Netgear VPN and Mac OS X

I am in a similar situation. I have a NETGEAR FVS318v3 VPN gateway at home that I would like to securely connect to and my understanding is that the built-in Mac OS X VPN features will not work with it.

Since NETGEAR's client is Windows only, the only option I've come across is VPN Tracker ( http://www.equinux.com/us/products/vpntracker/index.html). They claim to support many routers and mine was included in that list. Give it a try, they have a demo that you can use to test if it will work. I haven't had success with it but I haven't ruled out other network or configuration issues on the remote side.

As with other VPN clients, it costs more than it should and most home users can't justify paying more for the client software than they did for the router.

Good luck

This is a piece of cake with free IPsecuritas software: http://www.lobotomo.com/products/IPSecuritas/index.html

It will configure a VPN tunnel for you to connect to the Netgear router. Has instructions on how to set up the Netgear and how to connect to it.

Has anyone actually got IPSecuritas to work with the Netgear DG834G wireless ADSL router yet? I can't seem to find any solution to this yet.

SOS

I believe you should be able to use the VPN. As long as the VPN server supports PPTP or L2TP protocols then all you'll need is the server's address and the login/password you set up. For L2TP you'll need the "shared secret" as well, unless the VPN server supports certificates.

Set it up by creating a VPN connection in your "Network" control panel. Name the configuration and enter the address and account info and if the VPN is set up properly it should provide you with an IP address of the private network.

VPN puts you on the local network, so all you'll need is for the VPN server on the private network to have a public IP address, either directly or by port forwarding to the router/gateway. On the VPN client end all you'll need it to ensure the VPN ports are not blocked on your firewall. Airport extreme is just a router like the netgear one, and shouldnt be an issue as long as you set up port forwarding properly.

VPN utilizes TCP ports 1723, as well as 47(for PPTP), and 15(for L2TP). There are others that may be required, but they depend on your specific configuration. Kerberos authentication uses port 88, and HTTPS uses port 443, etc...depeds on your VPN configuration, but most likely the VPN on the device is relatively simple.

Apologies for 'hijacking' this thread, but I feel my frustrations are equal to others trying to configure a secure VPN.

I also have a Netgear router\modem\firewall - the DGFV338 to be precise which I purchased based on the basis that VPN Tracker recommended this model and provided simple set up instructions.

To date, I've not got past Phase II in the process of connecting to the VPN and neither Equinox\Netgear can assist as both seem to have given up!! Not very good.

Which brings me to the question - has anyone actually managed to set up a VPN on a Mac? Seriously, it would seem that a combination of complexity and lack of knowledge are not helping Apple move forward in this key business area.

Anyway, if anyone can help with my problem or have an email address so I can forward screenshots - I would be seriously happy.

I have been able to secure a VPN connection on 3 Mac OS X servers with the built in VPN software. However, that being said, I have run into difficulties on two servers. One using the Netgear FVG318, the other using AD/OD integration for authentication on the domain. The Netgear is what prompted me to check this thread and try IPSecuritas, but testing is still going on for this solution since there appears to be some issue with the RAS/IAS services on the remote machines.

However, the one that confuses me more is the AD/OD integration issue. I'll be checking/posting in that forum next.

Regardless, using Mac and Windows clients with Mac OS X server's built in VPN server is fairly easy to do, relatively speaking.

peace