Amahi Forums

Posted: **Mon May 07, 2012 1:48 pm**

I'm leaving on an overseas trip in 36 hours and suddenly realized that though my laptop can VPN home, my Android phone isn't yet set up to do so. I know there are instructions on the Amahi site for doing this from a rooted/mod'ed phone, but messing with that stuff this close to departure time isn't Murphy-wise. Feat VPN claims to be able to VPN from an Android without rooting, though I can't yet figure out how to interpret their instructions into something that lets me set up for Amahi. I'm wondering if anyone has had success with this or a similar product. (Yes, I have sent a message to Feat VPN support, just to cover all the bases.)

Posted: **Tue May 08, 2012 4:45 am**

I have not heard of tried this client. There is however guidance in the wiki for using Android phones with IPsec VPN. We have an Amahi app to install the server portion and guidance for using it with your phone.

http://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/IPsec_VPN

If you have Android OS less that 4.0 though it will not work. For that there is an alternative documented in the wiki and it works quite well. I have been using it with no issues.

http://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/IPSEC/L2TP_VPN_Server

This Feat VPN might be a viable solution, but I have yet to see any OpenVPN client work on an unrooted Android phone. If this one proves successful, we would like to add it to the wiki.

Posted: **Tue May 08, 2012 5:54 am**

Thanks for the quick response. I heard from the folks at FEAT VPN quickly, too, used their suggested setup for Amahi, and it worked the first time. Mind you, no rooting, no modding. This is an unhacked Android (2.3) Samsung Galaxy S. And it worked with their "Lite" (i.e., free) product. But grateful to have something that accomplished the job so simply, I forked out the US$4.95 for the paid version.

I don't derive any benefit for saying so (except maybe the satisfaction that other Amahi users will be able to use their OpenVPN servers to allow them to use Google Voice on their unhacked Androids while outside the USA, which was my personal goal), but the web address is http://www.featvpn.com/, and they are, of course, in the Android Market -- no, wait, make that "Google Play."

Posted: **Tue May 08, 2012 6:07 am**

Awesome. Is there any guidance for setting it up? I would like to add this to the wiki for Android users. I am sure there are many who would benefit from this one.

Posted: **Tue May 08, 2012 7:12 am**

Here's the e-mail sent to me by Thomas of FEAT VPN yesterday:

Hi there,

Thanks for your interest in FEAT VPN. Well, from amahi.org it seems that
Amahi is built around OpenVPN. So, let's give this a try. Let's do the
following for now:

(1) Install the Lite version of FEAT VPN.

(2) Run the self tests.

(3) Take a look at the attached configuration ZIP archive, amahi.zip. It
is based on the following instructions:

http://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/VPNLinux

The ZIP archive contains four files: amahi.ovpn (= OpenVPN
configuration), AmahiHDAClient.crt (certificate), AmahiHDAClient.key
(secret key), and ca-cert.crt (CA certificate). All files are taken
directly from the website, no modifications.

(4) Extract amahi.ovpn from the ZIP archive. Open it in a text editor
and replace "XYZ.yourhda.com" with the IP address or DNS name of your VPN
server. Put the modified amahi.ovpn file back into the ZIP archive.

(5) Copy the modified ZIP archive to your phone's SD card.

(6) In FEAT VPN, create a new VPN tunnel. On the tunnel edit screen,
load the configuration ZIP archive that you just copied from your phone's
SD card.

(7) Push the back button to save the newly created VPN tunnel. This
takes you to the tunnel list screen.

(8) Tap on the newly created VPN tunnel to connect it.

(9) Keep your fingers crossed. If anything goes wrong, go to the log
screen and send me the FEAT VPN log so that we can see what's going on.

Let me know how it goes.

Best Regards,
Thomas

Looks like he read the Amahi site carefully. His instructions worked first time. The product's functionality even survived a 2.3 update I received this morning. And the fact that it works with their free product (no nags or ads, either) makes this a winner in my book.

Posted: **Wed May 09, 2012 5:11 am**

That is good news. This might be something for the Amahi wiki. If you have time, we would appreciate if you could add the info.

Posted: **Wed May 09, 2012 7:59 am**

I wish I had the time! As I type and send this, I'm on a flight over the Gulf of Mexico, headed to Guatemala. This is the first of a four-trip marathon that won't end for five weeks.

Posted: **Tue May 22, 2012 7:27 pm**

Darn, somebody beat me to it.

I installed FEAT VPN beta on my Galaxy Nexus, copied the configuration files from my windows machine, and was up and running in about 15 minutes.

I think FEAT is definitely worth adding to the amahi wiki, as this clearly the most user-friendly method right now.

thanks
rb

PS I could draft the wiki entry if you'd like

Posted: **Tue May 22, 2012 7:32 pm**

That would be great, but there is an easier solution if you have ICS 4.0 or greater. Its called OpenVPN for Android. I am using it and works great. The phone does not have to be rooted. All you have to add is the cert, ca, and key from the wiki.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... nvpn&hl=en

Posted: **Tue May 22, 2012 7:54 pm**

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that FEAT is even easier. OpenVPN for Android has basically no documentation or help on the phone... it's an experts tool. FEAT is entirely menu-driven,, as a non-expert I got it running on the first try in about 15 minutes, and that was after wasting a minute or two to edit my .ovpn to include my server's address (a line missing in the original).

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