VPN .... how do you connect?

I'm 'experimenting' with VPN back to my home PC for my laptop when i'm out
an about and have dynamic IP internet access.
Is this possible, in the first instance, and assuming i've set up my 834G
router correctly, how do i initiate the connection back to my home PC?

For example ...

I'm 'somewhere' where I do have internet access, perhaps dialup, but most
likely broadband on a router based LAN setup.

I want to connect to my home PC via the VPN i've set up on my router, but my
IP address from the LAN I'm on is DHCP, so I want to log into my own PC as a
user as the IP address is unlikely to be the same as I would hope if I set
up IP acess on the VPN ... i've set up user and key access.

OK, so i've lost myself now, so if anyone wants to stick their head in and
help me out ... !!

In news:(E-Mail Removed),
Tx2 <(E-Mail Removed)> informed everyone :
> I'm 'experimenting' with VPN back to my home PC for my laptop when
> i'm out an about and have dynamic IP internet access.
> Is this possible, in the first instance, and assuming i've set up my
> 834G router correctly, how do i initiate the connection back to my
> home PC?
> For example ...
>
> I'm 'somewhere' where I do have internet access, perhaps dialup, but
> most likely broadband on a router based LAN setup.
>
> I want to connect to my home PC via the VPN i've set up on my router,
> but my IP address from the LAN I'm on is DHCP, so I want to log into
> my own PC as a user as the IP address is unlikely to be the same as I
> would hope if I set up IP acess on the VPN ... i've set up user and
> key access.
> OK, so i've lost myself now, so if anyone wants to stick their head
> in and help me out ... !!

OK, what do i actually need to do on my laptop to hook into my VPN ? ....
with my home network, i have shortcut icons on the desktop for the various
shares on the network. i click those, and assuming the networked PC is on
the network, it takes me into the shared resource.

With a VPN, I am not going to have this, am i (?) so, how do i initiate the
VPN so that my laptop says "ah, he wants to connect to his VPN at home"...
??

I hope that is clearer?

Tx2 wrote:

> I'm 'experimenting' with VPN back to my home PC for my laptop when i'm out
> an about and have dynamic IP internet access.

Your ISP gives you a different numeric IP address each time you connect,
so you need some sort of fixed address which always points to your
current numeric address. There are a number of Dynamic DNS (DDNS)
services, free and paid; e.g., no-ip. Every time you get a new address,
the DDNS service informs all the DNS servers around the world; this
takes a few minutes.

Now that you know that this exists, Google should tell you everything
you need.

HTH,
--
Michael Salem

In news:(E-Mail Removed) ,
Michael Salem <a$-b$(E-Mail Removed)> informed everyone :
> Tx2 wrote:
>
>> I'm 'experimenting' with VPN back to my home PC for my laptop when
>> i'm out an about and have dynamic IP internet access.
>
> Your ISP gives you a different numeric IP address each time you
> connect, so you need some sort of fixed address which always points
> to your current numeric address. There are a number of Dynamic DNS
> (DDNS) services, free and paid; e.g., no-ip. Every time you get a new
> address, the DDNS service informs all the DNS servers around the
> world; this takes a few minutes.
>
> Now that you know that this exists, Google should tell you everything
> you need.

OK, but if i'm sitting behind someone elses router, on someone else's LAN, i
can't get such, can i? and therefore am I not able to VPN into my machine?
Your answer suggests to me, that VPN relies on each 'end' having
pre-determined settings so that each machine knows where the other is coming
from.

If I can find out the WAN IP of the router to which i'm connected (not
difficult) then am i able to log into a DNS service and inform it 'where' i
am?

If indeed I can have such as you describe when dialling in, or connecting
via a 192.168.*.* router'd network, then Google will as likely herald many
answers I seek.

In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, Tx2
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>OK, but if i'm sitting behind someone elses router, on someone else's LAN, i
>can't get such, can i? and therefore am I not able to VPN into my machine?
Not the case unless you've set your home router to accept connections
from a set list of remote IP addresses and the one you're using isn't on
the list. The IP address of the machine you are using doesn't matter,
the VPN client will appear to be a new network adapter to the system and
it will have an IP address allocated by your router for the time that
the connection is 'up'. Obviously the router you are trying to connect
from has to allow the relevant ports to be opened.
>Your answer suggests to me, that VPN relies on each 'end' having
>pre-determined settings so that each machine knows where the other is coming
>from.
It can be set up this way, indeed it's an extra layer of security that
is very cheap to implement.
>
>If I can find out the WAN IP of the router to which i'm connected (not
>difficult) then am i able to log into a DNS service and inform it 'where' i
>am?
Think you've missed the point of the DDNS service, it's to allow you to
access your machine even though it might have been assigned a different
IP address to the one you *think* it has. The service doesn't need to
know what IP address you are trying to access your PC from it just needs
to know what address your home PC has, this is all done automatically
for you.
>
--
Clint Sharp

(E-Mail Removed)lid declared for all the world to hear...
> OK, but if i'm sitting behind someone elses router, on someone else's LAN, i
> can't get such, can i?

I'm investigating this myself currently. I don't think it matters where
you are coming from as long as you can see the internet and as long as
you know the WAN IP of the router you are VPN-ing too, and as long as
that router has the capability to terminate a VPN connection.

If your router does not have the ability to act as an VPN server then
you will require a software or hardware based solution.

Once the VPN link is established, the computer you are VPN-ing from will
be assigned a 192.168.x x IP and behave as if it were on the LAN behind
the router you VPN'd to.

I think!

The problem I have is that my router will pass VPN traffic but does not
act as a VPN server so I think I will require some expensive software or
hardware to make it work.
--
Regards
Jon

In news:(E-Mail Removed),
Jon <(E-Mail Removed)> informed everyone :
> (E-Mail Removed)lid declared for all the world to hear...
>> OK, but if i'm sitting behind someone elses router, on someone
>> else's LAN, i can't get such, can i?
>
> I'm investigating this myself currently. I don't think it matters
> where you are coming from as long as you can see the internet and as
> long as you know the WAN IP of the router you are VPN-ing too, and as
> long as that router has the capability to terminate a VPN connection.
>
> If your router does not have the ability to act as an VPN server then
> you will require a software or hardware based solution.
>
> Once the VPN link is established, the computer you are VPN-ing from
> will be assigned a 192.168.x x IP and behave as if it were on the LAN
> behind the router you VPN'd to.
>
> I think!
>
> The problem I have is that my router will pass VPN traffic but does
> not act as a VPN server so I think I will require some expensive
> software or hardware to make it work.

well, i'm as lost as you are TBH ... Googling is just making it worse!
i don't *need* a VPN, but i'd like to be able to accomplish it ... i'm sure
it's very easy when you know how. I just wish i knew how!

I can set up my router for VPN .... i have set up routers for remote
management of the router, and can log in to them to see what's what, but i
want to be able to log into folders and get 'stuff', going beyond the router
stage that i'm currently at.

In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, Jon
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>The problem I have is that my router will pass VPN traffic but does not
>act as a VPN server so I think I will require some expensive software or
>hardware to make it work.
XP Pro will accept an incoming VPN connection and allow you to browse
your network.
--
Clint Sharp

(E-Mail Removed) declared for all the world to hear...
> In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, Jon
> <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
> >The problem I have is that my router will pass VPN traffic but does not
> >act as a VPN server so I think I will require some expensive software or
> >hardware to make it work.

> XP Pro will accept an incoming VPN connection and allow you to browse
> your network.

How?

Or, where do I find out how?
--
Regards
Jon

"Tx2" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:(E-Mail Removed):

> I'm 'experimenting' with VPN back to my home PC for my laptop when i'm
> out an about and have dynamic IP internet access.
> Is this possible, in the first instance, and assuming i've set up my
> 834G router correctly, how do i initiate the connection back to my
> home PC?
>
> For example ...
>
> I'm 'somewhere' where I do have internet access, perhaps dialup, but
> most likely broadband on a router based LAN setup.
>
> I want to connect to my home PC via the VPN i've set up on my router,
> but my IP address from the LAN I'm on is DHCP, so I want to log into
> my own PC as a user as the IP address is unlikely to be the same as I
> would hope if I set up IP acess on the VPN ... i've set up user and
> key access.
>
> OK, so i've lost myself now, so if anyone wants to stick their head in
> and help me out ... !!

Step 1: You need a VPN server...Whether or not this is a router capable
of acting as a VPN server, or a Domain Controller (NT, 2000, XP Pro etc).
The VPN server gives you as the client an IP address for the local
network. The client will create a virtual interface with the IP address
given from the VPN server. You will then have 2 IP addresses.

Step 2: You need to know the IP address of the VPN server to connect to
it. If this is a static IP address it won't change, if it's dynamic
you'll need to know what it is before you can connect.

Step 3:- If you are using a VPN server which is behind a NAT router, then
you need to enable port forwarding on the router to allow VPN traffic to
reach the server.