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I want to configure a VPN from my Nexus S (2.3.4) to my home Ubuntu desktop.

Has anyone tried this yet?

I would deeply appreciate tips on which VPN server to use (e.g., is openVPN support native on Android Gingerbread?) and pitfalls to avoid.

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What would you use the vpn for? I don't know the answer because I'd just use an sh shell to connect to my ubuntu pc at home and I can't imagine what kind of use a vpn could have but I'm interested... – Pitto May 4 '11 at 8:25
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@pitto I would like to use VPN for the usual purposes. Secure communication from my phone to the internet, not trusting the free wifi at the cafe, for example. – Animesh May 4 '11 at 10:05
Mmmmhh... So when you get to the internet cafè you would log to their network, then log to your vpn and then surf the net? – Pitto May 4 '11 at 10:09
Yes. That is what I want to do. – Animesh May 4 '11 at 11:29
Browsing internet through vpn wouldn't be easy. When you connect to internet through wi-fi, the cafe router will advertize itself as default gateway. This gateway will be used to bring up the vpn connection. After the vpn connection is established the gateway will be the same one which was set when the phone connected to wi-fi. And by default there can be only one default gateway. So browsing wouldn't happen over the secure vpn channel. The only solution for this is using a proxy which exists on your vpn connected network. And official Android ROM has no option to be set up as a proxy client. – nixnotwin May 5 '11 at 0:51
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2 Answers

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The way I did it was to install dd-wrt on my home router and enable PPTP VPN. Then I just put in the user name and password in the VPN settings in Gingerbread.

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up vote 1 down vote

OpenVPN would seem to be another good solution if you cannot install dd-wrt on your router. There is a client app for it (http://www.appbrain.com/app/openvpn-settings/de.schaeuffelhut.android.openvpn) but you need to have rooted your phone to use it.

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