[pptp-server] Adaptive Directories [Was: a future poptop?]

[Jeremy Lee]

Matthew Ramsay wrote:

> Another idea I was looking into developing (again for our NETtel boards.. and
> hopefully finding use in the linux community) was a VPN directory service:
>
> Say you have a small office that connects to the Net each morning at 8am and
> disconnects at 5pm.. You get your ip address via dhcp from the isp.. and hence
> every morning your ip changes.. now say you have a salesman on the road who
> wants to VPN (with poptop of course :-).. instead of having to ring up the
> office to find the IP address a VPN directory service online tells him what
> it is and connects him transparently.
>
> that's another thing i'll be looking into hacking together.. unless someone has
> a better solution?

I'd been thinking something similar. A few friends and myself have home LANs which
masqerade through a linux/bsd box which dials our ISP. We've got all-you-can-surf
accounts, (ie. We're on-line 24/7/365. Thank you, The Hub! :-) but of course the
numbers are handed out dynamically, so once a day (generally) our IP address
changes. It would be good to run web servers and other sevices from our home
machines... very much the same as what you're looking for.

The solution I came up with (but haven't implemented) is just to use good 'ol DNS,
hacked a little. You need at least one machine with a permanent IP address running a
DNS server which is friendly to you. (Fortunately, I run the DNS at work.) When your
temporary IP number is allocated, you contact the DNS server, (through a remote
secure shell script or special client)  update your current IP address, and refresh.
As long as the zone timeout is low (say, 2 minutes) then you'll generally have the
latest info.

O'course, DNS isn't really meant to do this. You milage may vary depending on how
your primary DNS caches entries, (whether it overrides the timeouts, etc) but if in
doubt, just set the 'friendly' DNS as your primary.

All theory. But it sound plausable enough. :-)

--
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 Jeremy Lee | Orinoco     "One Crowded Hour of Glorious Life
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