Which VPN

Can anyone comment on the relative merits of the various free software VPN
server options ?
I'm especially interested in "very small memory and disk footprint" (it's
for use on a WL-500g router which also does NAT), in the context of
a home VPN.

From what I can tell, there are 4 alternatives:
- Freeswan/strongswan/openswan
- OpenVPN
- PoPToP
- L2TPD


Stefan


PS: Are there libc-based VPN clients which allow the use of a VPN without
root access and without giving VPN access to other users of the machine?

Stefan Monnier wrote:

>
> Can anyone comment on the relative merits of the various free software VPN
> server options ?
> I'm especially interested in "very small memory and disk footprint" (it's
> for use on a WL-500g router which also does NAT), in the context of
> a home VPN.
>
> From what I can tell, there are 4 alternatives:
> - Freeswan/strongswan/openswan
> - OpenVPN
> - PoPToP
> - L2TPD

I use OpenVPN, which appears to work well. Are you planning on terminating
the VPN on the router? Or just pass through it?

> PS: Are there libc-based VPN clients which allow the use of a VPN without
> root access and without giving VPN access to other users of the
> machine?

--

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>> Can anyone comment on the relative merits of the various free software VPN
>> server options ?
>> I'm especially interested in "very small memory and disk footprint" (it's
>> for use on a WL-500g router which also does NAT), in the context of
>> a home VPN.
>>
>> From what I can tell, there are 4 alternatives:
>> - Freeswan/strongswan/openswan
>> - OpenVPN
>> - PoPToP
>> - L2TPD

> I use OpenVPN, which appears to work well.

I'm sure they all work well for someone, I'm more interested in comparisons
and in reports about memory/disk footprint (the WL-500g router only has 16MB
of RAM and 4MB of Flash, most of which is already used by the kernel and
server for SSH, DNS, DHCP, print server, NTP, HTTP, wireless AP, ...).

> Are you planning on terminating the VPN on the router?

I think so: I just want to have access to my home network from work.

> Or just pass through it?

I'm not sure what that would mean.


Stefan

Stefan Monnier wrote:

>> Are you planning on terminating the VPN on the router?
>
> I think so: I just want to have access to my home network from work.
>
>> Or just pass through it?
>
> I'm not sure what that would mean.
>
>

By terminating, the router is the end point for the VPN. With pass through,
the VPN terminates on some system, behind the router, which must be
configured to pass the VPN.

--

(This space intentionally left blank)

> By terminating, the router is the end point for the VPN. With pass
> through, the VPN terminates on some system, behind the router, which must
> be configured to pass the VPN.

The router would run the VPN server itself.
There'd be no internal VPN server to pass things to.


Stefan