On Saturday 22 January 2005 15:50, Holly Bostick wrote:
But here's my question: is this issue not occurring solely because the user is trying to connect to said VPN through software?
My ISP uses VPN as well, and at the moment I connect via the LAN using software routing on a Windows machine (the presence of Windows bypasses the OP's issue). However, we are waiting for a router, which supports VPN in hardware and is compatible with both UNIX and Windows, and is configured via a web interface.
Don't believe that routers do it "in hardware", they don't. ;-)
Ok, I can accept that, but my point --as relates to the original complaint-- is generally that under Linux this is essentially the same situation as if one had a winmodem; you have to add another piece of hardware that speaks the language of VPN natively (whether that be a old box that one sets up with Windows as a router, or a hardware router that does so through its own firmware), because we have established that direct software connection via pptp + kernel patch is not going to be happening for perfectly valid reasons.
It's usually not necessary to replace/add hardware under Linux, but on the odd occasion it is. It's usually not an expensive proposition, though (if a router costs too much in one's country, there is always the "old Windows box" possibility, which really should be cheap, since it doesn't have to be anything like a powerhouse; an old 486 will work for that purpose).
I thought that the OP was overlooking this, but (not being a network guru) I wasn't sure.
So if the OP had such a router (or, alternatively, if and when I get my bf to switch to Linux, making this a one-OS household), such a kernel patch would no longer be necessary, would it (because the router understands VPN perfectly well, so as long as I give it the correct configuration details, it would work fine)?
Yes, it will work with any OS that talks TCP/IP. The router will hold up the tunnels for the VPN and all your computers see will be a normal IP connection. Don't worry!
One thing you probably should do (after you have got your router) is set the MTUs (Maximum Transfer Unit) of your computers' ethernet interfaces a bit lower than the usual 1500 to avoid IP fragmentation. I don't know the *exact* number off the top of my head but 1400 should do:
ifconfig eth0 mtu 1400
Or am I missing something (I'm no network guru ;-) )?
:-)
Again: Don't worry, the router will take care of the VPN.
Thank you very much for the reassurance. It goes a long way to bolstering my ability to get my bf to switch (and makes me less nervous overall, given that I'm no network guru). Since said bf was going mad with any major download on my part (such as Linux isos) basically eating up his CPU (because the software router was running on his PC) and I was going mad with every Windows crash requiring him to reboot, thus disconnecting me, we had to get a router anyway. Nice to know that my hours of research will pay off in a device that should be as flexible and future-proof as I hoped.
Holly
Uwe
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