PoPToP, a Secure and Free VPN Solution

PoPToP is the PPTP VPN server for Linux. Ports exist for Solaris, OpenBSD, FreeBSD and others. PoPToP allows Linux servers to function seamlessly in PPTP VPN environments, enabling administrators to leverage the considerable benefits of both Microsoft and Linux. The current release version of PoPToP supports Windows 95, 98, NT and Windows 2000 PPTP clients, as well as the Linux PPTP client.

PoPToP is a PPTP access concentrator (PAC) that employs an enhanced GRE (generic routing encapsulation—protocol 47) mechanism for carrying PPP packets, and a control channel (port 1723) for PPTP control messages. The basic operation of PoPToP is to wrap PPP packets up in IP and send them across the public Internet infrastructure. At the other end of the connection, the PPP packets are stripped from their IP packets and handed to the PPP daemon. The operation is almost identical to a dial-in session, except the PPP packets are wrapped in IP and sent over an IP network as opposed to a generic phone line and modem configuration.

PoPToP can be set up to work with a patched PPP daemon to support MSCHAPv2 authentication and RC4-compatible 40-128-bit encryption. A Linux server running PoPToP can effectively replace a Windows NT PPTP VPN server. However, PoPToP does not support PNS operation, so it does not replace a Windows NT server when PNS is required.

Another advantage of PoPToP (and PPTP in general) is that it is transparent to the encryption and authentication mechanism. Porting an alternate encryption algorithm (such as Blowfish) to a PPP compressor module would not be a difficult task. The only issue with developing your own encryption and authentication mechanism is the simple fact that you will break generic Windows client support. However, the Linux PPTP client is available under the GNU GPL and will work seamlessly with any PPP changes.

Finally, PoPToP is simple. It has a tiny memory footprint and has undergone performance tweaks. This makes PoPToP very attractive to embedded platforms and edge networks. When teamed up with the Linux PPTP client, solution providers can offer cheap VPN solutions with their own defined security protocols.

PoPToP was originally pioneered by Moreton Bay (http://www.moretonbay.com/) in February 1999 for their eLIA (embedded Linux Internet appliance) platform. It was released under the GNU GPL in April 1999, and has since found widespread acceptance on standard Linux servers and firewalls in both large production sites and small business and home networks. PoPToP is in the current Debian “potato” code freeze and SuSE 6.2.

Setting up PoPToP with a standard PPP daemon (without MSCHAPv2 or RC4-compatible encryption) is a painless task. Below is a quick setup guide.

        cd /usr/local/src/
        tar zxvf pptpd-1.0.0.tgz
        cd pptpd-1.0.0
        ./configure make
        make install

        rpm --install pptpd-1.0.0-1.i386.rpm

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Any standard Windows client with PPTP VPN installed should now be able to connect to your PoPToP-enabled VPN Linux server. On Windows 98, you can install it via Control Panel-->Add Remove Programs-->Windows Setup-->Communications-->Virtual Private Networking.

Remote access for employees no longer needs to be an expensive process. VPNs can easily replace dedicated lines or remote access servers without compromising security. PPTP is one VPN technology that is ready now. Although criticized in the past for its security flaws, recent enhancements to the authentication and encryption protocols have made PPTP an attractive solution to business. PoPToP is the PPTP VPN solution for Linux that can take advantage of MSCHAPv2 and RC4-compatible 40-128-bit encryption available to the countless Windows client machines. PoPToP is easily installed and is free. PoPToP is simple, and due to its small memory footprint, very attractive to embedded platforms and edge networks.

Resources

Glossary