Need Simple VPN Solution for WinXP and Linux Server

[Deanimator]

I'm trying to set up a simple personal VPN solution to allow me to access documents on my Fedora 13 Linux Samba server from my WindowsXP laptop.

I started with OpenSwan and got no place. I uninstalled that and switched to PopTop. I am still unable to access my server using the external IP address.

What I'm looking for is a simple How-To or set of instructions which I can use to get this very simple configuration working.

I'm sitting behind a D-Link router and have the Linux firewall turned off. I THINK I have the right ports opened and forwarded to the server. The firewall on the laptop is not running.

I just want to get OpenSwan or PopTop running.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Noway2]

Have you taken a look at OpenVPN? It has pretty extensive how to documentation, is free, secure, and works rather well on both Linux and Windows.

 

[Deanimator]

I haven't tried it yet. I heard some negative comments regarding the security of the SSL.

Do you know of an easy How-To for what I want to do?

 

[Noway2]

I haven't heard of OpenSwan or PopTop, so I can't help you there. I do know OpenVPN works with Samba.

I am curious as to what you heard about with regards to negative comments? OpenVPN uses modern techniques with regards to security and should be at least as good as SSH or HTTPS web servers. You can generate your own certificates (eliminate man in the middle problems) and choose the bit length for the initial negotiation, which uses Diffie_Hellman. From there is uses synchronous ciphers and it generates a new random key every hour.

In my opinion, and from what I have read, it seems like it would be more secure than the "classic" methods using IPSEC.

 

[Deanimator]

I saw some comments that people considered IPSEC more secure. I have no opinion on the subject. If no quick fix presents itself, I'll probably try OpenVPN. I updated the firmware in my D-Link DI-604 router last night, without any improvement.