Lesson 18: Providing Security via the VPN Service

Question 1

What kind of users would benefit from using the VPN service?

Answer 1

Users who are away from your local network can use the VPN service to securely access resources available on your local network.

Question 2

What is an easy way to help your users running OS X to quickly configure their computers to use your server’s VPN service?

Answer 2

In the Server app sidebar, select VPN, click Save Configuration Profile, and distribute the resulting mobileconfig file to your users. When a user of a computer running OS X Lion or Mountain Lion opens the mobileconfig file, the Profiles preferences automatically opens and prompts the user to install the configuration profile. You can also distribute the mobileconfig file to users of iOS devices.

Question 3

What two protocols does the OS X Server VPN service support?

Answer 3

L2TP and PPTP.

Question 4

What are the differences between the two supported VPN protocols?

Answer 4

L2TP is more secure, but PPTP is compatible with older VPN client software.

Question 5

If the shared secret becomes discovered, does this mean that anyone in the world can now use your server’s VPN service?

Answer 5

Not necessarily; even if the shared secret becomes published, users still need to authenticate with a username and password to establish a VPN connection.

Question 6

What do you need to do if you decide to change the shared secret?

Answer 6

If you change the shared secret, all your VPN service users must change the shared secret in their VPN configurations. You can facilitate this change by saving a new configuration profile and distributing the new mobileconfig file to your users.