Calling all geeks--VPN question

Travel discussion for St. John
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gymnastika
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Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:01 pm
Location: texas

Calling all geeks--VPN question

Post by gymnastika »

Trying to trip plan for a month (on a tight budget, that is) has been daunting. :x :x :x
I know we have internet, but hubby wants to know how well VPN connectivity back to the U.S. works??? He'll be on VPN all day for clients for a couple of the weeks. Has anyone tried this before?? Worst case scenario, hubby ditches his family "for a bigger pipe" (his words, not mine!) :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
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choochtex
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Location: Allen, TX USA

VPN...

Post by choochtex »

Ok...now listen carefully.....
Put down the Blackberry and back away....Drop the laptop and turn around....

I don't have any real experience in St. John, but you should be ok as long as the service isn't satellite. It won't be speedy, but it should work.

The Geek in me tries to stay home for vacation, so I pretty much have a rule, no Crackberry, No Laptop and use local Internet Cafe's just to check on parents and kids while on vacation....
Even the personal cell pretty much stays in the room/villa.....

Chooch & T - 67 days but who's counting...oh yeah..WE ARE.
Image
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pipanale
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Post by pipanale »

The house we stayed at last summer had a fairly stable connection. Judging by speeds, it was not as fast as my Roadrunner here in NC.

I suspect if I had brought my laptop and risked divorce, dismemberment, murder, etc, my VPN would have held. Slower, sure...but not impossible.

For a month, I could see the need to work.

For a week, I learned my lesson about laptops on vacation. I did it once.

Once.
gymnastika
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Location: texas

Post by gymnastika »

Whoa! Whoa! It's. going. to be. Okay.
Don't call the marriage counselor just yet.
It's all part of the plan.

After being tied down to a corporate desk job for 13 years, we jumped the gun, went on our own and now do contract work. So we can work from anywhere!

Why sit at home and work this summer, when we could be in the islands and have a change of scenery. We're wrapping 2 weeks of work with 2 weeks of vacation.
Now, when hubby says we gotta go back home, after an awesome month there, then we might need to call in the marriage counselor!! :roll:
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La Gringa
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Post by La Gringa »

I live in the Caribbean (Turks & Caicos) and work every single day over a VPN connection. Shouldn't be an issue in USVI..!!!
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La Gringa
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Post by La Gringa »

Oh yea.. and ain't contract work grand? ;-)
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RickG
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Location: Coral Bay, St. John

Post by RickG »

My oldest daughter said last night "You work from home all of the time, you have an aircard and a cell phone, how will your clients know where you are? Lets go to Grande Bay for July." Oh, if only my clients could do without the frequent laying on of hands...

<GeekOn>I had no problems with ssh, IPSEC, SSL, X over SSH, VNC over SSH, MS Remote Desktop and Citrix on my ATT aircard. I never tried to do anything really painful, like remotely mount a volume on a Microsoft box. DSL connections worked even better. Satellite Internet, like HughesNet, have higher latency than terrestrial networks and Hughes says you'll see a 50%-75% decrease in "speed." If you are staying in Cruz Bay hopefully you won't be on satellite.<GeekOff>

Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI
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jclampet
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Post by jclampet »

VPN works by the issue and use of an electronic certificate. Even if your connection is somewhat unstable. Once you have the certificate it is a simple matter of reconnecting and continueing your work. I assume there is also a front side name / password authentication in to the work system as well?

It will work just fine....

Now here is the really important part.....Just because you can do it doesn't mean you should. Work is like poison to a child when it comes to vacation..the two should never be exposed to each other....
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crasherino
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Post by crasherino »

RickG wrote:
<GeekOn>I had no problems with ssh, IPSEC, SSL, X over SSH, VNC over SSH, MS Remote Desktop and Citrix on my ATT aircard.

Cheers, RickG
Damn....I've never been to any of those airports.
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jclampet
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Post by jclampet »

[quote="RickG"]
<GeekOn>I had no problems with ssh, IPSEC, SSL, X over SSH, VNC over SSH, MS Remote Desktop and Citrix on my ATT aircard. I never tried to do anything really painful, like remotely mount a volume on a Microsoft box. DSL connections worked even better. Satellite Internet, like HughesNet, have higher latency than terrestrial networks and Hughes says you'll see a 50%-75% decrease in "speed." If you are staying in Cruz Bay hopefully you won't be on satellite.<GeekOff>

What the F*&#.....Wait a minute...As long as you got your DHCP turned off in your TCP/IP settings and your Static IP is set properly in the V6 and V4 protocols and your default gateway is correct you should be fine, but don't forget some settings in the QoS packet scheduler can interrupt data flow via VPN, but only if your cat5 is not properly secured. And be very certain the "enable IEEE 802 1x authentication" checkbox is not checked. Of course, all LAN/WAN setting must be double and triple checked just in case your ISP is lacking in it's IS precautions. BUT....Whatever you do, just remember, not a word of this has anything to do with really making a VPN work.....Ummmm….. ok where’s my drink....LOL… Sorry all I couldn’t help myself...Please forgive me.
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SoulvilleUSA
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Post by SoulvilleUSA »

jclampet wrote:What the F*&#.....Wait a minute...As long as you got your DHCP turned off in your TCP/IP settings and your Static IP is set properly in the V6 and V4 protocols and your default gateway is correct you should be fine, but don't forget some settings in the QoS packet scheduler can interrupt data flow via VPN, but only if your cat5 is not properly secured. And be very certain the "enable IEEE 802 1x authentication" checkbox is not checked. Of course, all LAN/WAN setting must be double and triple checked just in case your ISP is lacking in it's IS precautions. BUT....Whatever you do, just remember, not a word of this has anything to do with really making a VPN work.....Ummmm….. ok where’s my drink....LOL… Sorry all I couldn’t help myself...Please forgive me.
Okay, just to chime in her for the fun of it.... if you are connecting ADSL, ISDN, dedicated or even partial T1, via ATM, Frame Relay, or MPLS... you should be fine. If you are trying to VPN over VSAT, your'e screwed... lag time is at least 1300ms and is affected by rain-fade and solar flares!

On the serious side, I was staying on St. Thomas last month and even managed to find someone with their high speed wireless unsecured in a area on my resort. (Wyndham Elysian Beach resort.... buliding X, 3rd floor... unsecured linksys wireless router)

All I really used it for was to check email.
Green tunnels and no stop signs

Sterling
benchill
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Post by benchill »

Not to rain on your VPN parade, but if the service is through Innovative, you may have trouble. Their DSL is atypical of most DSL's. You are actually connected to their own private network behind their firewalled router.

I will attempt a VPN connection over Innovative Friday. when I get a few minutes. and report back.
Ben and Lynn
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La Gringa
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Location: Turks & Caicos Islands

Post by La Gringa »

this is hilarious...

setup your VPN and go...!!! geeeze

also... as far as working on vacation... my father worked on vacations... not all the time but he did... he had his own business... i understood that it was necessary so the rest of us could enjoy a beautiful place and a special time for two months or more during the summer... he also took the time to have fun and be with his kids.... very important...

nothing in life is for free... not a bad thing for a kid to understand... and you learn to find the balance... with that role model, this kid built her own business and lives in the TCI working over her easy to setup VPN... ;-) not a bad way to go...!!
gymnastika
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Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:01 pm
Location: texas

Post by gymnastika »

Here's what my husband has put together from everybody's great replies:


Thanks to everyone that posted on this thread. I knew the geeks would rise to the occasion!

Based on the info posted, I've put together the following strategy for working on St. John (in pseudocode, just to keep it interesting).

//Declare variables
bool innovateSux;
bool vPNWorks;
bool aT&TWirelessBroadbandWorks;
bool wifeHappy;
bool flyToFlorida;

if (innovateSux = true & vPNWorks = false)
{
useAT&TWirelessBroadband();
if (aT&TWirelessBroadbandWorks = true & vPNWorks = true)
{
workFromStJohn();
wifeHappy = true;
}
else if (aT&TWirelessBroadbandWorks = false & vPNWorks = false)
{
workFromFlorida();
flyToFlorida = true;
wifeHappy = false;
}
}
else if (innovateSux = false & vPNWorks = true)
{
useInnovateDsl();
workFromStJohn();
wifeHappy = true;
}

I haven't debugged the code yet, but I think it will get the job done.

Brian
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RickG
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Location: Coral Bay, St. John

Post by RickG »

I think you want to add:

else
{
buyATTAirCard(soon);
}
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI
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