For many systems administrators, choosing and managing a VPN system is often quite a headache. Inflexible clients, servers, and protocols often prevent VPN's from being smoothly integrated into an already functioning network. The fact that many VPN clients are installed on users' home computers, well out of the reach of the systems administration team, often means that troubleshooting and upgrading VPN systems is time consuming and a struggle for both admins and users.

Like many computer users and systems administrators, I had used a variety of VPN solutions over the years. Time and time again, I had been let down by various VPN solutions both commercial and free. Last year, however, I finally found a VPN solution that was easy to use, administer, and debug, as well as fast, flexible, and free. The client and server both run on numerous platforms, including (but not limited to) FreeBSD, Linux, MacOS X, and Windows. OpenVPN was simply a delight to use and administer.

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