Hinet ADSL and VPN Sentinel

Is there anybody with experience in VPN?

My company back in Germany wants to use VPN. They have asked me to download SSH Sentinel 1.322. (nts.wustl.edu/wireless/SSHSentinel1.3.2.2.exe) After I installed it, I could still connect via EnterNet 300, but “not really” as neither websites nor mail nor ping would work anymore.

After uninstalling Sentinel - no problem.

I have called Hinet’st echnical support hotline, and all I understood was that if I want to use VPN I hav to apply for it and it will cost me an additional 3000 something NT per month.

It is not impossible that the guy has misunderstood me or me him. After all I am a user and I may have explained things incorrectly (you can proabbly tell from the above problem description).

VPN is a service you run on your maschine. No need to pay extra for that.

Hinet either didn’t understand or is following in the tradition of “lie, obfuscate, and charge the customer for unnecessary crap at every opportunity”.

VPN is just encryption for packets leaving your machine, and decryption for any encrypted packets coming in to your machine. It prevents anyone from eavesdropping on your connection along the way. You set it up on your own box if you want it; they don’t have ANYTHING to do with it (unless you want them to set up a VPN for your whole company, or something like that).

They also sell a service that will make your DSL line look like it is directly connected to your company office without having to install any software. But your company also has to have a VPN line from them as well. Most companies use a software VPN solution instead. I’ve only used the Cisco VPN client, but in general you need to be very careful in exactly how you install it, and in some cases your firewall or router box may need to be modified to allow the traffic. If you are directly connected to your DSL line without a router or a hardware or software firewall installed, double check with your company the exact directions to get hooked up. A common problem we had with the Cisco VPN software was the DNS servers being hard coded on the client instead of being updated by the VPN server. Once the VPN is up, you need to use your company’s DNS servers instead of ones at your ISP.

Thanks for all your comments. What I still don’t understand is why I couldn’t connect Hinet anymore after I had installed the SW? I mean I didn’t do anything, I just installed it.

I’ll try again, maybe it is just a configuration issue after all.

I am using Zhone Alarm firewall and I basically directly connected to the DSL, PC—Hub—ADSL box—telephone line.

That’s a good point. I read it wrong the first time and just assumed you couldn’t connect to your company network. VPN software typically doesn’t do anything until you specifically tell it to connect. The only thing I can suggest is try turning off ZoneAlarm and see if that helps at all.