I’m in the process of setting up a VPN. I’m running it through a Linksys BEFVP41 router on the office side, and the remote users will have SSH Sentinel IPSec client on their remote computers. (At least that’s what I’m planning, but I’m certainly open to changing the strategy.) The remote users, by the way, have a variety of ISPs, a variety of Internet connection methods (satellite, modem, broadband, etc.), and a variety of operating systems. It’s my intention to simply map a networked drive on the remote client (through a VPN tunnel via the Internet) to a server in the office.
The issue I’m having is this: at both the office side and the remote side, the assigned IP addresses are dynamic, not static. On the office side, the WAN IP address is automatically renewed by the ISP every 5-7 days, although it oftentimes (but not always) renews itself to have the same number. And on the remote client side, the IP address is subject to change – and probably will change – perhaps several times a day, depending on how often the remote Internet connection is open/closed. It’s not that difficult (for me) to determine and change the settings accordingly, but for the “common remote user”, it’s jumping through more hoops than we care to require. The way it is now, the remote user would have to:
1. Determine the office WAN IP address.
2. Determine their own IP address
3. Change SSH Sentinel configuration settings accordingly.
4. Add a new route to the routing table.
5. Change the mapped drives accordingly.
(continued…)