The world needs more VPN client tools. It sounds like Cisco and
Ascend are venturing into this world. No doubt others are too.
I use "PPTP" from Microsoft currently for NT systems and "ssh"
and the commercial "F-Secure" product from DataFellows (www.datafellows.com)
for Unix. I really like ssh. I found PPTP to be ok, but it's rather
complex and required me to hack code to get my firewall to pass the
GRE encapsulated traffic. Obscure point: VPN technology that does
not use TCP or UDP protocols may not work with off-the-shelf firewalls
or routers. If the VPN protocol (like the new L2TP protocol) uses UDP,
it's reasonably easy to convince a firewall or router to pass it.
Don't ask why. It has to do with recognizing protocol headers and
the fact that TCP and UDP headers have similar structure.
VPN Client tools?
On August 1st, 1997 In Technology