Open VPN Question

[vegaramos1]

My HDA is running on Fedora 14, and the VPN works properly when it comes to having access to my home network and the HDA itself. However, as far as web browsing behavior is concerned, I don't see my web traffic being routed through the VPN tunnel. When I compare a traceroute both with and without being connected to the HDA VPN, I don't see a difference in route.

For comparision, when I use my work laptop from home and connect to my employers VPN, after I'm connected to the VPN, if I visit a site like whatismyip.com, I can see the ip address change from my home network to the work network. I was expecting the same behavior when I use the HDA VPN away from home, but I'm not seeing that. However, I do have access to my home network once connected to the VPN. For example, when connected to the VPN, if I open a browser window and enter hda on the address bar, I do get the HDA Dashboard. Am I not configured correctly? Is my expectation of the behavior of the VPN incorrect?

[bigfoot65]

I am no expert, but I believe the VPN behavior for Amahi is correct. Keep in mind Commercial products offer different features and levels of protection that you may not see with open source.

In my opinion, as long as it is working, don't question it. The primary intent of VPN for Amahi is to give access to your HDA, nothing more. There is no reason to route your internet traffic through the HDA as you only need the VPN for access. The internet piece is done via your connection.

That might be different for your employer. They may be using a proxy which might tunnel all VPN traffic as you described. There is no proxy for Amahi, just VPN for HDA access.

[vegaramos1]

From what I'm reading on the wiki pages, it sounds to me like IPsec VPN would be a better fit as a VPN that would protect internet traffic when using an open Wifi hotspot. Is that a correct assumption?

[bigfoot65]

Both are secure in my opinion. Some get over paranoid about security. A wifi hotspot is just as secure. It's not so much the connection as it is what software you are using to connect and interact with the internet. I believe accessing a bank site via a wifi hot spot is no more insecure than doing it from home.

Not a lot to worry about in my opinion when just surfing the internet. That is what antivirus and malware programs are designed to control.