SMTP Route Through

[Andy Bustamante]

A few random thoughts

4) Each VPN connection can be either client to your network (software client to firewall/vpn specialty device) or LAN to LAN (firewall to firewall, VPN device to VPN device). Cisco has some very nice options or
there are open source utilities avialable.

5) It depends. I've used X-Windows over 128 k point to point circuit with excellent results. Not sure that a modem connection would support the same. What does "local high performance" mean to you?

Most sites I'm aware of have moved to insisting on VPN connections or allowing limited access from known network addresses.

Andy

[Hoff]

Most of (all of?) the pain here is due to the need to hack around comparative weaknesses in the local SMTP server package. Replace that, and I'd expect your experiences will improve.

Here's some HP OpenVMS information on the Communigate Pro package:
http://h71000.www7.hp.com/solutions/mail.html

Information from Stalker:
http://site.stalker.com/news/c-news_article_01252005.html

I'm running a VPN and a firewall that gives me an IP address on the target LAN, analogous to what a DHCP server provides for a secured WiFi connection onto a LAN. Viewed from the perspective of the local network services, the box looks like it's on the LAN.

Typical telnet exposes the username and password credentials in cleartext over the link. ssh is better here.

There are reasonable and inexpensive VPN-capable firewall options available, as well as the commercial offerings across a range of prices.

I can't speak for the current Microsoft Windows clients and options available here as I've migrated off that platform. I do know that there's been a cottage industry in making Windows VPNs easier to use, and I expect there are some reasonable choices available now and Windows Vista or the recently-announced Windows 7 beta may well have improvements in the base OS. Linux on any of the typical HP client boxes also has full VPN capabilities, as does Mac OS X. Any of these client platforms becomes yet easier to deal with when you own the target firewall, too.

And most any remote graphical-based solution based on X or ARD or RDP or VNC does require network bandwidth, yes.

[Willem Grooters]

[quote]
CommunigatePRO does not seem to support OpenVMS, at least it is not mentioned as a supported system
[/quote]

The main pages indeed don't mention OpenVMS as a supported system. However, AFAIK the software is avaialble AND SUPPORTED on OpenVMS. I asked for confirmation.

[RF Thomas]

We will investigate VPN's and other alternatives, but there is a significant learning curve for which I can not allocate staff time.

In the interim, our users access our system through their browsers to perform various functions (development wiki, sales/crm, ...). It seems to be straight forward to write a web based secure script to update the good-clients list as needed.

[Willem Grooters]

CommunigatePro: OpenVMS support has been confirmed:

Hello Willem,

> * Is OpenVMS still a supported Operating system?

Yes.

>
> * If OpenVMS is still supported, OpenVMS should be added as a
> supported OS on the main pages.

Specifically what pages are you referring to on our site? I will
gladly report this to our webmaster. OpenVMS is certainly listed as a
platform on the download page for CommuniGate Pro here:

http://www.communigate.com/enterprise/download.html

Thank you.

[H_Bachner]

First of all, I'd replace the Telnet client with an SSH client (like PuTTY) which does not send the password in plain text to your OpenVMS system. Especially if you do this from networks you can't control (your customers, hotel (W)LANs etc.). From your description, it sounds like the OpenVMS system is directly connected to the Internet and your users login from wherever they happen to be. Sending the username and password in plain text does not sound like a good idea.

> We will investigate VPN's and other alternatives, but there
> is a significant learning curve for which I can not allocate staff time.

I'd look at OpenVPN which can be configured in routing mode or bridge mode to fit your needs. It's simple to configure in point-to-point mode (for a relatively low number of clients), and a bit more work if you configure it in server mode to accept multiple connections with a single server-side configuration (you need certificates in this case).

I'm not aware of a version of OpenVPN running on OpenVMS so you'd better configure it on the router/firewall or set up a small Linux box within your network to handle OpenVPN.

I use it to connect my home network to the office network (where the tunnel is built up between the routers) and to connect from my notebook while on the road or at a customer site.

Hans.