One other caveat, at least with the VPNs I've connected with, is that you usually lose access to your local network when connected to the VPN. This makes some sense since it's like you're being plugged into the remote network and they wouldn't normally have access to the fileshare in your house.
CB Simon Fogarty wrote: > christina, > > A vpn is like a pipe or portal / tunnel openning between your machine and > your place of work that wil allow you to acces your business / work area as > if you were on your work network. > > mainly it sets up a tunnel and then you remote access anothe rmachine in > your work > > or internet access / wweb based software packages. > > ----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Donal Fitzpatrick > Sent: Wednesday, 30 September 2009 11:29 a.m. > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: VPN revisited > > > Hi Christina, > > VPN stands for "virtual Private Network". Basically, it allows me to > connect into my work network from home. I can see the network disks, > send mail, and access all the resources I need to access as though I'm > in the office. > > hth > > Donal > On 29 Sep 2009, at 23:25, Christina wrote: > > >> This may sound dumb but for my information, could you please let me >> know what a VPN is. >> >> Thanks, >> Christina >> On Sep 29, 2009, at 2:34 PM, Donal Fitzpatrick wrote: >> >> >>> Hi all, >>> >>> Ok I've been playing around with two VPN clients since I raised this >>> topic about a month ago. The two clients I've looked at are >>> Tunnelblick and Viscosity. In case anyone needs to use a VPN, my >>> thoughts on both are given below. >>> >>> 1. Viscosity. I chose this one first because, as Esther said at the >>> time this topic was discussed, it supports applescript. The >>> installation for this application follows standard OSX conventions, >>> and creates no problems with VO whatsoever. >>> >>> The application is not very accessible in the typical sense of the >>> word. It uses a status menu (NSStatusItem which it locates in the >>> vicinity of time machine, and the other Extra menu items Apple use. >>> Problems with such status menus are well documented here and on other >>> lists so I won't delve into that again. However, suffice it to say >>> that because the status menu is inaccessible, it precludes getting to >>> the menu items, preferences dialog and other aspects of the software. >>> I did ask a sighted colleague to open the preferences dialog for me, >>> and it was navigable, but not easily so. >>> >>> I mentioned earlier that Viscosity does support applescript. One can >>> easily create scripts to connect to, and disconnect from the VPN. >>> This feature makes the application usable. Finally, I'd like to >>> acknowledge the developer of this application. During an email >>> exchange, he acknowledged that the app could do with some work, and >>> also succinctly explained the issues with the NSStatusItem. He has >>> told me that he and other developers have been on to Apple regarding >>> this issue, and await their response. >>> >>> 2. Tunnelblick. This application is very similar to Viscosity >>> described above. However, it is an opensource project, and as such >>> the source code is available. Once again, the installation process >>> is >>> no problem. However, the same issues regarding NSStatusItems emerge; >>> that is, it creates one which cannot be reached using VO. A little >>> digging on the TunnelBlick wiki produced documentation on the >>> preferences, which can be found in a ".plist" file located in "~/ >>> library/preferences". Editing this file in the normal way, (using >>> some educated guesswork) I could actually configure the application >>> to >>> both start wen I logged on, and also to automatically connect to the >>> VPN thereby negating the need to go near the inaccessible status >>> menu. >>> >>> Finally on this application, while it does not, to the best of my >>> knowledge support applescript, it does come with a command-line >>> interface called openvpnstart. One has to drill down into the >>> application package (using terminal) to run this app. Also, root >>> privileges seem to be required to run it. However, this can be >>> scripted using the usual shell-scripts and this approach also works >>> quite well. >>> >>> So in summary, the two clients I've looked at are inaccessible in one >>> sense, but are in fact usable with a little tweaking and >>> experimentation. >>> >>> I hope this helps people, and might just save some time for others in >>> the future. >>> >>> Cheers, >>> >>> Donal >>> >>> >> >> > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
