This tutorial will guide you how to install and configure VPN PPTP in Debian Etch. The installation is straightforward.

Note: Make sure that your VPN Server has two Network Interface Card (NIC). One for Outside Interface (where the public IP is configured) and the other is INSIDE interface (where your LAN IP is configured)

Introduction

What is PPTP? Short for Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol, a new technology for creating Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) , developed jointly by Microsoft Corporation, U.S. Robotics, and several remote access vendor companies, known collectively as the PPTP Forum. A VPN is a private network of computers that uses the public Internet to connect some nodes. Because the Internet is essentially an open network, the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) is used to ensure that messages transmitted from one VPN node to another are secure. With PPTP, users can dial in to their corporate network via the Internet.

PPTP is known to be less secure than other VPN software, but if you need a quick solution for a VPN server that will connect out of the box from Windows workstations PPTP is the obvious choice. This post will show how easy it is to setup a pptp vnp server on Debian Etch.
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