPRISE! :)

VPN solutions are getting inexpensive.  However, they are sometimes far
from optimal.

The VPN solutions I have used (e.g. Bay Networks, MS PPTP) send *every*
packet from the end user machine to the VPN end-point, not just selected
packets (like with SSH tunneling).

This can cause extremely poor performance for some roaming users.  For
instance, someone in Sydney with a home office in New York trying to get to
a Sydney web server suddenly has to make two round trips to New York, just
to cross town.  Considering trans-pacific fiber congestion and other
problems, this can make the VPN nearly unusable.

Of course, you could tell the user to turn off the VPN, but you try to
explain to a typical end user when he should and should not have the VPN
turned on, or that he cannot send mail while browsing the web, or things
like that.

So, does anyone know of a VPN that does selective forwarding like SSH
tunneling?

 >Owen

TTFN,
patrick