System requirements
VPPPN only runs on the following platforms.
- Windows XP 32bit
- Windows Vista 32bit
- Linux 32bit
- Linux 64bit
If anyone is interested in helping the effort to provide support for Mac or BSD please get in touch.
VPPPN uses Java, you must have Java 6 or above installed.
If you do not have Java installed you can download it from this page
http://java.com/en/download/
To verify this on a command line (a.k.a. DOS window) type
java -version
and check that it returns Java version 1.6.x_x.
Installation
Download and run the VPPPN client installer.
For Linux no further installation steps are are required.
For Windows users should launch the program and select the option to
"Initialize for windows", this will install the network drivers.
N.B. If, when you start the VPPPN client software, you see a warning icon(
) in the
bottom of the screen, click the link and check the help for more instructions.
You must have a working Internet connection to start the client without errors.
Creating users
When you have installed the software you should create a user.
There are two ways to do this, creating a new network, or joining an existing one.
Joining an existing network
If someone you know has already created a network using VPPPN they can send you an "invitation"(
) as an attachment to an email.
Save the attachment to you hard drive.
Launch VPPPN and click "I have an invitation" and locate invitation file on you hard drive then follow instructions to create an account. When you have created an account you should follow instructions to create an "invitation reply"(
).
Email the generated reply as an attachment in an email to the person that invited you (and no one else).
You will not be able to immediately access the new network, the person who invited you must
receive your reply attachment and confirm that you can join the network.
Do not forget your username or password! There is no way to reset the password if you forget it.
Currently there is also no way to change your password once created, this will be fixed in a future version.
Creating a new network
If you wish to setup a new network, launch VPPPN and click "register and create new network", follow the instructions to create a user and then create a new network.Do not forget your username or password!
When you have created a network you should send dedicated invitations(
) by email to the people you wish to join.
There is currently a limit of 248 computers on a VPPPN network, but you should not try to build a network
of more than about 10 computers with the first version of the client since the network will become slow.
You must use the VPPPN software to create encrypted invitations.
As the manager of the network, you have some responsibilities. Do not send invitations that you are not sure will be accepted.
Invitations are encrypted with a password, but they can theoretically be cracked.
You should not publish invitation files on the Internet.
Clearly it is not very sensible to put the password for the invitation in the email that contains the invite.
Send the password using a different mechanism like and SMS message or over a chat. In the worst case send a second email.
If you can, use PGP for the emails.
Invitations can be sent by normal email, since they do not contain any information that will allow direct access to the network. However, it is important that when you receive an "invitation reply"(
) that you are sure that it has come from the person you expect it to come from.
This is why you should not publish invitations on the Internet, it is most secure, if nobody else knows
that you have a network, if they do they might try to fake replys and con you into accepting an invalid reply.
You should not make the name you choose for the network public information.
Only members of your network should know the network name.
Read the instructions the VPPN software gives you carefully and you should not go wrong.
When you receive expected "invitation replys"(
), open the attachments using the VPPPN software and after
confirming the user name you can authorise access to the network.
When a new users joins the network at first they will only be able to connect to your computer, not
the rest of the network.
Once they have connected to your computer the system can exchange security certificates so that
each computer can connect directly to any other computer in the network.
For information regarding administering the network , and how IP addresses are allocated. see the network administration page.
Support for other OSes
64bit Windows is not supported simply because we have not compiled it in 64bit, if any one wants
64bit Windows, add a feature request on sourceforge.
N.B. There are hacks for getting VPPPN to work on Windows 7, these involve disabling the driver signing, and are required due to the fact that Microsoft
will not permit the openvpn TAP drivers to load. This is not a technical issue, Microsoft just require network
drivers to be signed, and that costs lots of money that open source projects don't have.
Apparently you can hit F8 or something when you load Windows 7, but I don't have a Windows 7 PC to try it on.
If you manage to install and run OpenVPN TAP drivers, you can run VPPPN on any 32bit Windows.
If you do get the drivers to load, drop a line saying how you did it.
Once the drivers are loaded you should manually create a TAP interface,
(running the bin\win32\addtap.bat script) and rename the interface
to VPPPN_if_root for use by VPPPN.
Apple MAC support is probably just a case of compiling the native code for MAC and tweaking a
few bits of Java, it is in the pipeline. Again, drop a line if you would like us prioritise support
for MACs or if you have a Mac and would like to help out.
Support for other JVMs
VPPPN has been tested with SUN JDK 1.6, Blackdown or other JVMs have not been tested,
The OpenJDK has been tested and works but font-rendering is ugly.
IBM JDK does not work because of problems creating the correct sizes of encryption keys.
If you need support for the IBM JDK please add a feature request.
Java 7 has not been tested either but I don't forsee any problems.
VPPPN uses various crypto APIs that are subject to export restrictions, so some folks in countries that are
plotting the downfall of captialist society might have issues.
And in France all crypto is illegal, nice!