openvpn vs hamachi or something better? large users
The scenario is for a real estate business with a large number of employees that are remote users. Around 75% are remote users. Currently 10 users, but we want to put growth into the equation, lets say 50-100 users working remotely.
The system is setup to use active directory and we want to give employees VPN access on their laptops. Their laptops have software that will connect to a remote database which brings up information regarding the properties, clients, etc.
The server is a windows 2008 R2 Server. Clients will be Windows 7, OSX Snow Leopard,Lion.
So, the question is, what is the best VPN solution?
hamachi on the server, or openvpn on the server? Would it be better with openvpn using an appliance? Would openvpn cause a lot of headaches setting things up?
I'm new to vpn's in this type of setup with this many users. I've use Hamachi before between friends and it worked great unless the connection switched to a relay which slowed things down. Recently however Hamachi has been pretty solid and the downtime is usually outside of our business hours and usually only 30 minutes.
Is there an easier way of setting up openvpn? I'm just worried that there is an optimized way of setting up the config. I got a basic openvpn server setup with one client connecting to it but I wonder how much different is it with so many users.
Is there something better all together?
There isn't much budget for this project but Hamachi was within the range.
Something like untangle seemed great the price was prohibitive right now. Perhaps in the future.
I'd really love to hear what you guys think.
Thanks.
The system is setup to use active directory and we want to give employees VPN access on their laptops. Their laptops have software that will connect to a remote database which brings up information regarding the properties, clients, etc.
The server is a windows 2008 R2 Server. Clients will be Windows 7, OSX Snow Leopard,Lion.
So, the question is, what is the best VPN solution?
hamachi on the server, or openvpn on the server? Would it be better with openvpn using an appliance? Would openvpn cause a lot of headaches setting things up?
I'm new to vpn's in this type of setup with this many users. I've use Hamachi before between friends and it worked great unless the connection switched to a relay which slowed things down. Recently however Hamachi has been pretty solid and the downtime is usually outside of our business hours and usually only 30 minutes.
Is there an easier way of setting up openvpn? I'm just worried that there is an optimized way of setting up the config. I got a basic openvpn server setup with one client connecting to it but I wonder how much different is it with so many users.
Is there something better all together?
There isn't much budget for this project but Hamachi was within the range.
Something like untangle seemed great the price was prohibitive right now. Perhaps in the future.
I'd really love to hear what you guys think.
Thanks.
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Thanks for looking into this.
I have always felt on EE that openvpn is one of the topics that dont get reply or people are not interested in .
Couple of months back i asked couple of questions regarding openvpn and hardly received any interest from other experts.
Let me know if you need more help..... Also you can assign static IP to a specific user , helps you to identify who is the culprit lol
I have always felt on EE that openvpn is one of the topics that dont get reply or people are not interested in .
Couple of months back i asked couple of questions regarding openvpn and hardly received any interest from other experts.
Let me know if you need more help..... Also you can assign static IP to a specific user , helps you to identify who is the culprit lol
ASKER
Thanks for the info. I see some types of industries and business models relying heavily on vpn solutions for remote users. I'm surprised to hear that it's a topic that doesn't receive much attention.
Well, I'm going to work on it so hopefully you'll stick around to help me out. lol.
Do you think the documentation on the openvpn site is still good? I've ready 3 different sites with old docs and they still "work" but ever since a few versions ago a few of the steps from those old docs are obsolete since they added in the extra functions.
There was also a bug I didn't find was in the code release until I finally found it through googling for like 4 hours. This thing needs a SERIOUS overhaul on the docs.
Do you highly recommend running this on it's own box separate from the other server? We might be able to get that going sometime down the road but right now budget is tight. I do like the idea, what are your experiences? Oh, I was wondering how this related with around 50-100 users, is it very cpu intensive? This is one of the reasons I like the idea but these are small bandwidth lookups, but it does add up I guess. It won't be 50-100 concurrent connections, probably 20-30 at most. Even if 50 are connected at once, they wouldn't be doing transfers all at once.
Any good tools to monitor vpn ?
Well, I'm going to work on it so hopefully you'll stick around to help me out. lol.
Do you think the documentation on the openvpn site is still good? I've ready 3 different sites with old docs and they still "work" but ever since a few versions ago a few of the steps from those old docs are obsolete since they added in the extra functions.
There was also a bug I didn't find was in the code release until I finally found it through googling for like 4 hours. This thing needs a SERIOUS overhaul on the docs.
Do you highly recommend running this on it's own box separate from the other server? We might be able to get that going sometime down the road but right now budget is tight. I do like the idea, what are your experiences? Oh, I was wondering how this related with around 50-100 users, is it very cpu intensive? This is one of the reasons I like the idea but these are small bandwidth lookups, but it does add up I guess. It won't be 50-100 concurrent connections, probably 20-30 at most. Even if 50 are connected at once, they wouldn't be doing transfers all at once.
Any good tools to monitor vpn ?
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Thanks. I will look into those suggestions. Glad to hear that openvpn is so so on the resources. There is enough going on on the server as is.
If you ever finish that doc, I'd be more than happy to look it over.
I have to figure out how to assign ips to clients, that is a very very smart idea.
If you ever finish that doc, I'd be more than happy to look it over.
I have to figure out how to assign ips to clients, that is a very very smart idea.
ASKER
I will give it a day to see if any other responses come through if not I'll accept that as a solution.
You saved me a lot of time with that script, I greatly appreciate the help.