Azure Site to Site VPN & OpenVPN

Question

Hello,

I try to connect site-to-site VPN with Azure from an OpenSSH client running on linux.

Does some people have it already working ? Is there any configuration script around for it ?

Many thanks for your help.

Cheers

Cedric

Answer 1

Hi Cedric,

OpenSSH is SSL vpn, it won't work with Azure Virtual Network which requires on-premises side to have an IPSEC endpoint. What's your connectivity scenario?

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Jason Chen, Windows Azure PM

Answer 2

Hi Jason,

Thanks for the reply... (feel a little bit stupid..).

Do you know or somebody knows what would be *low-costs* VPN routers compatible with Azure (ones outside official supported devices list) ?

Any zywall / linux based or other VPNs routers  ?

Thanks for feedback

Cheers

Answer 3

Hi, Cedric:

In terms of hardware VPN-capable router/firewall products, the cheapest one you can find in our official support list is Cisco ASA 5505.  It costs about $300-$400 retail.  I have also heard people using other brands ( low-end NetGear, SonicWall, etc).  For instance, here some customer reported that they can get their SonicWall Pro 3060 (which costs about $200 to $300?) to work with Azure Virtual Network:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsazureconnectivity/thread/15a4d8ef-85ac-444b-b10c-cb94f0aacde9

If you are looking for a software based solution, then we have a very long thread on how to get Microsoft TMG Server 2010 to work with Azure Virtual Network:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsazureconnectivity/thread/eff37274-8b25-471a-bbc0-3303a0c58960

You can get a 120-day evaluation edition here:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=142238

Retail price sheet: http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/D/3/BD3C5A07-599D-4C14-AC2E-A98F495CCFB5/Forefront%20Licensing%20Datasheet.pdf

Another choice is to use Windows itself (a Win2k8R2 server).  Our dear colleague Michael Jurek has a nice writeup shared on skydrive:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsazureconnectivity/thread/dcff0a03-cbee-4f3c-ae95-ac55bb8782db/?prof=required

In the Linux world, you can try any IPSec VPN (for instance anything Racoon based) and see if that works.  Unfortunately, due to time/resource constraints, we do not provide official support for such in the current release. 

Answer 4

Hi,

Many thanks for your feedback. I'll look into that way.

Help was great.

Thanks

Cedric

Answer 5

Hi Cedric,

OpenSwan might fit the bill for linux machines. If you just want software based solution and don't mind using Windows, you can check out Windows Azure Connect

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Jason Chen, Windows Azure PM

Answer 6

I tried to use cloud connect and I am stuck at the step where I am unsure how to add roles for a VM machine to connect to. All the documentation relates to how one can connect to a web or a worker role but not a VM role.

I have two virtual machines and I would like to use some secure connection tunnel to connect to those machines without having to open RDP ports using End points.

Help appreciated

Jagdish

Answer 7

Edit: Posted my current solution using OpenSwan at http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsazureconnectivity/thread/1246cfcf-d206-4219-a529-830730bc7089