{"id":1460,"date":"2009-06-23T08:00:45","date_gmt":"2009-06-23T08:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2009\/06\/some-alternatives-to-the-cisco-vpn-client.htm"},"modified":"2009-06-23T08:00:58","modified_gmt":"2009-06-23T08:00:58","slug":"some-alternatives-to-the-cisco-vpn-client","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2009\/06\/some-alternatives-to-the-cisco-vpn-client.htm","title":{"rendered":"Some alternatives to the Cisco VPN client"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2009\/02\/installing-the-cisco-vpn-client-on-windows-7.htm\">Installing Cisco&#8217;s VPN client on Windows 7 requires a bit of hacking<\/a> and I found it increasingly unreliable on my connection to my company&#8217;s corporate network.  It&#8217;s also a 32-bit only solution and, thanks to comments left on this blog, I&#8217;ve been trying out a couple of alternatives on my 64-bit Windows 7 release candidate (build 7100) machine, namely:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncp-e.com\/en\/downloads\/software.html\">NCP Secure Entry Client for Windows<\/a> (v9.12 Build 34 &#8211; beta).<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.shrew.net\/download\/vpn\">Shrew Soft VPN Client for Windows<\/a> (v2.1.5-beta-5).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This isn&#8217;t really a review as such, but it is a short summary of what I found.  Please bear in mind that I&#8217;m an end user of the Cisco VPN infrastructure and not a network administrator &#8211; those who know more than me about this stuff may have their reasons not to consider one of these two clients.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/images\/shrew-soft-vpn-client-logo.png?w=700&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Shrew Soft VPN client logo\" class=\"alternate\" \/>I installed the Shrew Soft client first and then found that I couldn&#8217;t connect to my VPN server.  That was no fault of the software &#8211; it was just that the .PCF file I had for the VPN connection contained an encrypted password, which I needed to track down, and the current version of the Shrew Soft client can not import these files.  <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/images\/ncp-logo.png?w=700&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"NCP Secure Communications logo\" class=\"alternate\" \/>In the meantime I decided to use the NCP client for a 30 day trial period.  This installed without a hitch, was able to use the PCF file provided by my administrators and had me connected to the corporate network pretty quickly.  It also made me reconsider whether my frequent disconnects with the Cisco client really were down to my ISP as it seemed far more reliable than the Cisco client had been on Windows Vista\/Server 2008\/7&#8230; and there&#8217;s not much more to say&#8230; it worked for a month, it nagged me to activate it as the trial period came to a close, then I uninstalled it.  The uninstall failed but after a restart (and a few German error messages), a second attempt was more successful.<\/p>\n<p>The NCP Secure Entry client does the job but it costs \u00c2\u00a380 (+VAT) and, at the end of the day, if I need to convince my budget holder that I need to spend money on a VPN client (whilst the majority of my colleagues manage with 32-bit XP systems and the Cisco client) then I figured it was worth taking a second look at the Shrew Soft VPN client.  This time I was armed with the password for the VPN group and, following <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shrew.net\/support\/wiki\/HowtoCiscoPix\">Shrewsoft&#8217;s Cisco PIX Howto<\/a>, I was able to connect to my corporate network.  It seems just as reliable as the NCP client and has the advantage of being free (so no business case or other such hurdles to jump through).<\/p>\n<p>So, Shrew Soft it is, at least for the time being &#8211; but if you have an aging Cisco VPN infrastructure that&#8217;s not due for replacement for a while and you need a client that runs on all versions of Windows, as well as Windows Mobile and Symbian, then the NCP Secure Entry client is worth a look.  On the other hand, if you have a heterogeneous network, the Shrew Soft VPN client is also available for Linux and BSD (I haven&#8217;t tried using that).  Some companies love open source software &#8211; others are nervous of it, so really it is just <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usingenglish.com\/reference\/idioms\/horses+for+courses.html\">horses for courses<\/a> but both are an improvement on a Cisco VPN client that doesn&#8217;t work with modern operating systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Installing Cisco&#8217;s VPN client on Windows 7 requires a bit of hacking and I found it increasingly unreliable on my connection to my company&#8217;s corporate network. It&#8217;s also a 32-bit only solution and, thanks to comments left on this blog, I&#8217;ve been trying out a couple of alternatives on my 64-bit Windows 7 release candidate &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2009\/06\/some-alternatives-to-the-cisco-vpn-client.htm\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Some alternatives to the Cisco VPN client<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[160,39],"class_list":["post-1460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-cisco","tag-useful-software"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Some alternatives to the Cisco VPN client - markwilson.it<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2009\/06\/some-alternatives-to-the-cisco-vpn-client.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Some alternatives to the Cisco VPN client - markwilson.it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Installing Cisco&#8217;s VPN client on Windows 7 requires a bit of hacking and I found it increasingly unreliable on my connection to my company&#8217;s corporate network. It&#8217;s also a 32-bit only solution and, thanks to comments left on this blog, I&#8217;ve been trying out a couple of alternatives on my 64-bit Windows 7 release candidate &hellip; Continue reading Some alternatives to the Cisco VPN client\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2009\/06\/some-alternatives-to-the-cisco-vpn-client.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"markwilson.it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-06-23T08:00:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2009-06-23T08:00:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/images\/shrew-soft-vpn-client-logo.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Wilson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@markwilsonit\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@markwilsonit\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Wilson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/some-alternatives-to-the-cisco-vpn-client.htm#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/some-alternatives-to-the-cisco-vpn-client.htm\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mark Wilson\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/98f61365e7c39d6be942174b8c4de468\"},\"headline\":\"Some alternatives to the Cisco VPN client\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-06-23T08:00:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-06-23T08:00:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/some-alternatives-to-the-cisco-vpn-client.htm\"},\"wordCount\":583,\"commentCount\":9,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/98f61365e7c39d6be942174b8c4de468\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/some-alternatives-to-the-cisco-vpn-client.htm#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/images\\\/shrew-soft-vpn-client-logo.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Cisco\",\"Useful Software\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/some-alternatives-to-the-cisco-vpn-client.htm#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/some-alternatives-to-the-cisco-vpn-client.htm\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.markwilson.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/some-alternatives-to-the-cisco-vpn-client.htm\",\"name\":\"Some alternatives to the Cisco VPN client - 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I'm in the process of documenting a client's server configuration, using a virtual machine with a VPN connection to the client's network and then a remote desktop protocol (RDP) connection to their servers. Because the VPN is within a virtual machine,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Microsoft Virtual Server\/Hyper-V\"","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft Virtual Server\/Hyper-V","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/tag\/hyper-v"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7074,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2017\/06\/vpn-directaccess-or-windows-10-auto-trigger-vpn-profile.htm","url_meta":{"origin":1460,"position":2},"title":"VPN, DirectAccess or Windows 10 auto-trigger VPN profile?","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Wednesday 21 June 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"On a recent consulting gig, I found myself advising a customer who was keen to deploy Microsoft DirectAccess (DA) in place of their legacy virtual private network (VPN) solution. As a DirectAccess user (who used Cisco AnyConnect VPN at my last place of work), I have to say the convenience\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/topic\/technology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":464,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2006\/06\/p2ving-my-notebook-pc-part-2.htm","url_meta":{"origin":1460,"position":3},"title":"P2Ving my notebook PC: part 2","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Friday 2 June 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I wrote about how I'd lost most of my bank holiday weekend trying to perform a physical to virtual (P2V) conversion of my corporate notebook PC. Well, I'm pleased to say that I've resolved the remaining issues and I'm very happy with the results. The last remaining problem\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Virtualisation\"","block_context":{"text":"Virtualisation","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/tag\/virtualisation"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1436,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2009\/05\/windows-7-release-candidate-installation-notes.htm","url_meta":{"origin":1460,"position":4},"title":"Windows 7 release candidate installation notes","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Wednesday 6 May 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This afternoon, I finally got around to rebuilding my everyday notebook PC (a Fujitsu Siemens S7210) onto the Windows 7 release candidate (build 7100, 64-bit). What follows are just a few notes that I made along the way: Just as for other recent Windows versions, installation was fairly swift (about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Microsoft Windows 7\"","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft Windows 7","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/tag\/windows-7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":199,"url":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2005\/12\/wireless-security-and-secure-remote.htm","url_meta":{"origin":1460,"position":5},"title":"Wireless security and secure remote access","author":"Mark Wilson","date":"Friday 9 December 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Last night, I attended Steve Lamb's Microsoft TechNet UK briefing on wireless security and secure remote access. I won't repeat the entire content here, because Steve has an article in the November\/December issue of Microsoft TechNet magazine, entitled improve your web security with encryption and firewall technologies, which, when combined\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Microsoft ISA Server\"","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft ISA Server","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/tag\/isa"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}