Blog of developer Mikkel Ovesen My thoughts, stuff I need to remember or things I just want to share with the world

I have a Mac mini with Mac OSX 10.4 (Tiger), and I wanted to use this as my home server. Some kind of VPN server was required to give me external access to my files.    

I first read abut iVPN, but I was looking for a free service. I then looked into Hamachi (It looks like LogMeIn har purchased the rights to this software) (HamachiX).    

Hamachi

As I understand it, Hamachi was free and multi platform until LogMeIn took over. LogMeIn currently only support Windows, but I needed both Mac and Windows to work toghether.    

I then got the latest HamachiX and the free LogMeIn Hamachi2 to work, but the connection kept being dropped after some time. I think it is because HamachiX is based on a legacy version of Hamachi, and LogMeIn Hamachi2 is based on a newer version, and as I do not want to keep loosing my VPN connection, I dropped the idea of Hamachi.    

iVPN

Starting from scratch I started to read about other VPN solutions and servers for the client version of Mac OSX. This post explained that a PPTP and L2TP VPN server had been part of all Mac OS since 10.2. It was just not mentioned by Apple nor supported.    

This build in VPN server is what iVPN uses (read more in this post), a configuration tool that until version 2.4 was free, but now is commercialware. But as this tool does nothing but configuration, you can download the 2.4 beta version  here (iVPN 2.4b).    

Configuring the VPN server

As I needed Windows clients to access my Mac mini and due to my current network setup, I chose PPTP as VPN protocol.  The following steps explains what I did to setup the VPN server on Mac OSX 10.4.   

1. Download iVPN-2.4b  (If you need here is the iVPN 2.4b manual and the iVPN 2.4b source)
2. Run the iVPN
3. Click no to the upgrade
4. Enable the PPTP and disable the L2TP protocol (or enable/disable the protocol you wish to use)
5. Type in a username and password
   1. Do NOT use spaces in the username…
   2. If you have chosen to use L2TP then write a “shared secret”
6. Type in a IP address range, but make sure it does not conflict with your existing DHCP server setup.
7. The router is the default gateway and the subnet mask, normally you would use 255.255.255.0
8. I used the OpenDNS for DNS resolution.
9. Check the “Start server at boot time”.
10. Then click the “On” button.
11. Type in the administration password if required to.
12. Close iVPN

iVPN application

Firewall

Now the VPN server is setup, now you need to open for port 1723 in the firewall.    

1. Open the System preferences in Mac OSX.
2. Click “Sharing” under “Internet & network”
3. Open the “Firewall” tab
4. Click new
5. Select other in the “Port name” and write 1723 in the TCP port
6. As description write PPTP, VPN server or something else
7. Click ok and then you should be ready Mac OSX wise.

Now the only thing left is to open port 1723 in your router. If you have trouble doing that, look into the manual of your router or call the support hotline of your ISP.