Having manged to re-install Ubuntu 8.04 and get it working again, my next task was to set up a VPN server. I plan to get some X10 control devices to start up some home automation – just lights to start with I think – and to be able to control them while away would be great.
I thought the easiest method to test a VPN connection without leaving home was to use my iPhone – it has a data connection (albeit very slow) through O2, so setting up that was first priority.
A few searches on the internet brought up this page – very useful advice, but I didn’t follow it completely. All I did (initially) was …
- add the network-manager-pptp package (though I’m not sure if or where its used – I think I could have left this step out)
- edit the /etc/ppp/chap-secrets file adding the account name, protocol used (pptpd), password and ‘*’ to allow connections from anywhere.
- set up the iPhone VPN connection.
I should point out that my ISP provides a dynamic IP address, so I set up a dynamic DNS service with www.DynDNS.com (this is free) and then pointed my iPhone to that server address.
And it all seemed to work perfectly first time! I say seemed, because with the reduced bandwidth on the iPhone, running the VNC application didn’t bring up a picture of the screen – it may have done given time, but I couldn’t wait.
Notch one up for Ubuntu and iPhone!
I spoke too soon! I found out why it was taking so long to bring up a picture – connected to the wrong IP address!
So now, going back through all the other instructions, I’ve made the appropriate changes. Now to see if it works this time….