[Openvpn-users] different versions of openVPN

[John A. Wallace]

Hello. I have a couple of questions about openVPN...



first, why is there a difference in these two OpenVPN programs:



http://swupdate.openvpn.org/downloads/shield/openvpn-connect.msi



http://swupdate.openvpn.org/community/releases/openvpn-2.2.2-install.exe



As both were downloaded from https://www.openvpn.net/



second, what is the difference in these two adaptors:



"tap-win32 adapter V9"



which was installed by the program from the 1st link above.



And the other adaptor:



"tap-win32 adapter OAS"



which was installed by the program from the 2nd link above



In addition, the first one, without prompting from me, periodically attempts
to connect to the

internet address 199.27.135.39:80



Thanks.

[David Sommerseth]

Post by John A. Wallace
Hello. I have a couple of questions about openVPN...
http://swupdate.openvpn.org/downloads/shield/openvpn-connect.msi

This is the OpenVPN Access Server client for Windows (It might have
changed name to "OpenVPN Connect"). It uses the community version of
OpenVPN under the hood, but has a special user interface especially
designed to integrate more seamlessly against the OpenVPN Access Server
product. The Access Server product is a commercially supported product
by OpenVPN Technologies. It also provides a user interface managing the
server side. For more information, see here:
<http://www.openvpn.net/index.php/access-server/overview.html>

Post by John A. Wallace
http://swupdate.openvpn.org/community/releases/openvpn-2.2.2-install.exe

This
is the free OpenVPN community version. This is the one where there
are no commercial support available (AFAIK), and where the Windows user
interface and the core OpenVPN program is 100% open source. This is the
"old traditional" OpenVPN base. For more information, please see here:
<https://community.openvpn.net/>

Post by John A. Wallace
As both were downloaded from https://www.openvpn.net/
"tap-win32 adapter V9"
which was installed by the program from the 1st link above.

Yes, this is the version which is developed and maintained by the OpenVPN
community. This version of the adapter also supports IPv6 traffic.
OpenVPN itself does not fully support IPv6, but it will come in v2.3 of
the community version.

Post by John A. Wallace
"tap-win32 adapter OAS"
which was installed by the program from the 2nd link above

This is the TUN/TAP driver which is packaged in OpenVPN Connect (Access
Server Client). This driver does not support IPv6 traffic, to my knowledge.

Post by John A. Wallace
In addition, the first one, without prompting from me, periodically
attempts to connect to the
internet address 199.27.135.39:80

This is most likely a behaviour of the OpenVPN Connect product. I don't
know anything about it, as I'm only involved in the community side of
OpenVPN. But most likely it is to more easily get configurations or just
checking for updates. OpenVPN uses the cloudflare service in front of
many of their web services, so that's why it points at a cloudflare host
name.


kind regards,

David Sommerseth