Comments on: Free GotoMyPC-like VPN, traversing three firewalls! http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/ Hobbies, family, life, science Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:57:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.11 by: phord http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-35077 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:49:55 +0000 http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-35077 <blockquote><em>check out www.dialINtomypc.com he basically provided a site of FREE vnc based remote support… it does what we are discussing but for free and no work!!</em></blockquote> The problem with that is that it requires me to set up the connection on both ends. I don't want to have to be able to touch both computers to effect this connection. I want to be able to connect from either side to either side on a whim. However, that is a cool resource, and I'll probably use it for some one-off connections in the future.  Also, check out check out http://www.showmypc.com/.  Maybe I'll set up a server for this of my own!<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.dialintomypc.com/" / rel="nofollow"></a>

check out www.dialINtomypc.com he basically provided a site of FREE vnc based remote support… it does what we are discussing but for free and no work!!

The problem with that is that it requires me to set up the connection on both ends. I don’t want to have to be able to touch both computers to effect this connection. I want to be able to connect from either side to either side on a whim.

However, that is a cool resource, and I’ll probably use it for some one-off connections in the future.  Also, check out check out http://www.showmypc.com/.  Maybe I’ll set up a server for this of my own!

]]> by: phord http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-35076 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:48:27 +0000 http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-35076 <blockquote><em>That’s also highly unethical, probably illegal, and probably grounds for a lawsuit against you by your employer.</em></blockquote> It is not unethical. Sorry. Nothing I'm doing on this VPN is in violation of any ethical norms. It's also not illegal, excepting that I am using company resources aberrant of corporate policy. I am using the computer with their consent, though the case could be made that I am doing so in an unapproved manner. It probably is grounds for termination. That's why I included the caveat. Dumbass.

That’s also highly unethical, probably illegal, and probably grounds for a lawsuit against you by your employer.

It is not unethical. Sorry. Nothing I’m doing on this VPN is in violation of any ethical norms.

It’s also not illegal, excepting that I am using company resources aberrant of corporate policy. I am using the computer with their consent, though the case could be made that I am doing so in an unapproved manner.

It probably is grounds for termination. That’s why I included the caveat. Dumbass.

]]> by: phord http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-35075 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:44:42 +0000 http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-35075 <em>What is that ‘mechanism’ that you use to get to web pages on non-standard ports, may I ask?</em> I use SSH to connect to my public machine on the internet. My SSH connection (Putty) supports SOCKS Proxy forwarding. I point the web browser to my localhost SOCKS Proxy, and *bingo*, all my web traffic (on any port) goes through my extant SSH connection instead of through my corporate firewall packet filter. The problem with this hack is that it requires you to have a server running somewhere to act as your proxy. If you are using openVPN to connect to your home PC like I am, then you're practically done. All you need to do is make that SSH connection and turn on Dynamic Tunneling. [Recently I was able to get my Cisco/Linksys WRT54GL router to act as a VPN for me running OpenVPN and OpenWRT. Then I installed srelay on it for SOCKS Proxying. And it worked! Sweet!] What is that ‘mechanism’ that you use to get to web pages on non-standard ports, may I ask?

I use SSH to connect to my public machine on the internet. My SSH connection (Putty) supports SOCKS Proxy forwarding. I point the web browser to my localhost SOCKS Proxy, and *bingo*, all my web traffic (on any port) goes through my extant SSH connection instead of through my corporate firewall packet filter.

The problem with this hack is that it requires you to have a server running somewhere to act as your proxy. If you are using openVPN to connect to your home PC like I am, then you’re practically done. All you need to do is make that SSH connection and turn on Dynamic Tunneling.

[Recently I was able to get my Cisco/Linksys WRT54GL router to act as a VPN for me running OpenVPN and OpenWRT. Then I installed srelay on it for SOCKS Proxying. And it worked! Sweet!]

]]> by: AA http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-34550 Thu, 13 Sep 2007 02:30:06 +0000 http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-34550 That's also highly unethical, probably illegal, and probably grounds for a lawsuit against you by your employer. That’s also highly unethical, probably illegal, and probably grounds for a lawsuit against you by your employer.

]]> by: mandy http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-33203 Wed, 22 Aug 2007 23:22:30 +0000 http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-33203 check out www.dialINtomypc.com he basically provided a site of FREE vnc based remote support... it does what we are discussing but for free and no work!! check out www.dialINtomypc.com he basically provided a site of FREE vnc based remote support… it does what we are discussing but for free and no work!!

]]> by: JR101 http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-30695 Thu, 19 Jul 2007 19:00:22 +0000 http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-30695 I have a Windows VPN server which works great (with most machines connected to it from work and home). However, the work wireless gateway will not allow outbound VPN connections. Is there a way for my laptop to get out through the firewall somehow and connect to the VPN port on the external machine? You mentioned getting to web pages on non-standard ports.. can you tell us which solution you used, and would it work for this purpose? I have a Windows VPN server which works great (with most machines connected to it from work and home). However, the work wireless gateway will not allow outbound VPN connections. Is there a way for my laptop to get out through the firewall somehow and connect to the VPN port on the external machine? You mentioned getting to web pages on non-standard ports.. can you tell us which solution you used, and would it work for this purpose?

]]> by: mus51 http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-27890 Mon, 18 Jun 2007 17:04:10 +0000 http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-27890 Phord says: "...sometimes I do need to bypass work firewalls to get to web pages, for example, on non-standard ports. For this I use another mechanism which is not VPN-related" What is that 'mechanism' that you use to get to web pages on non-standard ports, may I ask? -mus51 Phord says:
“…sometimes I do need to bypass work firewalls to get to web pages, for example, on non-standard ports. For this I use another mechanism which is not VPN-related”

What is that ‘mechanism’ that you use to get to web pages on non-standard ports, may I ask?
-mus51

]]> by: Randy http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-14742 Sat, 17 Mar 2007 05:42:13 +0000 http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-14742 So anyways, I'm curious if any of you folk can help me. See, my problem is that I'm trying to play a game which doesn't support NAT routers. The obvious solution is port forwarding, but I'm in an apartment which doesn't do that for nice people like me. So after they told me to go screw myself, I did a bit of research. The game I'm trying to play uses all peer-to-peer connections, so I have to be able to get through the NAT firewall to a bunch of different ports. I was wondering if I could use OpenVPN to get through all my NAT problems and play against thousands of people without error. I'm not really that great with computers compared to the whole lot of ya, but I'd love some responses. =] -Randy So anyways, I’m curious if any of you folk can help me. See, my problem is that I’m trying to play a game which doesn’t support NAT routers. The obvious solution is port forwarding, but I’m in an apartment which doesn’t do that for nice people like me. So after they told me to go screw myself, I did a bit of research. The game I’m trying to play uses all peer-to-peer connections, so I have to be able to get through the NAT firewall to a bunch of different ports. I was wondering if I could use OpenVPN to get through all my NAT problems and play against thousands of people without error. I’m not really that great with computers compared to the whole lot of ya, but I’d love some responses. =]

-Randy

]]> by: phord http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-13822 Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:48:27 +0000 http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-13822 <i>Wait, so you set up the OpenVPN server on your webserver that lives out in the open somewhere and then put clients on your work PC (behind your corporate firewall) and on your home PC (behind your several routers) and then once both the work PC and the home PC were connected to the VPN as clients, they could see each other by virtue of the fact that they were both connected as clients?</i> Yes. <i>Did you have to use IP addresses with VNC or could you resolve hostnames?</i> I have to use IP addresses. In fact I have to use IP addresses assigned by the VPN, so there's no name server that even knows these. I could add the names to my "etc\hosts" file since the IPs are static for each client. <i>Was your main goal to be able to control the work PC from home and vice versa</i> Yes. <i>or was it to be able to “break out” of the corporate VPN and make outside connections as if they were coming from the webserver machine?</i> No. In fact, I haven't been able to do this. I think if I set up routes and enabled traffic forwarding on the web server I might be able to make this work, but it hasn't been a feature I need. Well, sometimes I do need to bypass work firewalls to get to web pages, for example, on non-standard ports. For this I use another mechanism which is not VPN-related. Wait, so you set up the OpenVPN server on your webserver that lives out in the open somewhere and then put clients on your work PC (behind your corporate firewall) and on your home PC (behind your several routers) and then once both the work PC and the home PC were connected to the VPN as clients, they could see each other by virtue of the fact that they were both connected as clients?

Yes.

Did you have to use IP addresses with VNC or could you resolve hostnames?

I have to use IP addresses. In fact I have to use IP addresses assigned by the VPN, so there’s no name server that even knows these. I could add the names to my “etc\hosts” file since the IPs are static for each client.

Was your main goal to be able to control the work PC from home and vice versa

Yes.

or was it to be able to “break out” of the corporate VPN and make outside connections as if they were coming from the webserver machine?

No. In fact, I haven’t been able to do this. I think if I set up routes and enabled traffic forwarding on the web server I might be able to make this work, but it hasn’t been a feature I need.

Well, sometimes I do need to bypass work firewalls to get to web pages, for example, on non-standard ports. For this I use another mechanism which is not VPN-related.

]]> by: M http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-13809 Thu, 01 Mar 2007 04:56:33 +0000 http://www.philhord.com/phord/free-gotomypc-like-vpn-traversing-three-firewalls/#comment-13809 Wait, so you set up the OpenVPN server on your webserver that lives out in the open somewhere and then put clients on your work PC (behind your corporate firewall) and on your home PC (behind your several routers) and then once both the work PC and the home PC were connected to the VPN as clients, they could see each other by virtue of the fact that they were both connected as clients? Did you have to use IP addresses with VNC or could you resolve hostnames? Was your main goal to be able to control the work PC from home and vice versa, or was it to be able to "break out" of the corporate VPN and make outside connections as if they were coming from the webserver machine? Thanks -- just trying to understand what you did here! Wait, so you set up the OpenVPN server on your webserver that lives out in the open somewhere and then put clients on your work PC (behind your corporate firewall) and on your home PC (behind your several routers) and then once both the work PC and the home PC were connected to the VPN as clients, they could see each other by virtue of the fact that they were both connected as clients?

Did you have to use IP addresses with VNC or could you resolve hostnames?

Was your main goal to be able to control the work PC from home and vice versa, or was it to be able to “break out” of the corporate VPN and make outside connections as if they were coming from the webserver machine?

Thanks — just trying to understand what you did here!

]]>