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I know PPTP is based PPP, so what is the openVPN based on ? can the packets of openVPN be

routed by ubuntu server ? thanks!

4 Answers 4

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What is the openVPN based on ?

SSL/TLS

can the packets of openVPN be routed by ubuntu server?

Yep, of course!

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  • but I think openvpn is hard to use :(, must use CA ?
    – larry
    Nov 30, 2010 at 2:51
  • I think the packets of PPTP can not be routed , right?
    – larry
    Nov 30, 2010 at 3:11
  • OpenVPN has a bit more setup than PPTP, but not much. There are a lot of very good guides on the subject.
    – EEAA
    Nov 30, 2010 at 3:15
  • All of these protocols for VPN CAN be routed. If they can't you can not do vpn outside of your LAN. The main purpose of VPN is to do secure remote connection outside of your LAN (so the routing is involved). For openvpn - it is not a standart protocol and client is no embedded in Windows OS. I think that you can use self signed certificate.
    – ntk
    Nov 30, 2010 at 8:50
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    @why: You can use a shared key OpenVPN setup, see the OpenVPN Getting Started Guide for an example of how to set this up. It's extremely easy. Nov 30, 2010 at 9:02
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The following article may be of help: What’s the difference between PPTP VPN and OpenVPN?

The conclusion at the end of the article is as follows:

To sum up, if you are looking for high security and privacy you should choose OpenVPN. If you need easy-to-setup VPN, PPTP is a good choice. For mobile devices, both OpenVPN and PPTP can be used.

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    "For mobile devices PPTP is the only solution" - that's true for unsophisticated users, but note that if your mobile device is android and is rooted, you can run openvpn.
    – nealmcb
    Oct 6, 2011 at 5:36
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    OpenVPN is now possible on all major mobile platforms without rooting.
    – EEAA
    May 4, 2015 at 11:39
  • @EEAA: Thanks for the info. I've edited my answer. May 6, 2015 at 11:12
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PPTP uses PPP and GRE tunneling - quite old protocols, especially GRE which may be awkward to pass by some routers. It uses TCP port 1723.
OpenVPN is more flexible - it may be set up on any UDP or TCP port. OpenVPN uses OpenSSL library with all its goods.
I don't see any reason any of them could not be routed by Ubuntu server.

OpenVPN is for you if:

  • you are blocked by Internet Provider or behind restrictive firewall
  • you are looking for high security advanced solution
  • you need additional features like Exclusive Tunneling

PPTP is for you if:

  • you need an easy-to-setup VPN
  • you want to connect from mobile devices
  • you don't want to install additional software

The above bullet list is the summary from the best comparison I found:

OpenVPN vs PPTP

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We've written a guide on the differences between PPTP, L2TP and OpenVPN that you might be interested in at http://www.vpncompare.co.uk/the-difference-between-pptp-l2tp-and-openvpn/

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  • Welcome to Server Fault! Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference.
    – Scott Pack
    Sep 18, 2013 at 14:49

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