Q: VPN disconnects when iPhone goes into auto-lock ?

I temporarily solve this problem by keeping my phone charged and set it to never lock.

Hi all;

Just finished installing my mountain lion and osx server at home for many uses. The main feature I was looking forward to is VPN connection through my iPhone since i run a voip pbx at home and i was using a public ip and got really fedup with all the attacks.

I was unpleasently surprised to say the least when I found out the my VPN drops off when I lock my phone thus losing my connection with my pbx. The voip software i use on my iPhone is groundwire and it has the option to be always on. why can't we have that option with VPN.

Found this info bit on apple website for the iphone config utility.

VPN On Demand

For certificate-based and SSL configurations, you can turn on VPN On Demand so that a VPN connection is automatically established when accessing certain domains.

The action applies to all matching addresses. Addresses are compared using simple string matching, starting from the end and working backwards. The address “.example.org” matches “support.example.org” and “sales.example.org,” but doesn’t match “www.private-example.org.” However, if you specify the match domain as “example.com”—without a period at the beginning—it matches “www.private-example.com” and all the others.

LDAP connections don’t initiate a VPN connection; if the VPN hasn’t already been established by another app, such as Safari, the LDAP lookup fails.

The device closes a VPN session initiated by VPN On Demand after two minutes of inactivity. If the connection was initiated manually using the Settings app, the VPN server’s timeout applies.

Oh my it is not me doing something wrong... It's Apple!!! brrrrrrrrrrrr

I had a 2 hour telephone conversation with apple about yesterday and did not really get anywhere, I hope that they will give us the option of choosing weather we want to keep it on after locking.

I am still waiting for this update ..

Zeeshan

Yes me too!

+1 from me as well - have hundreds of iPads that need to use VPN to authenticate on our local network to gain internet access...

Facing the same problem. VPN is auto disconnecting without following any rule. Sometime the battery is full and the VPN disconnect In 2 min and sometimes the battery is 10% and the VPN disconnect in 15 minutes!! No doubt guys it is a bug

apple developers are  focusing on media and the shape of iPhone and iPad and not focusing on security and IT solutions

I think they know very well that SIP can't be used without a VPN connection to secure our packet !!

And Always without any solutions !!

It's not a bug. The iPhone is designed to disconnect from WiFi and VPN when it sleeps. This is to save battery life.  And that is how it will always be, because battery life is an important marketing point. More important than permanent VPN.

I would think there would be no reason why they can't allow sleeping to suspend all internet activity, including VPN. Then, they could initiate the VPN upon waking — not allowing any internet service until the VPN is reestablished. (Or just allow a choice between battery and perm VPN in the settings)

I think the same! It is crazy that it works in another way. Even though WIFI seems to stay active when the phone is 'sleeping'. And other internet connection over cellular probably too. But that is one more reason to keep VPN active. I use the iPhone as a sip-phone and why is this not protected when the phone receives a sip-call?

This is why companies like RIM stay in business.  There are security issues with iPhone and iPad.   Have to turn off all push and updates so nothing happens without manually turning VPN back.  Kind of usless.

I'm going to China and guaranteed without VPN you will be monitored and hacked.  If your ever in a hotel, airport, the apple store or even a coffee shop, without VPN your almost guaranteed to be monitored and hacked at some point or another.

This really needs to be addressed soon.   Would be fine if you could force the phone to not exchange ANY data without a VPN connection that could fix it for now.

me too. turned off autolock and ok so far. not really feasible to administrate across 30 users though.

That is why business will stick with Blackberry.   Apple has bugs in this IOS. It will not let you keep a connection.

Even if you use it manually each time you turn on your phone, data is still being sent unsecured.  Can't depend on IOS devices for secure data.

Apple and VPN connections don't mix.   Should be an option to never send any data without a VPN connection, that would solve it.