Few questions about VPN

English Network/Internet
1

Hi. I need help about VPN.

I have read about VPN, but I’m not a rich person so I’m thinking about buying TP-Link TL-WDR4300 router with VPN and install OpenWRT on it.
If I’m right I could have VPN for free. Main reason I want VPN is security and remote desktop between my to PC’s.

So my questions are:

  • What are differences between my own router VPN and commercial VPN services?
  • Can I use encryption and high security settings on VPN and use remote desktop at the same time?

Thanks.
BTW. Where can learn more about VPN etc?

2

On Fri, 27 Nov 2015 22:46:02 +0000, emilcabaj wrote:

> Hi. I need help about VPN.
>
> I have read about VPN, but I’m not a rich person so I’m thinking about
> buying TP-Link TL-WDR4300 router with VPN and install OpenWRT on it. If
> I’m right I could have VPN for free. Main reason I want VPN is security
> and remote desktop between my to PC’s.
>
> So my questions are:
> - What are differences between my own router VPN and commercial VPN
> services?
> - Can I use encryption and high security settings on VPN and use remote
> desktop at the same time?
>
> Thanks.
> BTW. Where can learn more about VPN etc?

Well, in general, a VPN between two machines on a local network isn’t
going to be particularly useful.

A VPN is useful when you have a connection at one system and a connection
at a remote system or router. I use a VPN myself to access my home
network when I’m traveling, for example.

The question I would ask you is this: What is your end goal - what are
you wanting to achieve that you think a VPN will help you achieve?

Jim

–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C

3

Hi. Most important thing for me is to have remote control over my home & office PC’s.

4

On Sun, 29 Nov 2015 07:06:01 +0000, emilcabaj wrote:

> hendersj;2740189 Wrote:
>> On Fri, 27 Nov 2015 22:46:02 +0000, emilcabaj wrote:
>> The question I would ask you is this: What is your end goal - what are
>> you wanting to achieve that you think a VPN will help you achieve?
>>
>>
> Hi. Most important thing for me is to have remote control over my home &
> office PC’s.

From outside your network, yes, then a VPN would be the proper solution
to protect the systems and the network. On top of that, you’ll need to
use remote desktop, VNC, or something similar.

A commercial VPN service would require that you connect the system to be
controlled and your laptop (presumably) to it as a shared network. By
hosting the VPN server yourself, you only need to connect to your VPN,
but the downside is that you have to manage the VPN server itself.

What I do is use a virtual machine appliance (rather than an on-router
option, since my ISP provides my current router) and forward ports using
my ISP-provided router to the virtual appliance. The appliance itself is
the OpenVPN Access Server, and is a free download - the license limits
the number of connections to one or two, but for a single user
application, that’s perfect.

Configuration is all done through a web interface, and it was pretty easy
to set up.

Jim

–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C